Warbird Information Exchange

I know that N1204 is alive and well with Kermit Weeks now, but does anyone know when it flew last while still owned by Mantz and Tallman?

I would just be guessing but I doubt it was flown after Mantz moved it to Orange County Airport in the early 1950s. It must have been in pretty rough shape even then with the wet wing issue.

As a 14 yo I would ride my bike from North Eastern Santa Ana to OC Airport and the Tallmanz museum. I remember the C looking rough, more from paint and filler peeling. The coolest things were the electric helo trainer games where the copter circled and you aimed it and managed motor speed to complete an obstacle course. The other good one was the tail gunner trainer from WWII which were turned into arcade games. I would stand at the fence surrounding the maint area and watch the mechanics work on the aircraft there. In a couple of years I was fortunate to start hanging out at chino.
Rich

If the C model your refering to is the Red racer, it's in the NASM.

NASM's P-51C is NX1202, also raced by Mantz, before being aquired by by Charles Blair and flown over pole in 1950. IIRC, '02 still holds nonstop record NY-London. Mantz won Bendix twice in this aircraft, once in NX1204.

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Charles Neely

Charles, that has always been one of my favorite P-51's. Happy New Year
Robbie

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Fly Fast Make Noise!