Tamiya 1/48 P-51D Mustang

“Here comes the Mustang”! The 78th Fighter Group was a unit of the Eighth Air Force stationed at Duxford. Flying P-47 Thunderbolt since 1943, before converting to the P-51 ‘D’ and ‘K’ Mustangs, by January 1945.

Lt. Frank Oiler recalled “The group in concert said, they wouldn’t give up flying the P-47 for anything in the world”. He stated “our P-47’s were pulled from our icy cold fingers to 9th AF units in mid-December. Our brothers in the 56th FG had all the luck in the AF, as they got to keep theirs”, which was the only 8th AF unit not to fly the Mustang.

The last big P-47 combat mission was December 19th, 1944, still equipping the 83rd and 84th squadrons. Urgent support was needed for the “Battle of the Bulge”, which had been raging since December 16th in the Ardennes Forest. The 78th was the only group to get their planes airborne.

Summary of missions from January through April 1945

Missions now, almost always involved strafing, with a growing list of Mustang and pilot casualties. The 78th went through more replacement pilots in the first 4 months of 1945 than all of 1944.

Total Missions: 70; Arial Kills: 73; Strafing Kills: 222; Locomotives Destroyed: 131; Pilots lost to all causes: 26; Pilots captured: 20; Evading; 8

January winter conditions, 5 Mustangs on the January 8th mission, ground looped on takeoff, the mission was scrubbed. Only 14 arial kills (all on the 14th).

February saw 15 P-51s lost between February 20th and 28th.

March the fortunes turned for the better. On March 19th was the unit’s best day and one of the biggest single mission aerial scores by an 8th AF unit. With 32 aircraft shot down, 14 damaged, for the loss of 2 pilots KIA and 3 captured.

April the last mission on the 25th, escorting 11 Lancasters to bomb the “Berghof”, Hitlers Mountain residence, with 12000-lb Tallboy bombs.

Coming off target the 78th met up with B-24’s to hit the marshaling yards at Salzberg. April saw many airfield strafing missions, the biggest on April 16th when the FG attacked the Praha-Kakewice airfield north of Prague. A total of 53 aircraft were destroyed, a 100% score.

On the 20th the 8th HQ ordered a ban on further strafing. The very next day the 78th spotted 20 Me 262’s on the autobahn southeast of Munich, they obeyed orders and did not attack.

July 10th saw the last casualty, when Capt. James Farmer perished in a flying accident.

The 78th had orders to go to the PTO, however with the surrender of Japan, the 78th was sent home, October 11th on the Queen Mary. It disbanded at Camp Kilmer on October 18th, 1945, from which they had departed 35 months earlier for Duxford.

The 78th had only 10 aerial aces, as they took their escort duties seriously protecting the bombers. Strafing kills were also counted in the pilots overall total. Top 3 aerial aces were 1) Maj. Quince Brown 12.34 kills / 2 strafing, P-47D only. 2) Capt. Alwin Juchheim 9 kills / 6 strafing, P-47D only. 3) Lt. Col. Eugene Roberts Jr. 9 kills, 0 strafing, P-51D only.

** Col Landers had 14.5, only 2.5 in P-51 with the 78th FG.

Group ranked 6th among the fifteen 8th AF fighter groups, scoring 338 kills with the loss of 137 pilots.

The P-51 was a bad choice of aircraft by the 8th AF for ground attack missions. The 78th should have continued with the P-47 till wars end.

This is a Tamiya P-51D, the kit is the best on the market. Straight forward, 2.25 sprues and clear parts. The engine detail is non-existent but aftermarket products can be found if you choose to display it with open engine cover. The flaps are positionable in the up or lowered position; control surfaces are all molded in place. The cockpit is well done and it can be displayed with an open or closed canopy. Kit comes with a sitting pilot.

All painting instructions provide with Tamiya paint color numbers. Purchased appropriate masks for clear parts.

Steps 1 and 2 is the cockpit build and closure of the 2 fuselage halves. Steps 3 through 5 are the wheel well and wings, mating them to the fuselage. Steps 6 through 8 is the flaps, bomb shackles, radiator shutter, landing gear and drop tanks. Steps 9 through 10 is the propeller, gunsight, canopy and antenna. Use RAF type mirror.

Tamiya sprays: AS-20 Insignia White, TS-27 – Pure White, TS-30 Silver Leaf, AS-6 Olive Drab, Interior Green, Black and Leather.

For decals I used Superscale 48-1137, P-51D Mustangs of the 8th AF. 83rd FS/78th FG and 355th FG CO (MAN O’ WAR). The checkerboard comes in 3 parts with instructions how to cut the squares to wrap it.

The Tamiya P-51 Mustangs are the easiest models to build and render the best results for the least effort. If you want to take a break from some of the more challenging projects 'out there', this is still one of the best kits available to just have fun and still achieve a master's result.

1. Fine Scale Modeler Books - American Fighters over Europe

2. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces - #1 “Mustang Aces of the Eight Air Force” (1994) – Jerry Scutts

3. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces - #115 “Aces of the 78th Fighter Group” (2013) – Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Mark Rossmann

19 August 2025