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- North American P-51D Mustang 44-13410/E2-C was the personal mount of Col. Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian Jr., Group Commander of the 361st FG the ‘Yellow Jackets’ and great grandson of famous Confederate Civil War general ‘Stonewall Jackson’. His aircraft was named ‘LOU IV’ after his daughter Lou Ellen, who had been born back in his home city of Dallas, whilst he was in England on active duty. The name was carried on the port side of the forward fuselage, with the starboard side displaying a different name – ATHELENE, which is thought to have been the name of the wife or girlfriend of the aircraft’s crew chief, S/Sgt. D Jameson’s. This Mustang is interesting for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that it features the much more prominent full yellow nose of the 361st Fighter Group, markings which would be applied to the rest of the group’s Mustangs during August 1944. ‘LOU IV/ATHELENE’ also has its top D-Day identification markings overpainted using a lighter shade of olive drab on both the wings and horizontal stabilisers, making this a particularly attractive post D-Day example. Tragically, like so many airmen who served during the Second World War, Col Thomas JJ Christian Jr. would not survive the fighting and was lost whilst flying his famous Mustang ‘LOU IV’ on 12th August 1944. Engaged on a mission to support a large Eighth Air Force raid against targets in northern and central France, he was last seen leading a bombing attack against the railway marshalling yards at Boisleux au Mont, just south of Arras – eyewitnesses reported seeing a yellow nosed Mustang which had lost a wing and crashed whilst making its attack run
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- Appearing in the skies above Europe only a few short months after the first B and C model Mustangs had been introduced and certainly the one which is now familiar to most people, the definitive ‘D’ model introduced a larger wing area, bubble canopy and reduced rear fuselage profile for this impressive fighter. Producing a cleaner looking aircraft, the low back fuselage initially caused some unwelcome handling difficulties, a problem which was quickly remedied by the addition of a ‘tail fillet’ section fitted to existing early D models in the field and included as standard on all future new build Mustangs. As a consequence of this, only a relatively small number of the ‘filletless’ Mustangs were produced, however, they are an attractive and extremely important part of the North American P-51 Mustang story and one which can now be told in a modelling sense with the release of this new kit. The latest release from our relatively new 1/48th scale Mustang tooling includes an additional component frame which allows the modeller to produce this distinctive early ‘filletless’ D model variant of the fighter, something a little different for any WWII aircraft model collection. The beautiful box artwork which accompanies this release is being shown on the Workbench blog for the first time, but as this interesting new kit is already available in model shops everywhere, this evocative image has certainly helped to make this one of our most popular releases of the year and one which will no doubt find itself under many a Christmas tree this coming festive season. Let’s take a closer look at the details behind the aircraft featured on the box artwork, one of the two scheme options included with the kit.
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- With its prominent position as one of the great fighting aeroplanes Second World War, the North American P-51 Mustang has long been a favourite with Airfix modellers and for many years now, the majority of our kit ranges have included examples of Mustangs in one scale or another. The Airfix team announced the development of a newly designed 1/48th scale P-51D Mustang kit back in 2016 and since that date, the various releases from this tooling have proved incredibly popular, with each one quickly selling through and requiring to swift re-run to satisfy an insatiable demand for this beautiful kit. The latest release from a tooling which is already being regarded as an Airfix classic (A05138), presents the ‘D’ model variant of the Mustang in a strikingly different guise, that of an early ‘filletless’ tail example. For an aircraft which earned such a significant combat reputation during the Second World War, it’s achievements are made all the more remarkable when considering the Merlin engine powered versions of the Mustang only arrived in the European Theatre of Operation during early 1944. These B and C variant fighters presented the USAAF with the ability to escort their bombers deep into enemy occupied Europe and American pilots an aircraft which would prove the equal of anything the Luftwaffe could send up to face them. The Mustang helped to turn the tide of the air war in Europe and the Allies were not about to let their hard fought advantage slip.
