Warbird Information Exchange

...you could afford to do that (but it was the end of the line for those ANG Mustangs, anyway)

https://youtu.be/L80kgRVd00A?t=5010

a little bit old, but nice movie.

Laurent

If I have to guess...production probably didnt pay anything for the USAF surplus P-51 used for the accident scene...and probably only provided fuel for the 12 ANG fighters used....

in 1966 you could still get one for $14K. that's what one sold for at Torrance, CA.

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And slightly up the road, at a small auto "factory" on the ourskirts of LAX, a brand new Cobra 427 could be had for $7,500. My ancestors had no foresight.

Proper aeroplanes and proper cars back then. I should have been born at least two decades earlier... (just been rereading Shadows about the Biafran war - amazed to find I've coincided with some of those wonderful old propliners, one of them might still exist in bits... I ACHE to hear the noise of multiple radial engines passing overhead again)

Well just remember that $14,000 in 1966 was a LOT of money. You could buy a house for that and people had to take out mortgages.

Around 1971 or 1972 I read an article in Air Progress about how you could get checked out and fly solo in a P-51 at Junior Burchinall's airfield for something like $1800. Back then, as a college student, that was so far out of my reach that it might as well been a million.

Here's the article and an excerpt:

http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepMustangBurch.html

"Although he has a basic outline, the actual course has to be custom-tailored to the individual's needs. Basically, for $1,800 (Ed: sit down before you read the rest of this sentence. You won’t believe it!) you get 10 hours of Stearman time, 10 hours of T-6 (five front, five back), two hours of Mustang, a couple hours in the B-25 and two in the Bearcat (or four in the B-25 to try for a type rating). "

Junior Burchinall did have this, but the maintenance of his A/C was not very good.

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I'd read that the pilot who crashed that F-51 got to keep the plane as his fee for the stunt. The Mustang wasn't badly damaged.

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This one maybe?
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 72739.html

In the 70s, or 80s Air Classics had an article on that P-51. If I remember the article correctly the one taxied into the boxes was a non flyable airframe without an engine, an electric motor spun the prop and cables pulling it along. Along time ago and I no longer have the article. (Now I kind of wish I had not thrown out all of my old magazines in one of my moves). Watching the footage of the airplane on approach versus the one on the ground I believe they are two different airplanes. The 182nd TFS (Texas ANG) did the flying in the movie, providing 12 P-51Ds, with a surplus USAF machine used for the "crash".

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

$7,500 in 1966 for a Cobra is equivalent to just under $69,000 in today's dollars. And nobody knew they'd today be selling for millions. Still a bargain, but using the $7,500 number is like my late father-in-law's constant complaints that back in the day, you could rent a Cessna 150 for $29 an hour. Wet, he'd always add...

duplicate post...

in 66' i was buying $12 per hour wet, C-150, $16 with CFI.

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In early 70's I started flying C150 was 12.50ish wet. One of my old instructors said he saw P38 brand new for $1800. I think that was either late 40's or early 50's.
Costs now and then? Do a wage in the late 50's to cost of a new house or car, compare to now. Its way more now. Just better times back then.

For what it’s worth, I found this conversation chart on http://www.dollar.com

Pretty depressing display of runaway inflation. In other words, a 2022 dollar is equivalent to 10 cents in 1957 currency.

3CAC3D41-56E8-41E2-8199-DDD9904263C6 by tanker622001, on Flickr