When you ask such a leading question as ‘Which was the best fighter aircraft of WWII?’, you really do open an aviation can of worms. There are some compelling arguments for quite a number of aircraft types, which flew with air force and navy units and on both the Allied and Axis forces. You could make a very good case for an aircraft that was produced in greater numbers than any other, for one which was so technically advanced, or one that held the best combat record for the longest period, as all of these attributes would have certainly elevated each aircraft in to contention for the title. You will also find that various commentators can convince you that a particular aircraft deserves the title, even though you have a pretty good idea which one you would choose, but despite all of these variable parameters, there is one aircraft that will be high on every list – the magnificent North American P-51 Mustang. A superb fighting machine, the Mustang was the product of an Anglo-American project, as the RAF were desperate for anything the US could offer us, in our greatest time of need. Even though it began as an RAF project, it was the USAAF that were to create the Mustang legend, but did the much vaunted Mustang deserve all its accolades, or was it simply a case of being in the right place at the right time?
One of the most significant battles of WWII was without doubt the Allied bombing campaign against Germany. By night RAF bombers would pound targets in ever increasing numbers and by day, the US Air Force would do the same, whilst trying to knock out as many Luftwaffe fighters as they could. The overwhelming industrial prowess of the US meant that resources were almost limitless, in their pursuit of ultimate victory, but by no means did they enjoy an easy ride. It is a common misconception that these massive numbers of bombers were going to single handedly pound Germany into submission and that victory was simply a matter of time. In actual fact, this was not the case and the hideous toll of this conflict was felt on both sides – Germany was fighting back.
Allied military planners thought that area saturation bombing by night and targeted bombing by day would soon have a devastating impact on Germany. The devastation it would wreak on the German civilian population, would force them to turn against their leaders and implore them to sue for peace – well, that was the plan. What actually happened was this – as the raids got heavier and more frequent, German defences, which had been swamped at first, began to get their act together and started to mount a very significant opposition against the raids. Also, rather than turning against their masters, the German people seemed to be galvanised in the face of this adversity and their resolve seemed more determined than ever. German anti-aircraft batteries and fighter defences were taking a frightening toll of Allied bombers.
The German challenge to the Allied bombing campaign was so effective, that commanders had no option but to take a break from the offensive. This was certainly to allow a strategic re-evaluation of the tactics and infrastructure of the offensive, but significantly, it was to stave off any possibility of Allied bomber crews becoming almost melancholic with the pressure being placed upon them and the loss of so many of their comrades. When the raids resumed, there were slightly different tactics employed – even heavier raids, going deeper in to Germany and some technological advances, which again gave the Allies a distinct advantage, for a period. Again though, the German defences overcame these initial set-backs and began to shoot bombers down in large numbers and critically, reduce the strategic effectiveness of the raids. For a second time, the Allied raids were halted. Even the German defenders knew that the bombers would be back and after a short strategic break, the RAF came back at night and the USAAF were back by day, but this time things would be different. For the first time, a new American fighter accompanied the Flying Fortresses and Liberators of the USAAF and they stayed with them right over their targets, deep into Germany – the Mustang had arrived!
The North American P-51 Mustang was not only the latest fighting aircraft the Allies had available to them, it also possessed a number of attributes that made it eminently suitable for the job at hand. It was fast, reliable and an extremely sturdy gun platform. Importantly, it was quite fuel efficient and by employing the use of long range fuel tanks, it possessed the range to stay with the bombers they were protecting all the way to their targets. This had a massively positive phycological impact on the bomber crews they were protecting and a devastatingly negative impact on beleaguered Luftwaffe fighter pilots. Important as these factors were, I personally think that the real impact of the Mustang was something far more sinister. Whilst it gave the USAAF all these extra capabilities, it did so whilst retaining a massive threat to the Luftwaffe – it could go on the offensive at any time! If the Luftwaffe came up to challenge the bomber streams, Mustangs would drop their fuel tanks and challenge them head on. In fact, the Mustang was so effective at shooting down Luftwaffe fighters, that they actually wanted the Luftwaffe to come and take them on.
As if this were not enough, the most impactful attribute the Mustang possessed was its ability to go and hunt the Luftwaffe. Mustang fighter units were so good at eliminating the Luftwaffe fighter threat, that they were seeing fewer and fewer enemy aircraft coming to challenge them in the skies above Germany. That being the case, a Focke Wulf destroyed on the ground was as good as one in the air and Mustang units would search for Luftwaffe airfields and destroy everything in sight – they were positively strangling the Luftwaffe into submission! With less German fighters in the air, the bomber offensive gained increased momentum and now, for the first time, it could be argued that the outcome of the war was only a matter of time – the day of the Mustang had arrived!
