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.

P-51D HO/W (44-14237) “Moonbeam McSwine” was the aircraft flown by Capt. William Whisner. In late September 1944 Whisner returned to England to start his second tour of combat and soon was promoted to Captain. On November 21, 1944 Capt. Whisner was credited with five confirmed and 2 probable air-to-to-air victories. Whisner became an ace in Korea as well as WWII and received the DSC three times. Capt. Whisner’s WWII total was 15.5 victories and 5 in Korea. He survived 2 wars only to die in 1989 from a Yellow Jacket sting.

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 HA7726 P-51D Mustang 414237 “Moonbeam McSwine” 487th FS, 352nd FG, Sept 1944

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.

READ THE STORY BEHIND HO-W AS PROVIDED BY MR. SAM SOX, THE HISTORIAN FOR THE 352ND. THIS WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY PETE MOELLER OF PETE’S COLLECTIBLES WHO IS A FRIEND OF SAM SOX.

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