Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7710 P-51D Mustang 44-14906 PE-P 328th FS “Cripes A’Mighty”

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.

On August 6, 1944 Major George Preddy scored six victories. In October 1944 when George Preddy returned from a 30 day leave he was promoted to CO of the 328th FS. Preddy was assigned a new P-51D s/n 44-14906 he named “Cripes A’ Mighty”. On November 2, 1944 the 352nd destroyed a record 38 aircraft with 25 credited to the 328th FS. On Christmas day Preddy led 10 other P-51’s on patrol and were vectored to a group of enemy fighters. Preddy downed 2 aircraft before he and his wing man were vectored to another group of aircraft near Liege, Belgium. Preddy spotted a Fw-190D-9 at tree top level and dove to pursue. The chase led the aircraft over an area being defended by the U.S. 12th AA. When the P-51 roared by the American troops opened fire. His Mustang was hit by friendly fire and crashed near Langerwehe, Germany killing Major George Preddy Jr. age 25. Preddy was credited with 27.5 aerial victories and 5 ground strafing victories.

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.