Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7701 North American Aviation P-51D Mustang “Feeble Eagle” 353rd FS, 354th FG., 1945 “Lt. Col. Glenn Eagleston” LIMITED EDITION

1/48 scale pre-finished Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. Professionally painted. All markings pad applied for superb results. Cockpit slides open. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. Comes with display stand. Can be displayed with landing gear up or down.

Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51 called Mustang by the British had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back.

As a member of the 354th FG (Pioneers) and the 353 FS during WWII Glenn Eagleston became their top ace with 18.5 victories, 2 more probable, 7 damaged aircraft and at least 5 more destroyed on the ground. His victories were achieved while flying almost 100 missions in P-47s or P-51s. Eagleston quickly became known as a “fighter pilot’s fighter pilot”. On one mission Eagleston talked another P-51 pilot; that had difficulty maintaining flight and was going to bail out; all the way from Berlin to a safe landing in England.

Specifications for the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang Tasks - Dive-bomber, bomber-escort, ground-attack, interceptor, photo recon Number Produced All Variants - 14,819 Dimensions Wing Span - 37 ft (11.27 m) Length - 32 ft 3 in (9.82 m) Height - 13 ft 8 in (4.16 m)

Weight Empty - 7,125 lb (3,232 kg) Gross - 10,100 lb (4,581 kg) Maximum Take-off - 11,600 lb (5,262 kg)

Performance Engine - Packard Merlin two-staged supercharged V-1650-7, 12 cylinder V engine 1,695 hp. Maximum Speed - 437 mph (703 km/h) Ceiling - 41,900 ft (12,771 m) Range - 950 miles (1,529 km) Maximum Range - 2,300 miles (3,701 km)

Armament (6) .50 caliber MG Maximum External Bomb Load - 2,000 lb (907 kg) Or (4) .5 inch rockets.

354th FG FLAPS UP FLAPS DOWN DIFFERENT TANKS

353rd FS