Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA7735 P-51D Mustang “Glamorous Glenn III” 44-14888, 363rd FS, 357th FG, Nov. 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.

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.

Charles “Chuck” Yeager was assigned to the 363rd FS, 357th FG “The Yoxford Boys”. During WWII he is credited with 11.5 victories, most of which came in P-51D 44-14888 “Glamorous Glenn III”. On October 12, 1944 Yeager became an Ace In A Day downing 5 Me-109’s. On November 6, 1944 Yeager used 1,083 .50 cal MG rounds to damage 2 Me-262’s and destroy a third. On November 27, 1944 he destroyed 3 Bf-109’s. When Chuck Yeager returned to the U.S.A. 44-14888 became “Melody’s Answer” and was destroyed on March 2, 1945.

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.