No other aircraft of WWII could fly as high, go as far, or fight as hard as the famed Mustang. Piloted by a record 281 Aces, this agile and ferocious dogfighter tallied more kills than any other Allied airplane. As the bombers of the Eighth Air Force fought their way deep into Hitler's Germany, it was the Mustang that cleared the skies of Luftwaffe fighters. The powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engine gave the Mustang a speed of 445 mph. Re-styled with an aerodynamic bubble canopy for greater visibility, and outfitted with 6 fast-firing .50 caliber machine guns, the P-51 became the best fighter of the war.

The P-51K Mustang was essentially a P-51D with a different propeller. With war production at max capacity in Inglewood, NAA added P-51 production at their Dallas Texas plant starting with the P-51B. The new designation of the B models built in Dallas was P-51C.

When the P-51D began production, once again the Dallas plant was needed. Unlike the B models, when the D models were built in Dallas, their designation of "D" was kept. They were identified as built from the Dallas plant with the "NT" suffix. So a -5 block of a D model Mustang built in Dallas would be a P-51D-5NT. These were identical to a P-51D-5NA, built in Inglewood, Ca.

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale replica of a USAAF North American P-51D Mustang fighter that was piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Edward McComas, who was attached to the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron "Flying Yankees", 23rd Fighter Group, then deployed to Luliang, China, during January 1945. Pre-order! Ship Date: June 2024.

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 8-1/2-inches
Length: 7-1/2-inches

Release Date: ?

Historical Account: "With Chennault" - In October 1943, Major McComas was made the commanding officer of the 118th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, Fourteenth Air Force. The previous commanding officer was killed in a flying accident. In January 1944, his squadron traveled to the China Burma India Theater. Initially based in India, the squadron moved to an airfield in China in June.

On September 29th, 1944, McComas' P-51 Mustang was shot down and he was forced to bail out over China behind enemy lines. McComas, who had seriously injured his back earlier in his life, re-injured his back during this incident. However, he was rescued by Chinese Nationalist guerillas and was safely returned to his squadron.

Lieutenant Colonel McComas claimed his first aerial victory on October 16th, 1944. He claimed a second victory on November 20th, and then two more on December 5th. On December 19th, McComas claimed his fifth and sixth kills, officially becoming a flying ace. He claimed victories seven and eight two days later.

On December 23rd, McComas and his wingman were flying a reconnaissance mission of a Japanese airfield near Canton, China. While approaching the airfield, McComas engaged and shot down an enemy plane. At the airfield, Japanese pilots scrambled to their planes and began taking off in order to confront the two Americans. He attacked the airstrip and downed two planes just after they took off. He returned for a second pass and started to engage two more Japanese planes that had just taken off. While trying to evade McComas' guns, the two enemy planes collided and crashed. McComas was credited with shooting down five Japanese planes that day, thus making him the only pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater to achieve ace in a day status. The next day, McComas claimed his 14th and final aerial victory of the war, making him one of the top aces of the Fourteenth Air Force. On Christmas Day, the commanding general of the 14th Air Force, Claire Chennault, presented McComas a brand new P-51 Mustang.

McComas was relieved of his command of 118th Fighter Squadron in January 1945 as his back pain became more severe. He returned to the United States and spent several months in military hospitals.