"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

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kindelberger of North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The commission approached NAA to build Curtiss P-40 fighters and the newer P-46 under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, NAA proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on September 9th, 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on October 26th.

The Mustang was designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine without an export-sensitive turbosupercharger or a multi-stage supercharger, resulting in limited high-altitude performance. The aircraft was first flown operationally and very successfully by the RAF and as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber (Mustang Mk I). In mid 1942, Rolls Royce replaced the Allison with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 65, two-stage intercooled supercharged engine, resulting in a series of development aircraft known as the Mustang X. During testing at Hucknall, it quickly became clear that this dramatically improved the aircraft's performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft (4,600 m) (without sacrificing range). Following receipt of the test results and after further flights by a number of USAAF pilots, the results were so positive that North American began work on converting several aircraft and these were developed into the P-51B/C (Mustang Mk III) model, which became the first long range fighter to be able to compete with the Luftwaffe's fighters. The definitive version, the P-51D, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the two-speed, two-stage-supercharged Merlin 66, and was armed with six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns.

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale replica of a RCAF North American Mustang Mk. III fighter that was attached to No.441 Silver Fox Squadron, during May 1945. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: August 2014

Historical Account: "Stalk and Kill" - No.125 (Fighter) Squadron was formed on April 20th, 1942, at Sydney, Nova Scotia and flew Hurricanes as part of RCAF Eastern Air Command. It was renumbered No.441 Fighter Squadron when it transferred overseas to RAF Station Digby, Lincolnshire, England, on February 8th, 1944. It was posted to airfields in England, France, and Belgium throughout the Second World War. When the squadron returned to England it was disbanded on August 7th, 1945.

No. 441 Squadron reformed at RCAF Station St. Hubert on March 1st, 1951, and went to No 1 Wing, then located at RAF North Luffenham, in Rutland, England on February 13th, 1952. The squadron was temporarily situated at 3 Wing Zweibrcken on December 21st, 1954, before moving to their intended destination, RCAF Station Marville, France. They were deactivated (disbanded) on September 1st, 1963, at Marville and then reactivated (reformed) as No.441 Strike/Attack squadron on September 15th, 1963, then moved with 1 Wing to Canadian Forces Base Lahr in April 1967. In 1971, the squadron moved to CFB Baden-Soellingen and changed its name to 441 Tactical Fighter Squadron. They disbanded again in 1986 and then finally reformed at 4 Wing Cold Lake on June 26th, 1986.