North American F-6D (P-51D) Mustang – 118th TRS, 23rd FG USAAF, Edward McComas, Luliang, China, 1945

Corgi Aviation Archive 1/72 scale Legends US32222: North American F-6D Mustang (reconnaissance version of the P-51D)  of 118th TRS, 23rd FG USAAF , Edward McComas, Luliang, China, 1945

Length 5.25 inches  Wingspan 6.25 inches

Ace in a day, Ed McComas claimed all of his 14 victories flying his P-51C between October and December 1944. This particular aircraft was the second, and last, F-6 (P-51D) issued to him in China in early January 1945.

Nearly 500 P-51 Mustangs were built or converted to perform the tactical reconnaissance role under the F-6 designation. The F-6A was the first version of the Mustang to see active service with the USAAF, flying its first missions from Tunisia with the 154th Observation Squadron in April 1943. The RAF also used a number of their Mustangs at photographic reconnaissance aircraft. The majority of F-6s carried two K-24 cameras, in two different configurations. In a version of the F-6 based on the P-51 to P-51C, an oblique camera was placed in the back of the cockpit, with another vertical camera placed in the fuselage behind the radiator. In the F-6D and F-6K, based on the bubble canopied P-51D and P-51K, the oblique camera also had to be placed in the rear fuselage, being placed just above the vertical camera.

Designed to meet an RAF requirement for fighter-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, the P-51 Mustang was first flown on October 26th, 1940. This versatile aircraft was capable of escorting bombers on long-range missions, engaging in dogfights, and dropping down to destroy German or Japanese targets on the ground. At least eight versions of the P-51 were produced, but it was the definitive P-51D that gave the Mustang its classic warbird appearance. Britain and the US both tested the airframe with the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which gave the aircraft tremendous performance gains. The Truman Senate War Investigating Committee called the Mustang “the most aerodynamically perfect pursuit plane in existence.”