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.

Following combat experience the P-51D series introduced a "teardrop", or "bubble", canopy to rectify problems with poor visibility to the rear of the aircraft. In America, new moulding techniques had been developed to form streamlined nose transparencies for bombers. North American designed a new streamlined plexiglass canopy for the P-51B which was later developed into the teardrop shaped bubble canopy. In late 1942, the tenth production P-51B-1-NA was removed from the assembly lines. From the windshield aft the fuselage was redesigned by cutting down the rear fuselage formers to the same height as those forward of the cockpit; the new shape faired in to the vertical tail unit. A new simpler style of windscreen, with an angled bullet-resistant windscreen mounted on two flat side pieces improved the forward view while the new canopy resulted in exceptional all-round visibility. Wind tunnel tests of a wooden model confirmed that the aerodynamics were sound.

The new model Mustang also had a redesigned wing; alterations to the undercarriage up-locks and inner-door retracting mechanisms meant that there was an additional fillet added forward of each of the wheel bays, increasing the wing area and creating a distinctive "kink" at the wing root's leading edges.

Other alterations to the wings included new navigation lights, mounted on the wingtips, rather than the smaller lights above and below the wings of the earlier Mustangs, and retractable landing lights which were mounted at the back of the wheel wells; these replaced the lights which had been formerly mounted in the wing leading edges.

The engine was the Packard V-1650-7, a licence-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60 series, fitted with a two-stage, two-speed supercharger.

The armament was increased with the addition of two more .50 in (12.7 mm) AN/M2 "light-barrel" M2 Browning machine guns, the standard heavy-calibre machine gun used throughout the American air services of World War II, bringing the total to six. The inner pair of machine guns had 400 rounds per gun, and the others had 270 rpg, for a total of 1,880. The B/C subtypes' M2 guns were mounted with an inboard axial tilt, this angled mounting had caused problems with the ammunition feed and with spent casings and links failing to clear the gun-chutes, leading to frequent complaints that the guns jammed during combat maneuvers. The D/K's six M2s were mounted upright, remedying the jamming problems. In addition, the weapons were installed along the line of the wing's dihedral, rather than parallel to the ground line as in the earlier Mustangs.

The wing racks fitted to the P-51D/P-51K series were strengthened and were able to carry up to 1,000 lb (450 kg) of ordnance, although 500 lb (230 kg) bombs were the recommended maximum load. Later models had removable under-wing 'Zero Rail' rocket pylons added to carry up to ten T64 5.0 in (127 mm) H.V.A.R rockets per plane. The gunsight was changed from the N-3B to the N-9 before the introduction in September 1944 of the K-14 or K-14A gyro-computing sight. Apart from these changes, the P-51D and K series retained V-1650-7 engine used in the majority of the P-51B/C series.

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale replica of a USAAF North American P-51D Mustang fighter that was nicknamed "Jumpin' Jacques" and attached to the 3rd Fighter Squadron (Commando), 3rd Fighter Group, then deployed to the Philippines during 1945. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: April 2019

Historical Account: "We Shall Return" - The squadron was initially organized as the 3rd Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron at Lakeland Army Airfield, Florida in May 1944. Many of the squadron's pilots came from the 2nd Air Commando Group's 1st Fighter Squadron (Commando), which had been disbanded previously. It took several weeks, however, for the squadron to receive any aircraft, and when it did, it was a mixture of used Curtiss P-40C Warhawks and North American P-51B Mustangs which had been transferred to Lakeland from other training bases who had been re-equipped with newer aircraft. However, aircraft were aircraft and the pilots were happy to get them to fly and gain proficiency.

In early August the squadron moved to Alachua Army Airfield near Gainesville to begin training with units of the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT), a part of Air University which specialized in the development of new combat tactics. AAFSAT developed training maneuvers with the 318th Troop Carrier Squadron Douglas C-47 Skytrains, and Stinson L-5 Sentinels of the liaison squadrons of the group. The 3rd ACS liaison aircraft flew reconnaissance over an "enemy" airfield, and the fighter squadrons conducted simulated bombing and strafing attacks, while the Troop Carrier Squadron carried out a night glider assault. Then the assault troops had to hold out for a few days against "enemy" forces before being pulled out. With the successful completion of the exercise, the group was judged ready for deployment into combat.

In October 1944, the men of the squadron transferred to Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, for final preparations. After several weeks, the squadrons began leaving by train on October 24th, heading for Camp Stoneman, Oakland California where the men were issued tropical uniforms, attending more classes and lectures, getting shots and filling out an endless number of forms. On November 6th, the men boarded ferries to board the USS General M. L. Hersey, their transport to the war zone in the Southwest Pacific. A brief stop was made at Guadalcanal, which had become a major logistics base, then they proceeded to Finschafen and Hollandia on New Guinea.

At Hollandia, the pilots were flown by transports to Nadzab Airfield, New Guinea, where they were assigned new P-51D Mustangs, as well as some additional pilots. Many of these replacements had been in the Southwest Pacific for several months and been ferrying P-40s between bases. Although none had any P-51 Mustang experience, they flew checkout flights and were informed they were to fly it. From Nadzab, sixteen Mustangs were flown to a new airfield via Biak on January 7th, 1945, in the vicinity of Tanauan on Leyte. The pilots of the squadron broke into flights of four and buzzed the airstrip before turning into their landing pattern, landing two at a time, one on each side of the runway. By landing in pairs, all sixteen fighters were on the ground in less than three minutes. Also, by taking off in pairs, it shortened the time needed to form up in a group and added time over the target.