Bad month for P-51's

[rockrat]

Saw where the P-51 "Tuskegee" made a belly landing in Dallas and another P-51 owned by a former president of Sikorsky Aircraft went down in Arizona. Looks like the second was destroyed by fire and two killed and "Tuskegee" was banged up pretty good.

Didn't "Tuskegee" come out of a restoration a couple of years ago? It stopped by our airport for a pilots get together Summer of last year and was neat to see and talk to the pilot. Had a bunch of pics on my phone, but it went on the fritz and couldn't get the pics out of it:(

[BNE]

I love those birds. I hate to hear when they are lost.

[WILCO]

I love those birds. I hate to hear when they are lost.

Same here!

http://airportjournals.com/wp-content/uploads/0311003_3.jpg

[xs11jack]

Lived in LA area of Cali back in the eighties. Every year they had a Confederate Airforce show. Pretty big one too. The last one I went to before moving here I stood at the security rope in front of a row of 6 P-51's. I was in front of the middle of the pack. When they fired up, in sequence, I cried. I looked over at the guy I came there with and he was crying too. In fact so were many there at the front of these big guys. What a wonderful experience.
Ole Jack

[rondog]

Here's my video of The Brat III starting up and taxiing out. Riding in one is on my bucket list.....


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P0m2C5LN3IQ

[lightman]

Yeah, Its sad to loose one. My Wife and I were going to vacation at a place that sold rides. She wanted a tennis bracelet and I wanted an hour in a P-51 in my log book. This was for our 20th anniversary. She was diagnosed with breast cancer that year. She got the bracelet but I skipped the P-51. It would have been fun. The plane had dual controls and you got to actually fly it. A chase plane videoed the flight and you got to do some light stunts. She's 20 years out now and doing fine. I just settled for riding in an Ag plane!

[Coogs]

Chicago Pneumatic (CPT) had a large plant in the town in which I live. Made all kinda "stuff" for the war. They made coolant pumps and turbo chargers for the P-51 engines. I am a military collector, have been for years before I got into the Rugers. So, to make a long story short, I acquired a brand new coolant pump from the man that was in charge of the pump department during the war, in 1995. He was in his 90's then. Great piece of local history. Coogs

[brtelec]

Nice picture of Chuck Yeager.

[Dutchninja]

I worked at Oshkosh for 22 years on the flight line and out on the taxi way before EAA turned into something I didn't agree with anymore, got tired of the @@#hole pilots, and decided to spend my vacation elsewhere.

I have to find my video of it, but i have one with about 15 P-51, maybe more i can't remember, are all doing a run up on the Taxi-way before the air show. When your a veteran there you don't bat an eye at some of the rarest airplanes (i remember sitting in the office and not caring the Concord was landing) or stick around for an airshow you've seen dozens of times but THAT was something i made sure i saw. sound was just unreal. I'll try to find it, gonna have to dig for it.

[Coogs]

Back in the 60's, a local guy bought about 8 P-51's from the Canadian air force. They hung out at the local airport for a few years. He also had 2 B-25's there also. I do remember he Paid $500.00 each for the p-51's, they all flew in by the way. Coogs.

[Goatwhiskers]

Love the old warbirds. When it comes to rides, would love to get a ride in an original C-47. Dad flew those over the Hump from India to China. There's one suspended from the ceiling at the D-Day museum in New Orleans. A docent told me all it needs is fuel and oil to fly again. GW

[Alvarez Kelly]

Same here!

http://airportjournals.com/wp-content/uploads/0311003_3.jpg

The middle one is Chuck Yeager. First went supersonic in the Bell X-1 with a "similar" name on the side. Glamorous Glennis.

