Warbird Information Exchange

I was talking with my dear friend (who taught me to fly, by the way) Sandy Sansing at our wing meeting tonight. I asked him, of all the planes he's flown, which he thought was the best. Sandy flew (in WWII) the T-6, P-40, P-47, and P-51. He went on to fly jet fighters (F-80, F-86...F-104, F-4) and others. After he retired from the USAF in '73, he went to work for John Stokes, where he checked himself out and flew a very wide variety of planes, from the Tiger Moth to the Sea Fury and P-38. I was surprised when he said the best plane he flew was the F8F! I never knew he had flown one. When I asked, he told me he was TDY to a Navy base and they asked if he would like to fly one, so he took them up on their offer.

Now I just had to know what was up with the TDY. He was based at Turner AFB, and it was 1948. (He had been part of the activation in 1947.) They were testing launching P-51D's via cat shots off a carrier! I never heard of this before. Has anyone? He said he got several cat shots, but no arrested landings as they flew back to land.

Sandy said the struts were pumped all the way up and a collar attached to them to hook up to the cat. They were told to hold the stick about half the way back, trim full right rudder, and hold full right rudder. He said his first launch was almost his last as the force threw his hands back to his shoulder (off the throttle and stick!). He said even with the controls in the positions they said, the plane would still roll over to the left some before the speed got up due to the P-factor.

Interesting story! Anyone have more details on these trials?

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Mike

It was even better when he told the story himself years back....

there have been pics of p-51's on carriers / cat shots posted before on the wix. from what i remember the results of the experiments were not to bad.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

The mustang that was being restored just outside of Pittsburgh was rumored to have been one of the carrier test aircraft. It also had plates built up on the wings for boundary layer seperation tests. Today it flies as the NACA aircraft

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Interesting side story on this issue;

The pilot who flew the Mustang tests off the carrier was Bob Elder. Had the pleasure of working with Bob at the Naval Air Test Center at Pax River when I narrated the prototype display demo of the prototype Hornet for Northrop. Bob was involved with the program. Great guy BTW!
Some might not be aware that it was Bob's daughter Lauren who was involved in a tragic GA accident in the mountains of California. She saved herself from starvation by walking out of the wilderness after the crash. Her story can be read as "I Alone Survived" and was seen on national TV some years ago.

Don't know if this link will work as it's my first attempt at Photobucket but just in case I got lucky, here's a shot of Bob Elder and the Hornet team at Pax.

Dudley Henriques

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Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

See this old post

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7145&p=58848&hilit=P51#p58848

I remember that there was a big mystery of it having a tail hook. There was never any sign of the hook, but after the fact we found out that the tail had been damaged by a construction accident while at the base, and the original tail had been replaced. The deal to swap the aircraft with a fiber glass replica was well recieved by the ANG folks as the plan was for the plane to be restored to it's PA ANG markings and attend shows in the state. One of the terms of the trade was that the plane stayed in PA. The NMUSAF put their blessing on it, and the trade took place. Shortly after that Tallichet who supplied the replica sold the P-51. Something that to this day we can not figure how it legally took place. neither can the ANG base who still retains hard feelings that we let the Mustang get away.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Thanks for sharing the great post

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