Mustang IV

I’ve finished this Airfix starter kit of the Mustang IV ‘out of the box in the colours of aircraft KH774 GA S, 112 Sqn. 239 Wing, RAF Cervia, Italy, flown by Ft Lt Ellis F Blanchford between Feb 1945 - Dec 1946

I decided on 2 changes to the Airfix scheme: firstly I omitted the yellow leading edge on the wings as other resources shed doubt that S.GA had this applied. Secondly, I painted the spinner red and white as it should have had rather than black, assuming that Airfix did not want to provide two extra colours in their starter set! 

Overall, this was a lovely build but I did miss the extra decals you get with the full version of the kit. I also got too blasé at the beginning -  putting the decal on the wrong side of the control panel and messing up the undercarriage fittings! Fortunately you can’t even see the control panel and a scalpel and superglue fixed the undercarriage in no time 😊

The Mustang IV (P-51K) was the last version of the Mustang to see service with the RAF. This incorporated a number of improvements, including a bubble hood and an increased armament of 6 x .50" machine guns.  

112 Squadron’s use of shark teeth dates back to July 1941, when inspired by the unusually large air inlet on their P-40 Curtiss Tomahawk, the squadron copied the shark's mouth logo painted on some German Messerschmitt 110s seen earlier in the war. 

After supporting the 8th Army during the campaign in the Western Desert and victory at El Alamein, the squadron moved to Tunisia, Sicily and then in September 1943 to Italy. Receiving Mustangs in June 1944 the squadron provided air support to the Allied armies in Italy for the rest of the War, during which, 112 Squadron had brought down 206 enemy aircraft and destroyed a further 62 on the ground. After a period of occupation duties in northern Italy, the Squadron was disbanded on 30 December 1946.