Really interesting post, Ernie, but John Landers isn't the pilot I'm looking for. Here's today's clue:
Looking for a pilot, one of whose planes has been popular with modelers (both RC and plastic).
1. A pilot in civilian life, he was rejected the first several times he tried to join the military.
2. No. 1 in one category.
3. He completed flight training shortly after his war began and was assigned to a unit engaged in combat. But it was more than two years before he got his first kill.
4. He flew all three of the planes in David M.'s list of brotherhoods (two of the three in combat), and at least one more.
5. The planes he flew in combat were, in order, the P-40, P-47, and P-51.