How It Works | Browning M2 50 Cal Machine Gun

Image 6 M2 .50 Cal Machine Guns All Firing.

Although both the US Army and the Royal Air Force were more than content with how the P-51 was performing in the air, the two never seemed to agree on the plane’s weaponry. U.S. manufacturers embraced the use of the Rolls Royce produced Merlin engine in order to increase the fighter’s high altitude performance but didn’t like the UK’s stipulations in regards to armament.

When one thinks of the P-51 Mustang .50 cal machine guns come to mind, as with most World War II planes, however, at first, the British insisted on a combination of .303 and .50 caliber weaponry to be fitted on their Mustangs, bringing the machine guns to a total number of eight, four of each kind.

While some models of P-51 Mustang in the service of the RAF were fitted with both the M2 and the M1919, all P-51’s that flew for the U.S. Army were equipped only with the M2 .50 caliber guns, six of them in total.

That was definitely a good call.