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.

Twenty one victories made John Voll the third highest scoring Mustang pilot of WW II and the highest scoring USAAF pilot of the 15th AF. One month after joining the 308th FS/31st FG he scored his first victory on June 23, 1944. John Voll scored all his victories flying P-51s that he named American Beauty, six of his victories flying P-51Bs. Lovely Lila was the crew chief’s doing. On November 16, 1944 twelve fighters attacked John while he was downing a Ju-52. Voll destroyed two Fw-190s, one Bf-109 and damaged several others.

Specifications for the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang 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 HA7739 P-51D Mustang “American Beauty” Capt. John Voll, 308FS/31FG, San Severo AB/Italy, late 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.