COBI Mustang P-51B Set 5869

COBI's Mustang P-51B is a 1:48 model built from 155 blocks, 20.5 cm long with a 23 cm wingspan, in a new colour scheme. The propeller turns, the wheels roll on rubber tires, and all markings are printed.

A British engine made it famous

The Mustang was designed in 1940 to a British order, and with its original Allison engine it was a disappointment. Fast and long-legged at low level, and useless above about 4,500 metres — the engine had no high-altitude supercharger, and the bomber war was fought at 7,000 metres and above. The RAF used early Mustangs for low-level reconnaissance and nothing else.

In 1942 Rolls-Royce engineers tried fitting a Merlin 61 with a two-stage supercharger. The results were startling: the same airframe gained around 80 km/h and could now fight at any altitude a bomber could reach. Packard built the engine under licence in America, and the P-51B is the first production version with it.

That combination — an American airframe of exceptional aerodynamic efficiency and a British engine — produced a fighter that could escort bombers from England to Berlin and back, which nothing before it could do. The consequences for the daylight bombing campaign were immediate.

The B has the original framed canopy rather than the bubble hood of the later D, which is the quickest way to tell them apart.

Specifications

Pieces: 155 · Scale: 1:48
Model dimensions: 20.5 × 23 × 8.5 cm (8.1 × 9.1 × 3.3 in)