Warbird Information Exchange

Here are some recent photos from John Beyl of the progress on P-51A and Paul Ehelen's P-51D at Tri-State Aviation. Thanks for sharing John!

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Dan Johnson

Hey Dan thanks for posting the pictures. One of these days I'm going to actually take the time to figure out how to do it for myself!

The A model still needs the cowls, doghouse, tail fillets and a handful of other things. Gerry is shooting for Oshkosh '05. I hope he can do it. From the pictures it's hard to get a good feeling for just how different the A model is from the C or D. In a word it's small and light!

Paul’s D model is looking sharp and should be ready turn 100LL into noise by March. The squadron markings are those of a local ace Ken Dahlberg (14.5 kills). Ken was on hand when the fuselage and wing were mated which I think was a very fitting gesture. Lots of good stories were floating around that day about the four times he was shot down and the myth of "Dahlberg’s Dilemma"! Wish I could have been there but hearing them second hand was good too.

This weekend we kicked off the restoration of the Red Tail Mustang and made significant progress on it. I'm happy to report that we are finding a lot of good parts but perhaps best of all, the damage to the aft section of the fuselage (From just forward of the longeron splice back) looks to be fairly minimal and with some repairs we should be able to save 95% of it. The really cool part is that a lot of that structure was original. No photos just yet...sorry!

John
CC Red Tail Mustang

That's great to hear the D is wearing a local ace's markings. I knew they were for the correct squadron, but wasn't sure how Ken Dahlberg's personal aircraft was marked.

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Dan Johnson

Thanks for the update. Mr. Beck sure keeps busy!
What would be the identity of the P-51D?

Thanks

If I'm not mistaken, the D is N51HT/45-11586.

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Dan Johnson

N51HT = 'Death Rattler'?

As far as I know this is the same aircraft, or(given that it's a Mustang) the same paperwork. If anyone knows differently, please correct me.

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Dan Johnson

Vlado is correct, it's the old Harry Tope 'Death Rattler'.

I was shown an artist conception of the original nose art that will be applied. When that done and the red Mustang is painted on the tail she's going to be a sweet looking machine for sure.

Hey John, I just wanted to say thanks for the update on all of these goodies. I am especially pleased to hear about the recovery of Red Tail. I have been very eager to hear about how things have been coming along. Great News!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

Dave D.

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