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 piloted by Maj. Pierce McKennon, who was attached to the 335th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, during Spring 1945. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: March 2014

Historical Account: "Music Man" - Pierce Winningham 'Mac' McKennon was a talented musician but is more widely remembered as a famous World War II flying ace. He destroyed twenty German aircraft and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with four clusters, the Air Medal with sixteen clusters, the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Unit Citation, and the Croix de Guerre.

Pierce McKennon was born in Clarksville (Johnson County) on November 30th, 1919, to Dr. Parma D. McKennon, a dentist, and Inez Winningham McKennon. He had two older brothers. The family moved to Fort Smith (Sebastian County) in 1921.

He graduated from St. Anne's Academy in Fort Smith and entered the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) on a music scholarship in 1937, but he left in 1938 after poor academic performance. He briefly returned to the university but never graduated.

In early 1941, McKennon entered the U.S. Army Air Corps aspiring to be a pilot but left for lack of aptitude. Undaunted, he went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), excelling as an aviator and earning the rank of sergeant pilot in the RCAF by the end of 1941. McKennon became a member of an Eagle Squadron in Shropshire, England, and practiced throughout 1942 with a Royal Air Force (RAF) training unit. He transferred to the United States Army Air Force on November 24th, 1942, and entered with the rank of second lieutenant.

McKennon was assigned to the Sixth Fighter Wing of the Eighth Air Force but was soon attached to 335th Fighter Squadron of the Fourth Fighter Group at Debden Air Base outside London. McKennon shot down four enemy aircraft while flying his P-47 Thunderbolt and then switched to the P-51 Mustang, in which in 1944, he downed a fifth enemy plane and earned his designation as an ace. McKennon subsequently served as flight commander and destroyed several other enemy aircraft.

After a promotion to captain, McKennon became commander of the 335th Fighter Squadron. On August 28th, 1944, he was shot down behind enemy lines in France but was smuggled back to England with the aid of the French underground. After a promotion to major in 1945, he was shot down again, this time near Berlin, Germany. His wing man, Lieutenant George Green, picked him up in a field, and they both rode in Green's plane back to Debden. McKennon again became a target for German fire and was wounded but managed to return his plane to safety.