Warbird Information Exchange

Oh my!







This and the other 50+ pics courtesy of Aircorps Aviation:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/aircorpsavi ... 6332854278

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Absolutely stunning.

Looks great. I was skeptical but it looks very nice and will be beautiful in the air. Does it have a serial number?

If I saw correctly, two 92 gal. main tanks and an 85 gal.fuslage tank for 269 gals. total.Would any happen to know the fuel burn of a P-51 C? Thanks.

I'm prepared to bet money that John Terrell does.
His depth of Mustang knowledge never ceases to impress!

Andy

I believe the serial number is 43-24907. Most of the guys I know that fly use the "70 gallons an hour" answer for the fuel burn on Mustangs. It would be interesting to see if the B/C is different. I do not think anyone uses the fuselage tanks these days. I too am willing to bet that the professor of Mustang info can advise on the fuel burn and the use of the fuselage tanks.

For cruise fuel burn, I've heard 60-gallons per hour referred to a lot for a V-1650-7 powered Mustang, but it could certainly be more if you push the power up some. Cruise settings differ between pilot/operator - I've seen 32/2400 (and lower), 34/2300, 36/2400, and 37/2300, and I think each one is a balance or trade off between fuel burn vs. airspeed. The fuel burn goes up to 90-gallons per hour at METO (46/2700), and I think that amount doubles up to 180-gallons an hour at the full 61/3000 (but with the fuel type used today, you typically will only ever see 55/3000 for full power, and some guys don't push it up that far).

A number of restored Mustangs have the fuselage fuel tank installed, but only a select few have them operational, and fewer still have actually (intentionally) used them. For instance, Bruce Winter has operated "Happy Jack's Go Buggy" with fuel in the original functioning 85-gal fuselage tank, at times - if my memory serves me correctly, both for the engine's consumption and for weight & balance (as I recall, the D-model manual calls for keeping something like 25 or 35 gallons in the fuselage tank at all times, for the best handling, and I seem to recall he keeps that amount in the tank for that reason). The B-model "Berlin Express" has a modern-configured working fuselage tank that supports up to 40 gallons (this was available as a reserve, I think, on the Atlantic crossing back in June/July). I seem to recall that Jack Roush's P-51B also has a functioning fuselage tank which was used on the cross-country trip from California, where it was restored, back to Michigan. The P-51D "Geraldine" has an original functioning 85-gal fuselage tank and I recall reading that when the restoration was completed, on its delivery flight home from California to Wisconsin the aircraft was left to a ramp-hand to fuel up on a gas-and-go stop. The ramp person wasn't told not to fill up the fuselage tank and the pilot, not used to a completely stock D, didn't think about telling the guy not to put gas in the fuselage tank ("Geraldine" was, after all, one of the first to be restored with a functioning fuselage tank installed). As a result, the pilot was in for quite a surprise on takeoff, with how sensitive the fore-aft stick forces had become - he had to be extra gentle on the controls as he climbed up to altitude and began burning off the fuel in that tank. I believe on "Sierra Sue II" and "Twilight Tear", two others with fuselage tanks, they put a panel on the inside of the fuel cap/neck to prevent such a thing from happening.

Marine Air, I don't know how you could be skeptical of anything that comes out of AirCorps' shop (of course the final product/aircraft is still going to look quite different than it does even in this latest update - it will look spectacular out in the sunlight, and very unique among Mustangs flying today, in its authentic blend of shiny Aclad, silver-painted wings (per original NAA factory process), flat black tail, birdcage canopy, dorsal fin fillet and DF loop antenna). As Eric mentions, the aircraft is P-51C-10-NT 43-24907, which originally was a state-side trainer during WWII (of course the project mainly started with paperwork). The original serial number of "Lope's Hope 3rd" wasn't known for a very long time (because the serial numbers on the tails with the Squadron were all painted over), but fortunately AirCorps was able to find this out through the Lopez family providing copies of Donald Lopez's original wartime logbook - the original aircraft was P-51C-5-NT 42-103585, but it was modified to the configuration of a P-51C-11-NT, meaning it had all of the provisions for the CBI Theatre, with the type of communications and directional finding radios and antenna, as well as the fuselage tank, installed. It is the only Mustang that has been restored to-date with all of the original CBI radios/antenna. AirCorps was able to source some very rare documents so that they could configure the aircraft exactly as the CBI P-51C's were, just like the original "Lope's Hope 3rd". It has been almost a year since I was up there and talked with Chuck Cravens, but if I remember correctly, the radios all function and were restored by the same guy that did the working SCR-522 radio in "Sierra Sue II".

