Hobby Master Archive

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 479th FG was formed in October 1943 and flew Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. In 1944 the group was sent to England and consisted of the 434th (L2), 435th (J2) and 436th (9B) Fighter Squadrons. By October 1st 1944 the group had converted to the P-51 and on October 7th Arthur Jeffrey of the 434th FS became an Ace. On December 5th and 23rd 1944 Arthur Jeffrey scored 3 victories each day. He was the first pilot to shoot down an ME-163 rocket powered aircraft. He flew 82 combat missions and accumulated 14 victories. Jeffrey had named his P-38 “Boomerang” and because the P-51 was smaller than the Lightning he added “Jr” to the name. Jeffrey carried the name “Boomerang Jr” over to his next aircraft a P-51K.

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.

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7723A P-51D Mustang “BOOMERANG JR” flown by Col. Arthur ‘Art" Jeffrey 434th FS, 479th FG, Dec 1944 (Special Edition plate on stand autographed by pilot)

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.