Allies’ German designs

SIR – Arguably the two most successful fighters of the Second World War were the Spitfire and North American Aviation’s P-51 Mustang.

It was interesting to read Ian Statham’s letter (September 20) revealing significant German influence over the thinking behind the Spitfire’s design; but readers (particularly American ones) may be surprised to learn that the Mustang was the creation of the German aircraft designer Edgar Schmued.

Built to RAF specification and, in its most successful form, powered by a variant of the Rolls-royce Merlin engine, it is credited with destroying nearly 5,000 enemy aircraft.

It seems that when it comes to defeating Hitler, we owe the Germans rather more than we realised. Nicholas Young

London W13