This is a repaint for the P-51D Mustang included in the full version of the Reno Air Races expansion for MSFS 2020, as well as the default P-51D Mustang included in MSFS 2024. This repaint depicts the restored P-51D Mustang USAAF Serial No. 44-13521, registered as G-MRLL, named "Marinell", as it looks today, owned and operated by Isabel Rutland (Northwind), based at Cotswold Airport in England.

This repaint has been specially refined for use with the excellent Improvement Mod by Randall Snow, available here.

P-51D-5-NA Mustang, USAAF Serial No. 44-13521, was manufactured at North American Aviation's Inglewood, California, factory and was shipped to the UK from the New Jersey docks on D-Day, June 6, 1944. After arrival and reassembly in Britain, it was taken on charge on June 30, 1944, with assignment to the 504th Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, based at Fowlmere Airfield in Cambridgeshire. Quickly it became the personal mount of Capt. Bradford V. Stevens, who christened his new P-51 'Marinell', which was the nickname of a girl he had dated while in training in the States, named Mary Anella Stokes. Throughout the month of July and early August 1944, the Mustang chalked up a total of four confirmed victories in combat, shooting down two Bf 109s and two Fw 190s. On August 13, 1944, Capt. Stevens, flying 'Marinell', carried out a bombing and strafing mission against railway targets in France. Landing back at Fowlmere at 11:30 that morning, he stated in his combat report that he had encountered heavy, intense and accurate flak. Later that day, another pilot of the same squadron, 2nd Lt. Meyer R. Winkelman, flew 'Marinell' on a dive-bomb and area sweep mission to Beauvais, France. Unfortunately, on that mission, 'Marinell' was downed near Feuguieres, France, with the tragic loss of 2nd Lt. Winkelman. The exact reason for the crash has never been fully established, though flak is considered the probable cause. Winkelman, an Oklahoma-born pilot who had been a promising football player during his time at Odessa High School in Texas, was buried in Epinal American Cemetery. The wreckage of the Mustang never went far and eventually was placed on display in a nearby museum.

In 1998, the wreckage was acquired by warbird restorer, pilot and skilled engineer, Maurice Hammond, who had it shipped back to the UK for full restoration to flight. Having completed his first ground-up P-51D restoration, 'Janie', in 2001, Hammond's work on returning 'Marinell' to flight began in earnest in 2005, and it was registered with the CAA as G-MRLL. While the fuselage and tail were rebuilt in-house by Hammond and his team in the UK, the task of rebuilding the wings, flaps and ailerons was outsourced to Odegaard Wings in Fargo, North Dakota. Hammond's company, Eye Tech Engineering, specializes in Merlin engine rebuilds, and were tasked with the overhaul of a new Packard-built Merlin engine acquired for the aircraft (the engine was found stored in a garage in a Suffolk village). In March 2008, at the airfield at Topcroft Farm, home to Hammond's aircraft collection, Hardwick Warbirds, the completed fuselage and wing were mated and the aircraft was once again standing on its own landing gear for the first time since August 1944. Over the next two months the engine was mounted, systems completed, ground runs undertaken and final checks completed. Having been returned to the same color scheme it had in 1944, 'Marinell' made its first post-restoration test flight on July 26, 2008. A year later, in August 2009, Hammond flew 'Marinell' back to Fowlmere for a special visit, marking 65 years since it had last set off on its final mission. This was also the first time a 339th FG Mustang had been seen at Fowlmere since 1945. In subsequent years, 'Marinell' was a popular sight at airshows and fly-ins throughout the UK.

In 2011, Mary Anella Stokes, now named Mary Stokes Shuffleton, traveled to England where she was able to visit up-close with the Mustang which had been named after her so many years prior. During the visit, she signed the port-side engine cowling. Mary Shuffleton lived to the age of 99, passing away in 2023. Bradford Stevens, the original pilot of 'Marinell', survived the war and lived to the age of 97, passing away in 2012.

In 2016, Maurice Hammond made the difficult decision of selling the Mustang, and it was soon acquired by Carlo Coltri and relocated to Lake Garda, Italy. Not long after, the aircraft was also placed on the n-number registry as N383FJ. It remained in Italy, flown on a limited basis, for the next seven years until when in 2023 it was sold to Isabel Rutland (Northwind) and flown to Duxford Airfield in England. In November 2023, the aircraft was returned to the UK register as G-MRLL, and it was initially based at Duxford until when during the summer of 2025 the Mustang was relocated to North Weald Airfield, and then to its current home at Cotswold Airport. Its owner and pilot, Isabel Rutland, keeps the aircraft very active in the skies over the UK.

Special repaint notice - In MSFS 2020, you will see a red line in a small portion of the static spinner model. That's not by error. The reason for this is because that section of the texture is not only used by the static spinner model, but is also used by the animated/spinning model of the spinner. Therefore, that small red line must be applied on that section of the static spinner, as it is that small line which gets represented as the large red stripe on the spinning model of the spinner. This issue is not present in MSFS 2024.