A "Little Friend" for the 8th USAAF: 1/144 P51D Mustang

Saviour of the USAAF over the Reich, the fighter that defeated the Luftwaffe in the contest of the skies. Sure the Thunderbolt was the heavy-weight bruiser, but the Mustang could mix it and regain altitude to return to defend the bomber formation.

When "drop-tanked" its range was phenomenal, even visiting Polish airspace on operation sorties in late 1944/45. To quote from Johnnie Johnson's "Full Circle: The Story of Air Fighting":

There was great competition among American fighter pilots to get their hands on the Mustang, Don Blakeslee pleaded with his general to exchange their old Thunderbolts for them. But a great daylight offensive was planned, the Normandy invasion would take place within three month and so the general answered that he did not see how Blakeslee's group could become non-operational for several weeks while they retrained on to the new fighter. 'That's OK, General, sir," replied Don "We can learn how to fly them on the way to the target!" 

Not infeasible if you consider the length of the journeys to and from the Reich, but also a measure of how the American fighter pilots felt they had to so something for their compatriots flying in the daily massed bomber formations.

Meanwhile, this is a nice little kit from Academy, not much to it parts-wise but it paints up a peach.