Warhawk Air Museum P-51 RAZORBACK

[Jack Cook]

R-A-Z-O-R-B-A-C-K
Say it all together now




Duane Beeson Memorial display

[Ryan Keough]

That looks d-a-m-n nice! When will it fly?

[Rob Mears]

What's the back story on this one?

[hang the expense]

Long time in coming but it looks beautiful.

[Dan Johnson II]

Can I be picky? I know it's not mine, and all I'll ever get to do is be envious, but aren't those D model bomb/DT racks on the wings?

And please don't leave off the radio mast. They look funny without em unless they've got a Malcom hood

Beautiful bird those B/C Mustangs

[Bluedharma]

Rob and Ryan,
I sent a quick message to a contact of mine on flickr. He may have more info on the history.
http://flickr.com/groups/warhawk/
Hopefully he will get in contact with me, or post his reply here.

[visaliaaviation]

Great photos and a very neat project.

Those do indeed appear to be D pylons. And although one cannot tell if the upper cowl profile is correct in these views, B/C cowls have a slightly different one from D.

Doesn't the Beeson memorial give it away?

Wouldn't it be great to know, if in fact , Beeson or his contemporaries ever called their Mustangs "razorbacks"???

[Oscar Duck]

This aircraft started life as an A-36...shame really.

[Chad Veich]

This aircraft started life as an A-36...shame really.

As I recall John Curtiss Paul related on another forum that all the A-36 components had been sold (or traded) off and were not used in this restoration despite what the data plate may say.

All of the A-36 specific components, minus the wings as far as I know, now belong to the Collings Foundation project.

[John-Curtiss Paul]

Exactly.

[george]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for posting them. I love those Razorbacks. It looks like this one might be the first of the "Great-Eight" early Stangs to take to the air.

[visaliaaviation]

"Stangs"? "STANGS"??!!! Come on now, that's just wrong on so many levels.


You'll have to forgive this old fart. I just can't seem to keep up with the younger generations' new vocabulary. I used to be hip, or was it hep?.... oh ,crap, Ive forgotton.

[Chicoartist]

"Bee" is a perfect choice for this kite. A young man who ranked among the very best of his profession. As Grover C. Hall put it in 1000 Destroyed, Beeson's gun camera footage was usually closeups of disintegrating German aircraft.

Unfortunately, like many other early P-51s that arrived at Debden, the finish on Beeson's kite was 'marred' by the pulling off of the panel-sealing tape (for the ocean crossing) as the plane was assembled at Speke Depot. This often resulted in bare metal showing through, effectively "outlining" many of the panel lines ... very unsightly and very prominent on some kites.

The solution was naturally to touch up the paint, leaving a "mottled" appearance - the excellent color photo of Beeson giving a thumbs-up to his crew chief, by all reports taken on 5th April, the day he was shot down (POW), shows this effect very well.

Some have postulated that Beeson's plane was part of an "experimental" dazzle paint job. There is absolutely NO evidence that this was the case. Looking at the great color photo, the "darker" paint is applied along the panel lines, thus covering up the NMF areas exposed by the hasty pulling off of the sealant tape.

If there's any way I can help with the historical part of this project, let me know, though I'm sure the project organizers already have a pretty good handle on their subject.

Wade

EDIT: From Peter Randall's excellent Little Friends site, here's the shot I'm referring to. Notice that almost all of the major panel lines visible in this shot are overlaid with darker paint. The splotches on the upper cowling I can't explain, but this ain't no "dazzle" paint job:

http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery. ... rchString=

Last edited by Chicoartist on Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jack Cook]

J-C,
"Bee" correct not "Boise Bee"
I know I'm beating a dead horse