Again, fascinating thread! And this is the exact sorta thing why I subscribe to WIX (through the Support/Donate page).

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Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

When you look at the photos of this aircraft, all of the primers/paints are the original/real deal, not the modern paints colored to look of the period like you see most other companies use in warbird restorations. As you can probably see in some of the photos, these original primers/paints chip and scuff quite easily, but it all adds to the level of authenticity (they always already had some "rash" to them even when new from the NAA factory, there was no escaping it). The finish on these original primers is kind of a semi-rough sort of feel/texture, sort of like what you would experience with a restored army Jeep or tank. Looking around the aircraft, there is of course the mixture of the typical yellow and green zinc chromate treatments, but there is also a much darker green primer that shows up on a number of parts as well, which AirCorps refers to as "NAA green" for its unique appearance on NAA-produced aircraft. While the cockpit is authentically painted interior green, the Warren McArthur seat is authentically painted in bronze green, which was known to hold up better/chip less and was used a lot, for that reason, to coat the seats during WWII. A bronze green also shows up authentically applied to the windscreen framing/instrument panel shroud assembly (which may have been more about just reducing glare).

As this view shows, however, not much primer was used throughout the aircraft. A lot of the aluminum parts, as per original, remain bare in their Alclad finish (the amount of primer used increased during P-51D production):
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... rmat=1000w
This particular photo shows the nearly completed/fully assembled rear section of the fuselage, and one can see the battery jar, the radiator door actuator and the oxygen bottles. The white resin board at the far end of this shot is part of the fuselage tank compartment liner installation, and is how they looked when new - when viewing the original boards today, they are always yellowed/browned with age. The whole fuselage tank compartment is built up with three resin liners (forward/rear/bottom) and a good amount of balsa wood sections that are precisely designed/cut to fill in all of the voids between the fuselage tank and the aircraft's structure (which you can see in some of the other photos that AirCorps has posted to their site and FB page).

The lengths of the restoration are so great that even for the glass, they actually had the panels made to the original "bullet-resistant" spec, rather than just using ordinary plexiglass, and the center windscreen panel was made to the original "bullet-proof" spec as well. Of course the aircraft has all of the authentic details we've known to expect, such as the multi-colored original period-spec rivets, period-correct watermarks on the aluminum from Alcoa & Reynolds as well as watermarks on the steel from Cargnegie, Illinois, streaks in the primer finishes on parts that were dipped in primer rather than sprayed (as per original factory process), and acid wash on the metal wherever there is spot welding (as per original).

Recently the wing came out of the paint booth, having been profiled to the original NAA specifications - meaning that about the first 33% of the wing is filled and sanded smooth, and then the main wing assembly is painted in aluminized lacquer (this not including the gear doors, fuel tank doors, flaps or ailerons, as the lacquer paint was only meant to cover and protect the "aerodynamic smoothing compound" (or as we would refer to it today, "Bondo") on the main wing section and blending the appearance of the wing to the bare metal finish of the rest of the aircraft).

