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 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 348th FG converted from P-47s to P-51s in early 1945 and assigned bomber escort attacks on Kyushu. From February 1945 to mid 1945 the unit was based in Luzon and then moved to Le Shima Island near Okinawa. By January 1945, Dunham was the Deputy Group Commander and had 15 victories scored over New Guinea and the Philippines. Dunham took a break back in the U.S. returning to the 348th FG on Le Shima. Now equipped with a P-51K Mrs. Bonnie, Dunham scored his sixteenth and only Mustang victory.

Specifications for the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang The P-51K was built in Dallas as a variant of the P-51D and equipped with an Aeroproducts propeller instead of the Hamilton Standard propeller. Combat crews routinely replaced the Aeroproducts propeller with the Hamilton Standard propeller.

Tasks - Dive-bomber, bomber-escort, ground-attack, interceptor, photo recon Number Produced- 1,500 with RAF receiving 594 they named Mustang Mk. IVa 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 HA7738 P-51K Mustang “Mrs Bonnie” Lt. Col. Bill Dunham, Deputy CO/348 FG, Okinawa, August 1945

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.