Hurry Home Honey tells the story behind a P-51 Mustang whose nose art carried a personal message from war to home. The aircraft was flown by Capt. Richard A. Peterson of the 357th Fighter Group, one of the Eighth Air Force units that escorted bombers deep into occupied Europe.
Richard Peterson and Hurry Home Honey
Peterson named his Mustang Hurry Home Honey for his wife, keeping a reminder of home on the aircraft he flew in combat. The 357th Fighter Group operated from RAF Leiston and became one of the best-known American Mustang groups of the European air war.
The P-51's combination of range, speed and high-altitude performance allowed fighter units such as the 357th to accompany bomber formations far beyond the reach of earlier escorts. By 1944, Mustangs were not simply defending bombers; they were also ranging ahead of the formations to engage Luftwaffe fighters before they could reach the bomber stream.
The Relic Connection
The artwork is paired with an authentic P-51 Mustang fuselage fragment, connecting Peterson's story to the construction of the aircraft type he flew. The relic does not come from Peterson's Mustang itself, and the distinction is preserved as part of the artwork's provenance.
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