#captured

The P-51C-11 “Evalina”, named after the girlfriend of 1st Lt. Oliver E. Strawbridge, was captured by Japanese forces in China on 16 January 1945 while being flown by 2nd Lt. Sam McMillan. As the first fully functional P-51 to fall into Japanese hands, it was quickly repaired and transported to Japan for extensive evaluation, including performance trials and mock dogfights against domestic fighters. Evalina became a valuable tool for developing counter-strategies against the Mustang, one of the few Allied aircraft tested this thoroughly by Japan. Eventually, her generator failed during training, and with no replacement parts available, she was abandoned and reportedly bulldozed into a lake before the war’s end.