God I love this airplane. So sexy and just think about how it out performed everything at the time and it was designed by men using pencils and slide rules , no computers!
If you were the enemy and you heard that whistle, that meant your time on earth was over!
play this video, click full screen and turn the sound up.
Now that I'm done drooling and slobbering over the items in the picture (mostly the Cobra). Is that a real deal P-51 or a replica? The reason I'm asking is back several years a guy I used to work with brought in kit airplane magazines and kit plane catalogs. In one of these they had a 4/5 or maybe it was a 7/8 scale P-51 Mustang kit that used either a Chevrolet 350 or a Ford 351 Cleveland engine as the power plant. The engines were pretty much stock except that they were rigged for fuel injection and dry sumped. I wondered that since it's parked among those other Fords that it was a Ford powered replica?
A friend of mine flew P-51Ds from Iwo Jima on VLR B-29 escort and ground attack missions over the Japanese home islands - 458thFS/506thFG, Iwo's No.3 Airfield. He'd been an instructor on P39s, P-40s, P-47s and the P-51C/Ds, but fell in love with the Mustang (who wouldn't?).
I always wondered why an updated version with modern electronics and weapons systems would not fill a slot in the line up still? Probably could buy five for the price of one attack helicopter and the number in the air as opposed to being sidelined for breakdown and maintenance at any time would be of great advantage.
Good Morning All...It was mid-summer, 1967...I recall it was the Dallas/Ft. Worth area
and our Seabee base out of Port Hueneme, California was there, staging our show called
OPERATION RECOVERY in conjunction with the appearance of the Navy BLUE ANGEL flight
demonstration team and the US Army Golden Knights parachuting team...Our own show was
staged thruout the 1967 year in celebration of the Navy Civil Engineer 100th and the
Navy Seabee 25th anniversiaries... I was narrator of our show and got a lot of interviews
and camera time and was able to move about and around at will. There was this organization
there that to this day, I don't know if military or civilian called THE TEXAS AIR FORCE...This
event I wanted to tell you about involved that organizations plane, the P-51 Mustang...
Totally unexpected, as I was gawking and roaming, the engine of this Mustang was lighted-off
with a shuddering, shirt tugging, hair mussing roar.....it seemed as if the Earth, tugged
under-foot....just unconsciously, I had to duck down..... it was if to escape a tunnel of dragged
air away from me...Perhaps I had wandered into a posted , DO NOT ENTER area. Hearing damaging sounds reverberated off the asphalt....underfoot the continued vibrations...the
sounds and feelings increased and leveled-off as some one was throttling the planes engine.
Never saw the Mustang air-borne, however there was an old, prop-driven C-54 that was
part of the 'Angels show...... I wrote a story long ago titled SUMMER OF '67 about these days...
days before going off to Vietnam the first time...that story is posted down in my story section
and told about our show in Belle Chase, LA. Chief
The P51 was an amazing plane! I had the good fortune to grow up around several men who had been pilots in WWII, a couple had flown bombers in Europe and one grand fellow who had been a P 38 pilot in the Pacific theatre. They all had some great stories to share with those kids that cared to listen.
The P51 Mustang is a great fighter but from what I understand that it wouldn't take anywhere near the a damage that the P47 Thunderbolt would & still fly home. They say the P51 Mustang was used more for escort duty than one on one dogfights or bombing. The P47 Thunderbolt was the workhorse of WWll.
That Thunderbolt was an outstanding aircraft; not sexy like the Mustang but a real street fighter that could take a lot of punishment - and dish out even more than it got. It does not get the notoriety it deserves.
The only weakness on the Mustang was that low-mounted radiator. Seems like the pilots were still willing to take the risk on ground attacks. It was still the AF's primary close air support platform in Korea.
I’ve seen them at air shows many times and they are a favorite of mine to.The is something special about that distinct noise they make when they fly by.
I've seen them at air shows many times and they are a favorite of mine to.The is something special about that distinct noise they make when they fly by.
First plastic model I ever assembled was Aurora's kit of a P-40. They'd brought out four WW2 fighters at pretty much the same time: P-38, P-40, Bf-109, and FW-190. The P-38 was molded out of blue plastic, the P-40 was gray, the 109 red and the 190 black. Naturally it was the shark's teeth that sold me on the P-40. Almost forgot, Aurora marketed a fifth WW2 fighter along with the above mentioned quartet: a Zero molded in yellow plastic - a choice of color which I don't think would go over too well these days
I'm curious how the Mustang compared to the P-38 ? Just always liked the P-38 for some reason but I get why the Mustang is so romanticized, its one sweet plane !
My Dad flew P38's, in fact his unit (347th out of Guadalcanal) was the unit that intercepted Yamamoto. His flight was doing routine patrols that day. When people asked about it he said all they saw was water...lots of green and brown water, the other guys (hand picked for the mission) had all the fun.
When I was in Korea the P 51’s were moved over to the ROKAF units and then later they got worn F 86’s as F100’s replaced them for the US. The Mustangs were used by the ROK guys to buzz the DMZ and the sound of their engines was pretty awesome to those of us on the ground.
There's a good book on the Yamamoto mission titled, appropriately, "Killing Yamamoto". Pretty good read and the order to take him out came down from FDR.
The P51 is a great plane. I'm a little partial to the F4U Corsair only because I was promised a ride in one that never happened. This plane was based out of Kalispell, MT and when we lived there we got to know the pilot who was a member of our church. His employer was the owner but Steve was the only one that could handle the plane.
I've seen a bunch of these at different places but this baby was in perfect condition. Best restoration of one I've ever seen. I love the sound of those radial engines.
They had taken all the old bulky radio gear out from behind the pilot's seat and installed a very small jump seat so that he could give rides. Steve was the one who tweeked my son's interest in flying and supported him in getting his commercial pilots license.
We were both to get rides but the move to Colorado threw a clinker in that plan.
I read that the P-51 was a very good aircraft; but, it needed more power:
In the meantime, the British had experimented with Mustangs fitted with the powerful Rolls-RoyceMerlin engine, and they discovered that the Merlin's efficient mechanical supercharger gave the fighter outstanding high-altitude performance. North American quickly followed suit.
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