[fecmech]

That P51 Has been restored a couple times. It crashed and killed the pilot the first time, was rebuilt and evidently now had gear problems. I flew in it at Geneseo 3 years ago, that's me in the back.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=106894&d=1401805521

[Powder Burn]

My Uncle was a mechanic on P51's in Europe/England during WWII. I have loads of photos/manuals and built this shadow box with some of his mementos. Most of the documents have Army Air Corps letterhead. He was killed in Jan 46 in a car crash with 3 others. He had just signed up for another enlistment. Never met him, but my grandmother must have requested two Presidential Memorial Certificates. One signed by Harry S. Truman and another by JFK. My guess is, she thought she lost the original and requested a replacement by the residing president. I have a day by day account of all the conflicts of his unit including a German landing his plane on the airfield to surrender. He was a Propeller Specialists.

160312160313160314

[Echo]

Chicago Pneumatic (CPT) had a large plant in the town in which I live. Made all kinda "stuff" for the war. They made coolant pumps and turbo chargers for the P-51 engines. I am a military collector, have been for years before I got into the Rugers. So, to make a long story short, I acquired a brand new coolant pump from the man that was in charge of the pump department during the war, in 1995. He was in his 90's then. Great piece of local history. Coogs
P-51's had no turbo-charger...

[Bad Water Bill]

My flight from Gitmo to nearest base for discharge was in a C47 and it took almost 8 hours to reach N A S Sanford Fl.

That was a ride and story I will never forget even after 57 years.

[fast ronnie]

That is correct. They were not turbocharged. The Rolls and Packard engines had two stage centrifugal superchargers. The early ones had an Allison that only had a single stage supercharger and was underpowered at altitude. It was not until they put in the Rolls / Packard combination that the plane really came alive.


P-51's had no turbo-charger...

[jaysouth]

My flight from Gitmo to nearest base for discharge was in a C47 and it took almost 8 hours to reach N A S Sanford Fl.

That was a ride and story I will never forget even after 57 years.

In 1965, I was a young private in the 509th Airborne in germany. Often times, we would get to jump out of French, German or British aircraft. On one jump, the Royal Netherlands AF showed up with 6 Dakotas. We called them C-47s. It was an interesting jump and let me get some insight on what "prop blast" was really about.

[Three44s]

It truely is a shame when we lose a "51" .........

There just is no other aircraft that sounds like it from the ground when it's airborne ......... and that sound coupled with some of it's history gives me an adrenalin rush like nothing else.

We had a close family friend who piloted B17s over Germany until he was shot down at Schwienfort in Oct. 43 ....... he survived in a German POW camp and went on in later years to become an aircraft controller at our local airport ....... hence, my father and I meeting him.

When I think about the "51" ....... I recall the fact that it came to the battle scape not a minute too soon as we were on the brink of our bombing campaign collapsing due to the horrendous losses .... mostly "17's .... from the Luffewaffe ....... our bombing raids were plunging ever deeper into German held and German territory but our fighter escorts were not able to provide full coverage ........ but the P51 could and when it arrived, the game changed back in our favor.

It scares the #$!@$! out of me how people of this nation ignore history as they do ....... and as the saying goes, ........... "Those that ignore it are bound to repeat it" ...... well, we are rushing down that road again!

And the fact that WWII was far from a settled fact that we would eventually win it has never really sunk into our national recollection.

Three 44s

[Powder Burn]

Many years ago my son and I were in the local park test flying his Cox P51 model plane. It was a very cold right after X-mas with no wind and bright blue skies. We used a sidewalk that cut through the park as a take off platform. The park is located on the Illinois river and our town has a railroad bridge that spans the river just north. After a few flights with the stringed model we were refueling and heard the sound of a low flying aircraft approaching from the south. The sound grew and I realized the plane couldn't have been more than 100' from the water. The engine noise was tremendous and we spotted it as it was descending even further. We stood there in disbelief as it flew right past us and it had the identical markings (Allied) as our little gas model. The pilot continued north and it was then that we realized the pilots target. He flew directly under the railroad bridge skimming the surface of the water; I bet no more than 50'. We stood there for a moment without speaking, trying to understand what just took place. I realize the pilot was breaking a few rules but I also know the experience left me and my son with an experience that we will never forget. Even after 30 years I get goose bumps thinking about it.

