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 nicknamed "Creamer's Dream" and piloted by 1st Lt. Charles White, who was attached to the 301st Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, then deployed to Ramitelli, Italy, during 1945. Item en route to us!

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

Release Date: November 2024

Historical Account: "Red Tail Angels" - In World War II, Charles White joined the Army and began training at Moton Field on the campus of Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Ala. He graduated from flight school as a fighter pilot and second lieutenant. He was assigned to the 15th Strategic Air Force in southern Italy in September 1944 and flew with the 332nd Fighter Squadron, known as the "Red Tail Angels."

White flew 65 long-range missions, and his squadron of P-51 Mustang pilots shot down 12 German planes. White was credited with destroying two enemy planes. He received a battlefield promotion to captain. His decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with seven oak clusters for meritorious achievement and seven Bronze Stars. This fall, White, along with the other Tuskegee Airmen, will get the Congressional Gold Medal.