HA7701 -- North American Aviation P-51D Mustang "Feeble Eagle" 353rd FS, 354th FG., 1945 "Lt. Col. Glenn Eagleston"

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.

As a member of the 354th FG (Pioneers) and the 353 FS during WWII Glenn Eagleston became their top ace with 18.5 victories, 2 more probable, 7 damaged aircraft and at least 5 more destroyed on the ground. His victories were achieved while flying almost 100 missions in P-47s or P-51s. Eagleston quickly became known as a “fighter pilot’s fighter pilot”. On one mission Eagleston talked another P-51 pilot; that had difficulty maintaining flight and was going to bail out; all the way from Berlin to a safe landing in England.

Scale 1:72