ORIGINAL: FNQFLYER

Not on the P51 I restored / worked on. Constant speed prop and the wings would fall off before you lunched the engine. Assuming you weren't stretching the limits eg war power (which was a number of plus 100% max RPM) or you are racing it with exotic fuels. Most engine failures on modern engines are due to prop governor problems or just plain structural failure within the engine.Re off load in flight listen to a YS 53 or 63 at max RPM on the ground and then listen for the ''upshift'' in rpm at about 50feet (or less). We counted on this in Duration to get that little bit of grunt to get out of ground effect into clean air for the climb. (The climb was at 87.5 degrees, ideal, for 28 seconds engine run, this usually gave about 1, to 1500 feet. And for reference the 65 Saito is not far behind on a 32 second engine run)
Note don't confuse prop rpm with actual a/c speed.