P-51D Mustang "SCAT VI", Robin Olds, 434th FS, 479th FG, Feb 1945

Product description

Later in WWII the Allied bombers were flying deep into Germany but suffered tremendous losses because of the lack of range the fighter escorts had. German fighters would wait beyond the range of the Allied fighters and then attack the vulnerable bombers. Once the P-51 called Mustang by the British had the Allison engine replaced with a British Merlin it possessed the high performance that had been lacking. With drop tanks the P-51 had the range to escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back.

Robin Olds had 6 kills and 270 hours of combat flying when he completed his first tour of WWII on November 9, 1944. On January 15, 1945 Olds returned to England and became Operations Manager of the 434th FS and on February 9, 1945 was promoted to Major. On April 13, 1945 Major Olds was flying P-51 “Scat VI” 411746 along with 4 other P-51s making strafing runs on a German test site. Due to extreme flak Olds was the only aircraft to make it out but without his right flap and two large portions of the wing. He managed to limp back to home base but instead of bailing out he somehow managed to land the P-51. Scat VI was so badly damaged it was beyond repair. After WWII Robin Olds had 24.5 victories of which 13 were aerial kills. Robin Olds was credited with 4 more victories in the Vietnam War.

The name Scat came from Robin Olds’ room mate at West Point, Scat Davis. When Olds found out Scat would never be a pilot because of an eye problem Robin told Scat that every time he flew Scat would be with him. So from that day on Robin Olds’ aircraft all had Scat and a number. Scat Davis became an  infantry man and was killed be a mortar just after the end of the Battle of the Bulge.  Olds’ last aircraft was F-4 Scat XXVII. Why XXVII, General Olds said it had been about 27 years between flights and it sounded like a good number. General Olds passed in 2007.