Lt. John Kirk was 19 years old when he went to the European theater of operations and received a brand new p-51. He was assigned to the 83rd fighter squadron, 78th fighter group, 8th air force. "small boy here" was the British call sign for "fighters in the area" and became the name of this north American p-51d, a very special "mustang." on march 21, 1945 Kirk was at 25,000 feet over Rutland, Germany on an escort mission when an me-262 jet dove past at a 120 degree angle. It had just made a firing pass at b-17s and Kirk and his wingman dived after him in hot pursuit. His airspeed indicator shot past the red line of 510 mph and his wingman blew his engine trying to follow. Kirk scored hits on the me-262's starboard side and engine and the German pilot left the aircraft at about 10,000 feet. "small boy" was one of the fastest stock p-51s ever and in 60 missions, never had an abort or any minor malfunction. It was the last American aircraft crashed in Europe when a replacement pilot misjudged a landing on VE day.
