North American P-51D/K Mustang Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Kagero is a prolific publisher of great military historical references, especially in World War II military aviation. This latest release is out of the 'SMI Library' series covering the P-51D, P-51K, and the post-war Cavalier F-51D Mustangs. This title has over 120 period images of the P-51 from World War II including shots of some better-known as well as some distinctive subjects that have been overlooked by many publications previously. The title also has 12 nice color shots from World War II, Korea, and a few international Mustangs that round out the image collection. The title also has six nice color profiles of selected subjects, four of which are replicated in the decal sheet included in the book.

The aircraft provided in the color profiles and associated decals include:

• P-51D-15-NA, 44-14955, 487 FS/352 FG, HO-I, Belgium, 1945, 'Dopey Okie' as flown by Lt. Karl Dittmer
• P-51D-20-NA, 44-63497, 353 FS/354 FG, FT-I, Paris, 1945, 'Angel's Playmate' as flown by Capt. Bruce Carr
• P-51D-5-NA, 44-13712, 363 FS/357 FG, B6-V, 1944, 'Reluctant Rebel' as flown by Major Robert Foy
• P-51D-15-NA, 44-15392, 2 FS/2 ACG, 20, 1945, 'Cheese Cake Chassie' as flown by Lt. BJ Mayer

The descriptions of each subject is provided in English and Polish and these color profiles are very nicely done. The decals are printed by Cartograf so you know the quality is there as well.

With distinctive subjects each in all three scales (1/32, 1/48, 1/72), the modeler can have a nicely produced reference AND decals all for about the same price the average decal sheet these days. This set will really be nice with the Tamiya kits in all scales or your favorite kit as well. You will need to provide your own maintenance stenciling for the airframe as well as some of the distinctive markings such as the lightning bolts from the 2nd Air Commando Group example.

My sincere thanks to Kagero for this review sample!