Aircraft - P51D Mustang Greetings Card

Maj Richard Hewitt’s P-51D Mustang ‘Big Dick’ of the 82nd Fighter Squadron based at Duxford. The name of the aircraft refers to a craps call for double five and not to the pilots prowess (so I have been reliably informed). North American Aviation’s P-51 Mustang was the first U.S. fighter aeroplane to push its nose over Europe after the fall of France. Then called the P-51, it scurried back and forth across the channel, taking on the best the Axis could put in the air. Mustangs met and conquered every German plane from the early Junkers to the sleek, twin-jet Messerschmitt 262s. Although first designed for the British as a medium-altitude fighter, the Mustang excelled in hedge-hopping strafing runs and long-range escort duty. It made a name for itself by blasting trains, ships and enemy installations in western Europe and by devastating Axis defences prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy.