"Why should we have a navy at all? There are no enemies for it to fight except apparently the Army Air Force."
- General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the US 8th Army Air Force, after WWII

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 signed 1:48 scale replica of a USAAF P-51D Mustang fighter that was nicknamed 'Detroit Miss,' and piloted by Ft. Lieutenant Urban Drew, who was attached to the 361st Fighter Group, then deployed to France during 1944. Only 500 pieces produced. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: September 2012

Historical Account: "Detroit Miss" - Urban L. Drew was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 21st, 1924. He entered the USAAF in October 1942 and graduated in Class 43-I from Marian, Florida. Lieutenant Drew was assigned to the replacement base at Bartow, Florida and after completion of the course he was retained as an instructor in P-51s. In May 1944 he was given an overseas assignment, sailing the Queen Elizabeth for England. Drew was assigned to the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group based at Bottisham, Cambridgeshire. Later the group moved to Little Walden, Essex. During his tour with the Yellowjackets, Drew completed 75 missions, rising to command of A Flight and the 375th Squadron. Among his victories, most notable were the two Messerschmitt 262s on October 7th, 1944. This combat made Ben Drew the first Allied airman to destroy two German jets in aerial combat, and years later he received the Air Force Cross for the event. Also, with two wingman, he destroyed the only Luftwaffe six-engine flying boat at Bug Seaplane Base in Northern Germany. At the completion of his ETO tour, Drew was transferred to various training bases in the U.S.

In 1945, he was assigned to the 413th Squadron, 414th Fighter Group, flying P-47s at Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands. After the war Drew helped organize the 127th Fighter Group, Michigan Air National Guard. He became deputy group commander and later was appointed the first Air Adjutant General of the State of Michigan. He completed his military service with the rank of major and established an aviation business in Britain and South Africa.