[NavyVet1959]

As long as they can salvage the data plate, they can rebuild the rest of the aircraft around it. I've seen what they can do with nothing more than a data plate and the blueprints at Chino Airport in SoCal.

[oldred]

As long as they can salvage the data plate, they can rebuild the rest of the aircraft around it. I've seen what they can do with nothing more than a data plate and the blueprints at Chino Airport in SoCal.

Same with the P38 in Kentucky that was rescued from the Greenland glacier, I lived at the time within a 20 minute drive of there and back then I often flew out of that airport so I (like a lot of local folks) followed the "restoration" from beginning to end. The Glacier Girl" is a classic case of the old antique axe that had the handle changed three times and the head changed twice but it's still the same antique axe! Basically they took a crushed and corroded hulk and used parts for templates plus copies of original prints to build a new P38 but they did manage to incorporate a (VERY) few original parts into what amounts to a brand new airplane. I suppose for what they spent on it they can call it anything they want but personally I think calling it a restored aircraft that was rescued from a glacier is a bit of a stretch, regardless it is an AWESOME airplane and anyone passing anywhere near Middlesborro KY would do well to drop by and take a look at not only the plane but all the "artifacts" they brought back with it.

[OS OK]

Lived in LA area of Cali back in the eighties. Every year they had a Confederate Airforce show. Pretty big one too. The last one I went to before moving here I stood at the security rope in front of a row of 6 P-51's. I was in front of the middle of the pack. When they fired up, in sequence, I cried. I looked over at the guy I came there with and he was crying too. In fact so were many there at the front of these big guys. What a wonderful experience.
Ole Jack

"The pilots who flew them were just kids…that makes me cry…'they were Americas Greatest Generation'!"

[oldred]

"The pilots who flew them were just kids…that makes me cry…'they were Americas Greatest Generation'!"



I was watching a History channel program on the European air war and one of the old guys being interviewed (he was a P51D pilot) was asked if he was ever afraid while on a mission over Germany? His reply was, "Afraid? Hell, I was 18 years old and I had that big beautiful airplane under me, I was having the time of my life"!

[Dutchninja]

Just got around to uploading my Oshkosh videos. bunch of p-51 videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/dgaul94639/videos

[OS OK]

I was watching a History channel program on the European air war and one of the old guys being interviewed (he was a P51D pilot) was asked if he was ever afraid while on a mission over Germany? His reply was, "Afraid? Hell, I was 18 years old and I had that big beautiful airplane under me, I was having the time of my life"!

I think the wife and I saw that too. If it is WWII we have it on disc or have seen the program, it's our special interest thing we share.
Those kids were literally living 'one day at a time'…it takes a minute or two to wrap your head around that…don't think kids today would fare well.
My Dad drove Landing Craft, Higgins Boats in the Pacific Theatre…though I asked him a thousand times to tell me about it, he never did…took it all to his grave.
The wife had an old Gentleman in her ward in the Hospital last year and since he was there so long she and he became close. He told her of his WWII days in the Pacific Theatre also…"He drove landing craft!"…the wife ask him if he would speak to me about that and he cheerfully accepted.
I spoke with him for several hours until he became tired…he told me about the life they had and what he experienced with carrying all those beautiful young Marines to the beach head and how he brought them back 'stacked like chord wood', disfigured, limbs missing, faces mostly gone, you imagine it, all over the floor of the craft and take them to hospital vessels or back to the LST for the Doctors to put them in some order.
I watched his face distort as he described these things, his eyes looking past me at the wall and I knew that he was not looking at me that he was watching his 'mind movie' of whichever day that was he was speaking of. I hung onto every word as I thought of my father and suddenly realized why he never spoke of it.
To call them 'Our Greatest Generation' just doesn't seem enough somehow!