Easily the best known American fighter of the War, the Mustang was a capable, long-range escort fighter.  And the “D” model is the best known variant of this well known aircraft.

Let’s look at a colorful example from the 8th Air Force.

The Mustang is one of those designs where they got just about everything right.  Even the earliest versions were capable aircraft, their main shortcoming being an Alison engine that was lacking in performance at higher altitudes.  The famous British Merlin engine was just entering production in the US via the Packard Company, so it seemed an obvious fit to mount that outstanding engine on an already promising airframe.  And the Mustang’s greatest shortcoming was quickly solved…

Mustangs gained their greatest fame escorting the heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force deep into Germany.  Late in the war, that Air Force had grown to enormous size, and could routinely put up over a thousand bombers protected by over a thousand fighters.

“The Millie G” was flown by Maj. Ed Giller of the 55th Fighter Group.  The green and yellow checkers on the nose; and the olive drab rear fuselage are typical group markings for late 1944.  The Olive Drab was discontinued in 1945.  The yellow rudder and red line separating the bare metal from the OD green on the fuselage were used by the 343 Fighter Squadron.  The real “Millie G” was Maj. Giller’s wife.

This is the Tamiya kit.