North American F-51D Mustang by Airfix

1/48 scale
Kit No. A05136
Cost: $40.00
Decals: Three versions – U.S. Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Swedish Air Force
Comments: Highly detailed cockpit; engraved panel lines; excellent wheel well detail; separately mounted flaps, ailerons, rudder and elevators; six HVAR air-to-ground rockets; option for drop tanks or 500 lb. bombs; pilot figure included

History

The North American P-51 Mustang originated with a June 1940 design proposal submitted to Britain’s Royal Air Force for a fighter to replace the Curtiss P-40. The prototype aircraft, NA-73X, was a low-wing monoplane powered by the Allison V-1710 engine, featuring a new ram air intake in the belly which would increase its top speed. The NA-73X flew for the first time on October 26, 1940 at Mines Field, what is now known as Los Angeles International Airport. Ironically, it was the British who gave this classic American fighter its name — after the successful first flight, the British Purchasing Commission authorized putting the type into production, with the first model dubbed Mustang Mk. I.

The Mustang I went into production with a longer carburetor intake scoop above the nose (extending all the way to the prop spinner) and bristling with eight guns — two .50 caliber machine guns in the lower nose just beneath and aft of the prop spinner, and one .50 caliber and two .30 caliber guns in each wing. The RAF intended using it for low-level ground attack and photo reconnaissance, so there was no requirement for high altitude performance. From the outset, the Mustang had relatively long range. On July 27, 1942, Mustangs of RAF No. 2 Squadron became the first fighters to hit a target inside Germany from bases in England. In North Africa, there were instances of the RAF borrowing the American F-6 reconnaissance planes for missions for which their own photo recon Spitfires did not have the range. An American pilot, Flying Officer Hollis Hills flying a Mustang IA, scored the first Mustang victory over the Luftwaffe when he shot down an Fw 190 near Dieppe on August 19, 1942 — while flying air support for that ill-fated raid.

Enter the Americans
The United States Army Air Force “discovered” the Mustang when a decision was made to pull two Mk. I’s from the North American production line and send them to Wright Field in Ohio for evaluation. The planes were designated XP-51, and the Wright test pilots raved about them. Only then did the AAF order 150 of the type in July 1941, giving birth to the P-51. Most USAAF P-51’s were employed in the armed photo reconnaissance role in North Africa following Operation Torch, the U.S. invasion of Morocco in November 1942. Using K-24 cameras and officially designated F-6A, they were commonly referred to as P-51’s or Mustangs. A dive bomber version, the A-36 Apache, had dive flaps installed in its wings and retained the .50 caliber nose guns of the British version. But the P-51’s saw the nose guns deleted. The first Mustang lost was shot down by friendly fire — anti-aircraft crews had trouble telling the early P-51’s from the Messerschmitt Bf109.

When the Mustang’s Allison engine was replaced with the Spitfire’s Rolls Royce Merlin powerplant, license-built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, an outstanding fighter was born. With the Merlin installed, the Allies had a superb fighter equal to anything the Axis Powers had in the sky — capable of both high altitude interception and long range escort, with the firepower and maneuverability to excel at both.  On occasion, Mustangs were used on fighter sweeps over Occupied Europe, attacking targets of opportunity — although they could be more vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire than other aircraft such as the P-47 Thunderbolt due to their liquid cooled engines. If a glycol coolant line was hit by ground fire. the Mustang could not stay airborne for long.

New Life in the Cold War: The F-51D
Following the creation of the Air Force in 1947, fighter aircraft with the P- designation were given the F- instead, and the P-51, still in service due to its outstanding features, became the F-51. Upon the outbreak of war in Korea, F-51’s were deployed to the Korean peninsula and used as fighter-bombers in support of United Nations and American ground forces. These WWII era fighters were so valuable in Korea that the 35th Fighter Interceptor Group, based in Japan and equipped with Lockheed F-80C jet fighters, converted back to F-51D’s to fly close air support for troops trapped inside the Pusan Perimeter following their retreat from Chosin Reservoir in the dead of the Korean winter. F-51D’s flew most of the close air support missions in Korea due to their ability to loiter over target areas longer than jets. Some Mustangs, fitted with cameras and designated RF-51D’s flew tactical reconnaissance missions south of MiG Alley, the airspace over the northwest section of North Korea closest to the Chinese border.

The Kit

Newly tooled in 2021, Airfix F-51D Mustang is injection molded in grey and consists of 144 parts, including 6 clear parts for the choice of three canopies and two windscreens, as well as a gunsight and navigation lights. A choice of four-bladed propellers is also offered, along with options for realistically flattened circumferential or diamond tread tires for the main landing gear, with the flattening effect more subtle than on most kits. The airframe is replete with engraved panel lines and a unique combination of recessed and subtly raised rivet detail, the latter mainly around the engine cowling.

The cockpit is highly detailed, featuring a three-part seat, instrument panel and sidewall inserts with raised relief and separate parts for more instrumentation detail. The fuselage is a multi-component affair with separate parts for the vertical tail and upper engine cowling in the nose. The wings too come in multiple parts with a separate center section for the lower half of the wing, plug inserts for the .50 caliber machine guns in the leading edges, and separate flaps and ailerons. The engine exhausts are the only disappointing part of the kit, these could be more detailed and some modelers may be tempted to replace them with aftermarket examples.

Ordnance consists of six High Velocity Aircraft Rockets (HVARs), each one having a separately mounted fin assembly, and two 500 lb. bombs which can be carried on three-part bracket assemblies mounted just outboard of the main landing gear. Modelers will have a choice of fitting the bombs, which like the rockets have separately mounted tail fins, or drop tanks. The detailed pilot figure has separately mounted arms. A special note about the clear part for the windshield: it differs from the usual windshield part in that it also forms part of the airframe immediately ahead of the canopy, and so will require seam hiding.

Markings

Decals are provided for three versions. The first is a U.S. Air Force F-51D, “Rotation Blues,” code FF-625, in overall natural metal with a black anti-glare panel forward of the nose and red flashes on the tail, astride and behind the canopy, and on the tips of the wings and elevators. This is a machine of the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron based at Chinhae and Hoengsong air bases, South Korea during 1952-53.

Second is for a P-51D of No. 77 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (the Australians did not adopt the F- designation), serial A68-720, appearing in overall natural metal with an olive drab anti-glare panel on the nose, a red, white and blue spinner, and Commonwealth roundels in the standard six positions on the airframe. This machine was based at Pohang, South Korea in 1951.

Third is for a J-26 Mustang (the Swedish designation for the P-51) of the 1st Squadron, F16 Wing of the Svenska Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force), based at Uppsala, Sweden in 1946. This machine is in overall natural metal with an olive drab anti-glare panel on the nose, a red spinner, and Swedish roundels in the standard six positions on the airframe.

Conclusion

An excellent kit, more detailed than what until now has arguably been the best Mustang available in 1/48 scale, the Hasegawa offering.

Reference

P-51 Mustang in Action by Larry Davis; Copyright 2008 Squadron Signal Publications, Carrollton, Texas.