The Mighty P-51D Mustang in die-cast metal
It will come as no surprise to you that the famous North American P-51D Mustang has been a popular subject with the die-cast manufacturing companies. Indeed I think that it would be safe to say that every company has incorporated the Mustang in to their product line up and the die-cast version has to be considered as one of the most heavily collected models in our beloved hobby. With a multitude of attractive schemes and the exploits of numerous pilots to celebrate, the Mustang will continue to be amongst the most popular models in die-cast and I would certainly expect new models to appear in existing ranges and in future developments as technology allows manufacturing improvements to be incorporated. Of the many die-cast versions produced so far, I have to say that my personal favourite is definitely the 1/48th scale offering from Hobbymaster – it is absolutely magnificent. There are some spectacularly collectable Mustangs in 1/72nd scale, but the extra size of the 1/48th scale models really does allow the collector to enjoy the size and power of these magnificent aircraft much more effectively. They make for a much more impressive display model. The picture above shows HA7723b ‘BOOMERANG JR’, which was the mount of Col. Arthur Jeffrey of the 434th Fighter Squadron, at the end of 1944. Jeffrey was one of the few USAAF pilots who managed to shoot down one of the Luftwaffe’s Me 163 Komet rocket fighters and this magnificent model is a fitting tribute to his trust mount.
Offer of the Week – Mustang Madness
These awesome models have always been some of the most popular lines at Flying Tigers and our latest Offer of the Week will surely be a hit with our collectors. All of our remaining 1/48th scale Mustang models are being offered at some spectacularly discounted prices, including the model pictured above and this stunning example below. HA7714b has to be one of the most colourful Mustangs of WWII and is a must in amy self respecting Mustang collection. This distinctive aircraft was called ‘Jersey Jerk’ and was the mount of USAAF ace Major Donald J Strait, who flew with the 361st Fighter Squadron, out of RAF Martlesham Heath – without doubt, one of the most eye catching Mustang schemes. These beautiful models are offered at spectacular discounts on the Flying Tigers website now, but our usual warning regarding the very low numbers of some lines certainly stands with these beauties. Wherever possible, I will remove sold out models from the site as they are snapped up, but there may be an occasion where this is not possible and I will have to allocate them on a first to order basis – Good luck with this latest offer – there are some of my favourite models in there!
Deal of the Day – Weekend Review
Unfortunately, we have experienced a few problems with our Deal of the Day offers this week and I definitely had some issues with the mid-week notification Newsletter, which was the reason for the late delivery last night. We began the week by offering our remaining Douglas A-26 Invader models and as usual, we saw some significant ordering activity for these impressive models, which were being made available at almost half price. We do still have small numbers of these models available.
Our Tuesday offer really got things moving, as we offered our entire remaining stocks of 1/200th scale Boeing 707 models. The offer included both Civil and Military models, with many of them produced in very small quantities indeed – even more than this, some of the models, such as the Britannia Airways 707 illustrated above was not previously on the website, had been a long since sold out model and was the only example we had available. What made our offer even more tempting was the fact that many of the models were being offered at half price! Although many have already been snapped up, we do still have some decent numbers available, so please click on this BOEING 707 LINK to be taken straight to this section of our website.
Our Wednesday offer is where things appeared to go a little wrong. Without doubt, some of the most popular models that we have ever had on the Flying Tigers website have been the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II models produced by Hobbymaster and as we are now running down on the majority of our model stocks, we have been asked by a number of our collectors to add the rest of our Phantom models to our sales offers, so that they can fill some gaps in their collections. We decided to do just that, but as I attempted to load up the website, nothing was happening.
I struggled on for some time, before finding out that some maintenance work was taking place on the industrial estate and we had intermittent broadband failure! Great, I though and decided to go with what was on the site, but significantly, I was unable to send the mid-week Deal of the Day update Newsletter, which I only managed to post late last night – for this reason, I will be leaving the current offer on for the coming weekend, to make up for the disruption.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of the confusion. In my rush to get out the mid-week Newsletter, I appear to have confused a number of collectors with my Phantom offer, which I sincerely apologise for – this was most definitely not my intention. A great many of the models on offer are available at just £29.99, but not all of them! Some of the models are now quite rare and some are only available in singles – the website prices are correct and I think that you will agree that we have significantly discounted every single model that we have made available. What I should have said on my newsletter was that prices started FROM 29.99, just to be factually correct, but I hope that you will forgive my little mistake. We do have a number of Phantoms available at £29.99, but whichever one takes your fancy, it will be offered at a significant discount, whilst our current stocks last.
Finally for this week, the website troubles we have experienced, prevented me from offering a fourth model to our readers, as I wanted to keep the Phantoms on offer. As we had actually been asked to feature the Phantoms, I did not want to take them straight off again, after the issues that we had experienced, so I chose to keep them on there. Had I been making another offer, it would have been for our remaining McDonnell Douglas F-101 Voodoo models, but if you click on this THIS VOODOO LINK, you will find the last three examples of this handsome model being offered at just £32.99 each.
That’s me done for another week. I am sorry for the Newsletter disruption and the Phantom confusion – I am off to dust myself down with rolled up copy of Flypast!