North American P-51D 44-13521 Mustang Marinell Northwind

North American P-51D 44-13521 Mustang Marinell | Northwind

North American P-51D 44-13521 Mustang Marinell flown by Isabel Rutland at Shuttleworth Premier Airshow 2025

STATUS: Airworthy
LOCATION: Duxford
OWNER: Northwind
ROLE: Fighter
BUILT:1944
LENGTH: 32ft 9.5in
WINGSPAN: 37.5ft
ENGINE: Rolls-Royce Merlin V1650-7
MAXIMUM SPEED: 436mph
RANGE: 1,155 miles
ARMAMENT: 6x 50 Cal Browning, 2x 1000 lb bombs, 10 x 5″ rockets

Arguably one of the most famous fighters of the Second World War, the North American P-51D Mustang was constructed as a long range fighter capable of escorting allied bombers deep into Germany.

P-51D 44-13521 Mustang was manufactured by North American Aviation in 1944 and was shipped to England on 6 June of the same year. Assigned to the 504 Fighter Squadron of the 339 Fighter Group based at Folwmere in Cambridgeshire, the aircraft was assigned to a young captain under the name of Bradley Stevens, who named the aircraft ‘Marinell’ after a girl he met whilst completing his combat training.

On the 13 August 1944, Lieutenant Myer Winkleman was flying ‘Marinell’ when the aircraft was shot down over France.

In 1998 Maurice Hammond acquired the wreckage and shipped the aircraft back to the UK with plans for a full restoration to flight. This plan came to fruition in July 2008 when ‘Marinell’ flew again for the first time in 64 years.

The aircraft was sold to Carlo Coltri in 2016 who in turn sold the aircraft on to Northwind in 2023, who still operate the aircraft to this day. Maintained by the Aircraft Restoration Company, the aircraft is currently based at Duxford, a short stone’s throw away from ‘Marinell’s’ original home, Fowlmere.