media-400813.jpg FRE 2892 A P-51B Mustang (GQ-A, serial number 43-12173) nicknamed "Peg O' My Heart" of the 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group at Boxted, 15 December 1943. Passed for publication 16 Dec 1943 and 13 Jan 1944. Handwritten caption on reverse: '354FG. Boxted. 12/43.' Printed caption on reverse: 'The P-51B - World's Fastest Fighter Plane. A new single-engined figher 'plane, the P-51B, is now escorting Flying Fortresses in raids over Germany. A new, improved version of the Mustang which has been used with such success by the R.A.F., this, the newest aircraft to be used in the European Theatre of Operations, is the longest-range, single-engined fighter plane in the world and one of the fastest. The main differences between it and the Mustang are that it has a Rolls Royce Merlin engine instead of the Allison engine and the addition of auxiliary wing-tanks which increase its range as a high-altitude fighter. Associated Press Photos Show:- Various angle views of the new P-51B and taxi-ing past other ships at a fighter station "somewhere in England". IRV 263255, IRV 263256, IRV 263257, IRV 263258, IRV 263259, IRV 263260. 15-12-43-Y.' On reverse: Associated Press and two US Army General Section Press & Censorship Bureau [Stamps]. Roger Freeman Collection

IWM, Roger Freeman Collection