Monday, March 31, 2014

Scale Aviation Modeller International 04/2014

The heritage of the P-51D Mustang is well known, so I won't go into all the finer details of how this aircraft came into existence, suffice it to say that a good airframe from North American Aviation was made into an even better one by mating the British Rolls Royce Merlin to it. This provided what can be said to be the finest fighter and long range escort aircraft of the Second World War, seeing action on all fronts. With the war's end came the need for the United States to dispose of large numbers of these aircraft. Many, like those surviving in Germany, were cut up for scrap usually by the local German population, an ignominious end for such fine aircraft. Those that survived and returned to the United States were either put to service by local Air National Guard Units, or were put up for sale to many fledgling Air Forces around the world. Many of these saw service with the free nations of Europe such as France, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands. Others went to Commonwealth Countries such as Canada, Australia (who also built them under licence), New Zealand and South Africa. Some, through illegal sales and acquisitions, ended up with the Chel Ha'Avir in Israel. Many more ended up in South and Central American countries, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, the subject of this build.

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