Warbird Information Exchange

I'm wondering how to correct some misleading wording on the webpage for the P-51D subsquently known as "Lou IV" while it was owned by my father, Dr. Mark Foutch Jr, with registration mumber N2870D. The writeup says it was damaged "while taxying" in a collision with another P-51 at Euless, Texas. Dad's airplane was NOT taxiing and the ground accident was NOT his fault. Actually, he and other pilots were parked, engines running, waiting for permission from the tower to taxi when another P-51 pilot failed to S-turn while taxiing and his propellor chopped into Dad's wing and landing gear. He was lucky to survive. The event was a Confederate Air Force air show ca. 1966.

Dad's sister, Mary Foutch Wagoner, is our family's last living witness to that accident. I'm sure she would be happy to provide an affidavit if that is necessary to correct the Lou IV page.

Dad never put a scratch on that airplane in the 18 years he owned, maintained and flew it. He was very respectful of the plane's power and quirks; in fact he brought it to safe landings twice after in-flight engine-out episodes. In one of those, during the cross-country phase of the 1969 Reno Air Races, a sheared camshaft gear shut down the engine at altitude above cloud cover over Wyoming. With my stepmom Joan Foutch (herself a BT-13 owner and pilot) map reading from the back seat, Dad was able to restart the engine on six cylinders and commit to the nearest airfield. With the help of vectors from air traffic control, he brought her down through the clouds and executed a one-shot, straight-in approach to land safely at Laramie. He later remarked that it was a good thing he didn't try the traditional overhead approach as the engine quit for good as soon as he turned onto the taxiway.

He also knew when it was time to quit flying such a beast, selling it in 1985 when he was 64 and in declining health. He was disappointed but philosophical as he kept track of his beloved Mustang's subsequent accidents; if he'd lived longer he'd have been very sad both for the owner/pilot and for "Lou IV" after the final, fatal accident a few years ago.

Incidentally, my brother Tom Foutch has just told me about factors Dad told him about that had best go unmentioned, but that almost certainly contributed to the accident at Euless. Dad's disappointment with those factors and subsequent events convinced him to leave the CAF as it was then--and join Warbirds of America! Tom, who's flown a fair amount himself and keeps track of these things, also says he's heard that someone is rebuilding Lou IV which was thought to have been "totaled." It would be interesting to know more about that.

Please let me know if anything can be done to remove any implication from the Lou IV page that Dad was at fault at Euless that day. If he were still alive I'm sure he would have been in touch with Warbirds of America as soon as that page hit the Internet. His sister, daughter and three sons would greatly appreciate a correction.

Thanks for your patience,


Mark R. Foutch, III
Olympia, WA