Hobby Master 1/48 HA7743A P-51D Mustang Capt. Abner M. Aust, Jr. 457th FS, 506th FG, 7th AF, Iwo Jima, 1945 With Name Plate

Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51, called Mustang by the British, had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back.

Abner Aust Jr. joined the 457th FS/ 506th FG as a P-51 pilot in October 1944. In March 1945 Aust’s unit deployed to Tinian followed by Iwo Jima where he was credited with five aerial victories and three more ground aircraft during enemy airfield strafing. Abner Aust became the last U.S. Ace of WWII when he scored his fourth and fifth victories on August 10, 1945. In 1963 Aust was promoted to Colonel and served as Command of the 33rd FW in Florida then Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.

Specifications for the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang The main difference between the D variant and the K variant was the use of the Aeroproducts propeller on the K instead of the Hamilton Standard propeller that was unavailable around the time of these P-51s being produced. However some K’s will be seen with Hamilton Standard because of field changes.