DESCRIPTION | Paul Mantz (2 August 1903 – 8 July 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races. Mantz was one of the first to recognize the value of purchasing the USAAF's surplus aircraft which were being sold for as little as $350. At the end of the war, Mantz purchased a fleet of 475 war-surplus bombers and fighters, for $55,000. His intention was to use some of this massive armada in film work – at the time, Mantz joked that he had the sixth-largest air force in the world. Mantz would ultimately drain off the fliuds from his fleet and sell the bulk of the aircraft for scrap, keeping a total of twelve planes for his film work. With his film fleet in place, Mantz chose one of the P-51 fighters to convert it into a Bendix Trophy racer. With his long-time mechanic, Cort Johnson, he totally rebuilt the P-51C, stripping out all military issue equipment and modifying the wings with "wet" fuel cells. In the 1946 Bendix Trophy race, all the competitors flew similar converted warbirds but Mantz prevailed with an average speed of 435 mph. He went on to win the Bendix for an unprecedented three consecutive years (1946–1948) with over $125,000.00 in winnings. Jacqueline Cochran (May 11, 1906 – August 9, 1980) was a pioneer American aviator, considered to be one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation. She was appointed director of womens flight training for the United States in 1942, supervising the training of more than one thousand women pilots Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. Following the war, she set numerous records. On May 18, 1953, at Rogers Dry Lake, California, Cochran flew a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force at an average speed of 652.337 mph, becoming the first womanto break the sound barrier. She was the first woman to pilot a bomber across the North Atlantic (in 1941), the first pilot to make blind (instrument) landing, the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier, the first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask, the first woman to reach Mach 2, the first woman enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, the only woman to ever be President of the Federation Aeronautique lnternational (1958-1961), the first woman to fly a fixed-wing, jet aircraft across the Atlantic, and the first woman to enter the Bendix Trans-continental Race. Jacqueline Cochran still holds more distance and speed records than any pilot living or dead, male or female. Kit Features - Parts and decals to build 1 model.
- Finely recessed panel lines
- Over 60 parts
- Optional tires (weighted and unweighted)
- Decals for 2 different mustangs.
- Protected decals and clear parts
- Detailed instruction sheet
- Detailed Painting Instruction
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