P-51D Mustang

USAAF

John C Meyer

$23.98

1 Left  09/06/09

American fighter ace Dominic Gentile earned his wings - and his first combat victories - while flying with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942. After transferring to the US Army 8th Air Force, he established an extraordinary combat record, ultimately destroying 30 enemy planes. Gentile flew the P-51B in combat and this P-51D during a war-bond tour of the U.S. The legendary P-51 Mustang was one of the most capable fighters of World War II. With a blistering top speed of 437 mph and a range of a thousand miles, the was a superb bomber escort and a lethal foe of enemy interceptors. During World War II, P-51s destroyed 4.950 enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat.

NASA

Fitz Fulton

Edwards AFB, CA

$26.98

1 Left 09/06/09

One of the world's most distinguished test pilots, Fitz Fulton has flown such legendary craft as the B-58 Hustler, the XB-70 Valkarie (at Mach 3!), and the huge mother ships which launched the X-1, X-2 and X-15 rocket planes. His experience in the amazing F-104 came in the 1980s when he flew the fighter as a test support airplane for NASA.

USAAF 343rd FG 11th FS

 Aleutian Tigers

Aleutian Islands 1943

$16.48

Whether it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40, in all its many variations, was a successful and versatile fighter aircraft during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault led against the Japanese remain among the most popular fighter aircraft of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II while flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft during mid-December 1941. P-40s were first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the start of the war but they soon gave way to more advanced designs such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightening (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the best overall fighters of the war but it was a rugged, effective design available in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently required them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were built.

F6F-5 Hellcat

Commander David McCampbell

MB97472

$34.48