Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7708 P-51D Mustang Netherland East Indies Air Force, 1946

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 because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the 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.

The ML-KNIL received 40 P-51D’s during April and May of 1946. P-51D serial N3-640 was put in service with the 121 Squadron. Approximately one year later the number was changed to H-340 and in early 1949 went to the 120 Squadron to replace an old P-40. Eventually the ML-KNIL aircraft were handed over to the Indonesian Air Force (AURI) when they achieved independence. H-340 was renumbered as F-340 when it was turned over. There were several variations to these aircraft. H-322 and H-340 had blue spinners while H-307, H-309, H-319 and H-321 had red. Another difference was H-319, H-321 and H-340 had stencil style lettering while H-307 and H-309 solid lettering.

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

A point of interest concerning the Dutch P-51 H307 had a red spinner and solid style lettering H309 had a red spinner and solid style lettering H319 had a red spinner and stencil style lettering H321 had a red spinner and stencil style lettering H322 had a blue spinner and solid style lettering H340 had a blue spinner and stencil style lettering