Editing North American P-51 Mustang (section)

====Prewar theory====
Prewar doctrine was based on the idea "[[the bomber will always get through]]".<ref name="Miller 2007, p. 41">Miller 2007, p. 41.</ref> Despite RAF and Luftwaffe experience with daylight bombing, the USAAF still incorrectly believed in 1942 that [[Combat box|tightly packed formations of bombers]] would have so much firepower that they could fend off fighters on their own.<ref name="Miller 2007, p. 41" /> Fighter escort was a low priority, but when the concept was discussed in 1941, the [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning]] was considered to be most appropriate, as it had the speed and range. Another school of thought favored a [[Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress|heavily up-armed "gunship" conversion of a strategic bomber]].<ref name="Mil0646">Miller 2007, p. 46.</ref> A single-engined, high-speed fighter with the range of a bomber was thought to be an engineering impossibility.<ref>Miller 2007, p. 42.</ref>