airnutz wrote:
How did the television "hoarders" shows miss this one?
Answer: No neighborhood association in Connie's back 40. Slightly off topic, but germane to P-51's...The last photo in the cockpit shows what appears to be, or similar to, a Warren McArthur seat. My question is, are there any online sources of photos ID'ing the variations of this design. As I understand, "Little Friends II" covers the subject pretty well but I don't have a copy. I've also been lead to believe the T-6 also had the WM seats. I've seen one with adjustment levers on the sides and am curious on ID. Unfortunately there is no data plate or stencil serial left. Thanks folks!
The Warren McArthur and Schick Johnson seats are interchangeable (they mount to the same sized/positioned seat posts), and versions of each are used in both the Mustang and T-6. Both have levers on each side - one to adjust the seat up and down (at the right of the seat), and another to lock/unlock the pilot's harness (usually at the left of the seat). Among the best Mustang researchers I've heard from/talked to, there isn't a firm consensus on which seat type was used per which particular Mustang production run/batch (other than perhaps the P-51D-5-NA and very early Allison Mustangs), since these seats in particular were sub-contracted out/government-furnished equipment (much like how there were two different types of wingtip nav lights used on the D-model Mustangs, depending on which was available at any given time) - to know, per plane, you'd have to see what the seat was in an original wartime-era photo. The seat on this one is a Warren McArthur-type seat - it seems as though there is probably about an equal percentage of each seat type (WM/SJ) fitted to the Mustangs flying today, and perhaps in the T-6 too. The P-51D-20-NA "Sierra Sue II" has a Warren McArthur seat, because that is what it had in it prior to restoration, and the P-51D-20-NA "Upupa Epops" has a Schick Johnson seat, because that is what it had prior to restoration. The preserved/unrestored P-51K's in the Netherlands and at the Crawford Museum, as well as a preserved/unrestored P-51D-25-NA in Switzerland, have WM seats, where as the preserved P-51D-30-NA at the Smithsonian has a SJ seat.
Some T-6's and dual-seat Mustangs have one of each seat type, as usually did the field-modded two-seat P-51B/C's during the war.
Warren McArthur seat (of which there are variations):
Schick Johnson seat (of which there are variations):