Hobby Master 1/48 HA7744B P-51D Mustang Hon Mistake 1st Lt. W.G. Ebersole Iwo Jima 1945
Detailed 1:48 scale model of the North American Aviation P-51D Mustang fighter 44-72587 'Hon Mistake' as flown by 1st Lieutenant William G Ebersole from Iwo Jima in 1945 while serving with the 462nd fighter squadron of the 506th fighter group, part of the US 7th air force.
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.
In the summer of 1945 P-51D Mustang 44-72587 number 619 was assigned to the 462nd FS/ 506th FG stationed at Airfield 3 on Iwo Jima. The aircraft was shared by 1st Lt. William G. Ebersole and 2nd Lt. James R. Bercaw. Ebersole was the youngest member of the 462nd FS and flew twelve missions with ten of them being VLR missions. Lt. Ebersole was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Rumor has it P-51 “Hon Mistake” received the name after shooting up an outhouse while a Japanese soldier was using the facility.
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.