Some of the photos of the profiled and painted wing, via the AirCorps FB pages:
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A238B50
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A1F552D
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A218C4C
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A2A3F32

Here is another photo of part of the CBI Theatre radio package - very different to the 'standard' radio configuration in the B/C/D Mustangs. The MN-28C control box is wired to the MN-26C radio compass set (installed behind the pilot - tunes between 150-1500 kHz over 3 bands), which is connected to the MN-20E directional finding loop antenna mounted on the spine of the aircraft. There is an IN4A homing gauge mounted on the instrument panel which is tied into this radio compass set that indicates to the pilot whether or not they are on the correct bearing toward the frequency source. Also, rather than having the SCR-522 communications set (which was standard/required in the ETO and other Theatres), these aircraft, operating in the CBI Theatre, used the SCR-274N radio set. https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A1BF9C2

Thank you for the detailed info and reply John Terrell!

Every time I read a reply by John Terrell, I come away smarter than when I started. If I, or anyone else for that matter, should EVER have a question about anything regarding Mustangs or NAA, he should be the first stop for that information.

Thank you for yet another outstandingly detailed explanation John. You are THE MAN.

Lynn

Well you know, once you say great things about someone on WIX another person is rude and runs them off the board! It's a beautiful project. Speaking of the rear gas tanks, they had an aft C.G. and the combat aircraft had to be flown cautiously until the fuel was burnt out of it. It was a bladder made of rubber/ vinyl flexible type of material. A few of these original bladders have been found but aren't airworthy.
Lee Louderbach told me several years ago that almost all civilian D models are nose heavy and don't three point as well because of that. It would make sense , if an owner wanted more range, to install an airworthy fuselage tank of some kind and use it to extend range.
I hate making fuel stops in any aircraft and my preference would be to go nonstop as often as possible.

Thanks John Terrell.Do you know if the "D" model carried more internal fuel?I know the external tanks extended the range but they flew some long trips escorting the B-29s to Japan.I was just trying to figure out how much fuel they would burn on one of those trips.

The internal fuel capacity of a stock D is the same as that of a stock B/C with the fuselage tank - 269 gallons. In Europe, Mustangs typically used the 75-gallon metal drop tanks, the English-manufactured 108-gallon and 110-gallon 'paper' drop tanks, and rarely they would use the 110-gallon metal drop tanks. In the CBI, Mustangs were known to use the 75-gallon and 110-gallon metal drop tanks. In the Pacific, Mustangs flying from Iwo Jima used the 110-gallon metal drop tanks on the VLR (Very Long Range) missions, providing 489 gallons over all, which would allow them to fly the 7-hours average for these missions. Furthermore, on the loitering missions flown from Iwo Jima, they installed the 165-gallon metal tanks (as commonly associated with the P-38), providing almost 600 gallons of fuel, so that they could spend a few hours more in the air over Japan. I recall reading of a few instances where, if a fellow pilot had to ditch out in the open ocean, a few of these 165-gallon drop tank equipped Mustangs would spend hours circling the area until a Catalina, ship or submarine would arrive to rescue them, before they would return to base, sometimes having spent nearly 10 hours in the air. They may have also done some things/used some tricks to lean the engines out, use the lowest, most fuel efficient cruise power settings and really squeak out the most range from these Mustangs - like what they did with Pacific-based P-38's.

Yeah, I've heard that the fully stock Mustangs settle into a three-point very nicely (which is how pilots were originally trained to land the Mustang in military service). You can also really bring the power up on take-off with these heavier Mustangs, but of course being heavier they can lose speed/altitude quicker too. All of the D's that I'm aware of that have all of that stuff behind the pilot removed, have lead weights in the tails to make up for some of the loss of weight aft of the CoG, but would of course still have a more nose heavy condition when there isn't a person riding in the jump seat.

Speaking of range and flying Mustangs today, besides having experimented with/used the fuselage tank on "Happy Jack's Go Buggy", I know Bruce Winter also has used the working 108-gallon 'paper' drop tanks (carbon fiber replicas) several times on cross country trips. Also, both "Berlin Express" and "Miss Velma" used fuel from working (post-WWII) 75-gallon drop tanks on both of their Atlantic crossings.