I believe this may be in reference to the Schweinfurt Regensburg mission? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweinfurt%E2%80%93Regensburg_mission
Not to be rude, but what is the point of this thread? All you've done is posted a link to Wikipedia. Are we meant to be discussing it, or are you just trying to make everyone aware that WWII was quite unpleasant?
The need for fighter escorts was realized long before and while the deployment of the P-51s may have been rushed as a result of the mission, the aircraft was designed and in service long before this raid. The P-51, as the Mustang Mk1, entered service with the Royal Air Force in January of 1942, a full 20 months earlier. That said, it was only after this raid that the USAAF looked around at what was in the existing inventory (Specifically the Rolls-Royce powered Mustang, P-47, and P-38) and adopted the P-51 for the escort role in short order.
