About the book: 2003 / By the end of 1943, the task of escorting bombers along the entire route seemed almost insurmountable. No American fighter was suitable for this purpose, although US Air Force strategists considered all options, including fleet fighters. A faint glimmer of hope was left only by the results of experiments carried out in England and the USA to install the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine on the airframe of the American P-51 fighter from North American Aviation (NAA). Note. OCR: Unfortunately, the original edition was not found. In the existing source, all illustrations are collected after the text.