P-51D Mustang

Captain

Dominic Gentile

USAAF Shangri La

$23.98

1 Left  11/15/07

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

$24.98

1 Left 11/15/07

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.

A6M5

$19.98

1 Left  11/15/07

No other aircraft surpasses the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen ("ree-sin," Japanese for Zero Fighter) as the symbol of Japanese air power during World War II. Mitsubishi designed the Zero fighter but co-produced the airplane with Nakajima. The two companies built more than 10,000 Zeros between March 1939 and August 1945. Design work began in 1937 when the Japanese Navy staff directed Mitsubishi and Nakajima to submit proposals for a new aircraft to replace the Mitsubishi A5M carrier fighter (Allied codename CLAUDE). Combat trials began in China during July 1940 and by fall, Zero pilot's felled nearly 100 Chinese aircraft for the loss of only two Zeros to friendly fire. Japanese naval aviators flew 328 combat-ready A6M2 Reisens against American forces at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines. The Reisen totally outclassed all Allied fighter aircraft for the first six months of the war until American carrier forces stopped the Japanese in the Coral Sea and at Midway in May and June 1942. The loss of four Japanese aircraft carriers at Midway underscored a deadly trend. The Japanese were losing experienced pilots and aircraft faster than they could replace them. Yet for almost two more years the ZEKE, as the Allies code-named it, remained an ominous threat.

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.

2nd FS "Old Crow"

Bud Anderson

$24.48

Operating out of Leiston Field in England, Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson flew with the 357th Fighter Group during the Second World War. The 357th produced more "Aces" than any other group during the war and Anderson was one of 42 such pilots with 16.25 victories. Matchbox have chosen to model Anderson's famous mount "Old Crow" and have included details right down to the pilot's name printed beneath the canopy rail.

RAF No.312 (Czech) Sqn, Adolf Vybiral

MB91730

$24.48

Initally equipped with Hurricanes, the RAF No.312 Squadron soon upgraded to Spitfires of numerous variants. Made up of Czechoslovakian pilots, 312 Squadron enjoyed many success and one of it's most notable pilots was Flt Lt Adolf Vybiral who eventually became an "Ace" finishing the war with 6.5 aerial victories. Matchbox have reproduced one of the MkII Spitfires flown by Vybiral, serial number P8081, coded DU-R

F6F-5 Hellcat

Commander David McCampbell

MB97472

$34.48