1. Introduction
1.1. Aircraft
North American P-51D Mustang
One-of-a-kind carrier-capable evaluation variant of the famous World War II fighter.
U.S. Navy. Serial number 44-14017.
USS Shangri-La (CV-38), sea trials, November 1944.
1.1. Aircraft
North American P-51D Mustang
One-of-a-kind carrier-capable evaluation variant of the famous World War II fighter.
U.S. Navy. Serial number 44-14017.
USS Shangri-La (CV-38), sea trials, November 1944.
1.2. Story
In 1944, when the USAAF initiated the bombing raids against the Japanese Home Islands from the Marianas, the lack of escort fighters became a concern. One of the solutions under consideration was to launch fighters from the U.S.Navy's aircraft carriers located closer to Japan. However, no naval fighter had enough range (that is, without putting the carrier in danger of a retaliatory strike from the Japanese land-based aircraft). The only fighter which seemed suitable was the North American P-51 Mustang. The Mustang, however, was not a naval aircraft – it was designed without regard to the specific requirements peculiar to naval operations. Nevertheless, due to urgency, it was decided to modify a standard P-51D and investigate its suitability for carrier operations. Under the name "Project Seahorse", this program saw the outfitting of the P-51D serial number 44-14017 with a catapult hook, an arrestor hook and a number of other internal modifications to make the airframe withstand the extra stress. In September and October 1944, simulated carrier landing tests were conducted on one of the Navy's land bases (NAF Mustin Field) by Lt.Elder, a test pilot with experience of carrier-suitability trials with other types of aircraft. Enough data was amassed to go to the next stage: live carrier operations at sea. The USS Shangri-La, a newly-launched Essex class carrier undergoing her shakedown cruise, was selected. On 15 November, Lt.Elder made 25 landings and launches from the Shangri-La. Although these went well, it was clear that the landing parameters left too small a margin for safety (most worryingly, the margin between stall speed and maximum arrestor cable engagement speed was only around 12km/h). The whole process was simply too unforgiving for line pilots.
By early 1945, the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima were conquered. Their airfields provided the USAAF fighter units with bases from which they could escort bombers to mainland Japan. Thus the navalized P-51 was no longer needed, and the program never went any further.
In 1944, when the USAAF initiated the bombing raids against the Japanese Home Islands from the Marianas, the lack of escort fighters became a concern. One of the solutions under consideration was to launch fighters from the U.S.Navy's aircraft carriers located closer to Japan. However, no naval fighter had enough range (that is, without putting the carrier in danger of a retaliatory strike from the Japanese land-based aircraft). The only fighter which seemed suitable was the North American P-51 Mustang. The Mustang, however, was not a naval aircraft – it was designed without regard to the specific requirements peculiar to naval operations. Nevertheless, due to urgency, it was decided to modify a standard P-51D and investigate its suitability for carrier operations. Under the name "Project Seahorse", this program saw the outfitting of the P-51D serial number 44-14017 with a catapult hook, an arrestor hook and a number of other internal modifications to make the airframe withstand the extra stress. In September and October 1944, simulated carrier landing tests were conducted on one of the Navy's land bases (NAF Mustin Field) by Lt.Elder, a test pilot with experience of carrier-suitability trials with other types of aircraft. Enough data was amassed to go to the next stage: live carrier operations at sea. The USS Shangri-La, a newly-launched Essex class carrier undergoing her shakedown cruise, was selected. On 15 November, Lt.Elder made 25 landings and launches from the Shangri-La. Although these went well, it was clear that the landing parameters left too small a margin for safety (most worryingly, the margin between stall speed and maximum arrestor cable engagement speed was only around 12km/h). The whole process was simply too unforgiving for line pilots.
By early 1945, the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima were conquered. Their airfields provided the USAAF fighter units with bases from which they could escort bombers to mainland Japan. Thus the navalized P-51 was no longer needed, and the program never went any further.
1.3. Model Kit
P-51D Mustang from Airfix (kit # A01004), 1:72 scale.
2. Kit Overview
The Airfix Mustang, first issued in 2012, is a very good kit. It is accurate, well engineered and quite decently detailed – you can build a respectable model out of the box without buying any additional after-market detail sets. Good fit, easy assembly and adequate instruction deserve praise. And a special "thank you" goes to Airfix for giving us the flaps as separate parts. The enclosed decal, while not spectacular, is quite passable. Last but not least, the kit is inexpensive.
Photographs of the kit's content can be found inside the reviews referenced on the respective page at Scalemates.
3. Construction
3.1. Building
For me, this was one of the rare builds where, firstly, the aircraft itself is very simple in terms of shape and the amount of visible details (no insane tangles of stuff in the landing gear bays, no visible radial engine to be detailed, no intake or exhaust channels to build from scratch, etc.), and, secondly, the model kit is both well-detailed and well-engineered. Thus, not much additional work was required. My modifications included:
1) Scratch-built catapult bridle hook and arrestor hook to represent the carrier-capable Mustang in accordance with available photographs.
2) New main wheels from a resin set (produced by CMK). The kit's wheels are not too bad, but they have diamond-shaped tire thread, whereas the photographs of the "44-14017" show a different (square) thread pattern.
3) A number of small scratch-built details, such as the gun camera window; the gunsight reflector glass; the tailwheel bay door hinges; the small poles inside the ventral intake and exhaust channels; the caps that covered the machine guns barrels (according to the available photographs).
4) Clear navigation lights, including red and green wingtip lights and clear dorsal and tail lights.
5) The radio aerial that, most inconveniently for us modellers, runs right through the transparent canopy.
1) Scratch-built catapult bridle hook and arrestor hook to represent the carrier-capable Mustang in accordance with available photographs.
2) New main wheels from a resin set (produced by CMK). The kit's wheels are not too bad, but they have diamond-shaped tire thread, whereas the photographs of the "44-14017" show a different (square) thread pattern.
3) A number of small scratch-built details, such as the gun camera window; the gunsight reflector glass; the tailwheel bay door hinges; the small poles inside the ventral intake and exhaust channels; the caps that covered the machine guns barrels (according to the available photographs).
4) Clear navigation lights, including red and green wingtip lights and clear dorsal and tail lights.
5) The radio aerial that, most inconveniently for us modellers, runs right through the transparent canopy.
3.2. Painting & Markings
According to available historical photographs, the "44-14017" was a standard natural metal-colored P-51D without anything in the way of special markings. On my model, therefore, everything (including the cockpit interior, the landing gear, etc.) is painted as it would have appeared on any standard factory-fresh P-51D.
The national insignia decals and some technical markings came from the kit, and the serial numbers I had custom-printed.
3.3. Presentation
Obviously, the only proper way to showcase the unique carrier-capable variant of the Mustang is to present it on a carrier deck. Thus my little vignette is replicating a historical photograph where the "44-14017" is getting ready to take off from the deck of USS Shangri-La.
The flight deck crew figures came from a couple of very old sets (Fujimi, Italeri), and the pilot's figure is the one included with the Airfix kit.
4. Reference Data
[1] General information on the P-51 Mustang in Wikipedia: link
[2] P-51 Mustang in Action | Aircraft in Action Series # 211 | Squadron/Signal Publications, 2004.
[3] P-51 Mustang Walk Around | Walk Around Series # 7 | Squadron/Signal Publications, 1996.
[4] "Project Seahorse" – information and photographs: link
