Warbird Information Exchange

Would anyone know what happened to the P-51's of the Philippine Air Force after they were taken out of service? Any in museums?
Thanks.

I have a friend in manila that might know, i just sent him a email, i'll let you know what he says, this is south of manila, i see a couple planes there but maybe the price of scrap makes them disappear

probably bulldozed into a hole........... the demise of many warbirds left overseas

_________________
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!!

A large group were brought back by Steve Johnson back in the 80s.
John Wright flew a Mustang over the Pacific back in the 70s IIRC. He was later killed in it near Reno.
Rich

_________________
Rich Palmer

Remember an Injured Youth
benstear.org
#64- Stay Strong and Keep the Faith

BOOM BOOM, ROUND ROUND, PROPELLER GO

Don't Be A Dilbert!

Yep, destroyed, just like the 99.9 percent of warbirds in the USA once they were no longer needed.

Steven Johnson's batch came from Indonesia.

T J

_________________
Make my day, punk!

I recieved this this morning, Do you need the photographs?
---------------------------------------------
Hi Army
I did not get the note but if you are asking which has a display, then there is one at Villamor Airbase right now in the famous "Shark of Zambales" markings. I will check if Basa Airbase in Pampanga has one.

If you like photos of them in service, let me know as I have several of them. Let me know.
Cheers,

Hello Army,

Thank you for the infomation and I would appreciate a some photos.

Mike

this mornings email from Manila

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are a few pics that I found on my laptop.The colored photos shows a P-51 on the PAF museum. Two photos show that the P-51 was being repainted. The B/W photo shows a PAF P-51 getting ready and being loaded for a strike against HUK rebels in Luzon.

more on the use of P-51s in the PAF later on when I get home. I have more photos of them including all aircraft and serial numbers that we transferred to the P.I. One of the P-51s on display at the Museum was even traded to Taiwan for a working F-5A Freedom Fighter jet!!! I personally know a few pilots who flew them.


Regards,

1


2


3


4

Great pictures! Thank you.
Mike

Hi,

The pictures that Army posted came from me. The Philippine Air Force (PAF) started acquiring P-51s from 1947 and were retired from service in 1959. The were more that 50+ in service. A number of them were put on display as "gate guardians" to various PAF airbases, a number were damaged and written off in accidents. Some were sold to enthusiast and collectors and a few were sold to air racers. I personally know a few pilots who flew them in service and they were used for counter insurgency flying strikes against HUK and Moro rebels.

The only airframe that I can think of in display right now is the photo that Army posted. That was taken at Villamor Air Base. There used to be two of them wherein one was traded to the Taiwanese Air Force for a working F-5A Freedom Fighter jet. Other airframes were scrapped and sold as parts, with the paddle props being one of the most sought after.

I have to check the other PAF airbases is they still have one or two somewhere but as of now, this is what I can recall. Interesting is that during their service, they flew in nice liveries with the pilots given the freedom to name their aircraft as they wished.

Cheers,

there are two P-51's on display left in the Philippines.... one is in fair shape, the other one is another example of a slow death:









the latter a/c looked much better some years ago:




will have to check on the location of this one...

Martin

_________________
Flying is easy: just learn how to throw yourself at the ground and miss

and this one was on display - but no longer is - nevertheless an interesting story of a former PhAF F-51:



this is P-51D-25-NA 44-72917..... there are some blanks in the CV of this aircraft, but lets talk facts:

it was an a/c that was deployed to the ETO but never saw assignment to any frontline unit, i.e. it never went beyond BAD-2 (Base Air Depot Warton, UK) and was RETUS in September 1945. Put into storage, it later was issued to the ANG and served with 170th FS IL ANG - it then was among the aircraft earmarked for delivery to the Korean War Theatre aboard USS Boxer. After arrival it initially served with an USAF unit, most probably the 18th FBG, but records are not available - during the hostilities, this aircraft was then transferred to the ROKAF but after the war ended was returned to the USAF, and immediately transferred to the Philippine AF, where it was assigned code "410" - in 1958 it was one of the 6 ex-Philippine AF P-51's assigned to the PRRI (Rebel) Airforce in Indonesia to fight along A-26's against the regular Indonesian Air Force. For this purpose, all markings were removed. '917 survived this episod and returned to the Philippines, where again Philippine National markings were applied, but they differed slightly from the 'official' markings, being smaller in size. By that time, the P-51's were being phased out of service in the Philippines and the aircraft was put on display in Manila, with nickname "Skipper" (as seen in the photo).

Enter CAC Mustang A68-192

This RAAF Mustang came to the civil scene as VH-FCB in 1958 and was re-registered PI-C651 in 1969.... it suffered a crashlanding at Manila Airport on 19th October 1973 resulting in heavy damage to the fuselage. The aircraft was rebuilt, using the center section of 44-72917 which was removed from display for this purpose around 1975 - briefly registered VR-HIU in Hongkong, it soon adopted registry G-HAEC (OFMC) under which it still is active in the UK, currently owned by Rob Davies. It was used for various movie projects and saw a myriad of colour schemes, but today flies as "Big Beautiful Doll".

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 68192.html

Martin

_________________
Flying is easy: just learn how to throw yourself at the ground and miss

The old photo P-51 with the wrong shark mouth motiff was the one swapped for a fully serviceable F-5A Freedom Fighter in 1995. This one had parts coming from different aircraft when it was put on display at the old Villamor Air Base Museum, Photo was taken somewhere in 84-85.

Thank you very much for taking the time to post the pictures and information.

Mike