Warbird Information Exchange

Good evening,

Quite often I see aircraft advertised as having a "stock interior" yet the panel layouts can vary greatly. I understand that over the production life of a model there can be improvements. I also realize why people like to change it to a modern six pack layout.

A quick search tonight brought up these two images:

This P-51 is advertised as "stock interior."

http://courtesyaircraft.com/images/72FT ... el_lrg.jpg

Then I found this one which I suspect is a lot closer to the stock layout, although I don't know.

http://web.telia.com/~u21804390/P51Instr1.jpg

Are there any airworthy P-51's still using the panel layout it was born with? I'm not necessarily talking about original instruments, just their location.

Are there any good sources online to look at the original layouts?

Thanks

The first cockpit panel is not stock at all. The colors and markings approximate stock, but the instruments and radios are not stock at all.
The second one is much closer, though some modern radios are shown.
VL

Here are some just for starters - these are examples of some of the most stock layouts of currently airworthy Mustangs, but there are definitely more examples out there:

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... light=hjgb

http://www.midwestaero.com/images/Cripes/index.html

http://www.master194.com/photo_avion/mustang/

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/su ... 1518.shtml

Here is a picture I have from Maurice Hammond's P-51D "Janie", which features a very stock layout...

You could compare with these,

http://uscockpits.com/Early%20Fighters/ ... s.html#P51

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Image ... -51CFV.gif

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Image ... -51CLS.gif

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Image ... -51CRS.gif

Regards,
Mike

Some original WW2 photos of the interior of Charlie Woods' 375th FS, 361st FG Mustang "My Mac"

_________________
www.361fg.com

So just a quick question to add on to this. What would be the reasoning behind reversing the panel locations? Are there any advantages to having the engine instrumenets on the left side?

A lot of civilian owners who purchased a Mustang for flight use yanked the old radios immediately and replaced them with much lighter and better units required for use in a modern ATC environment.
Instrument location on the panel can also be quite selective. The DG and Gyro Horizon in the original 51 took up a lot of room but a lot of 51's still flying retain these two instruments. Engine instruments were basically on the right side of the original panels but some owners relocated these to make room for HSI's or dual VOR/and VOR/ILS heads.
To answer your question specifically, I've seen very few Mustangs flown by their owners that retain the exact panel configuration as it was coming off the line.
Dudley Henriques

_________________
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

Here's some shots of the 'Buggy. I'd say this ranks amongst the top stockers!

_________________
"There are two types of people here; airshow whores and airshow prostitutes. The whores, like you and I, do airshow stuff for free, whereas the prostitutes are paid" - Reg Urschler

We have another one that looks exactly the same, but without the worn paint on the rudder pedals. when did you take the photo John?

Yak 11 Fan,

I noticed that too, in the recent Flypast magazine.

The photo I have posted is in my collection of a couple hundred photos of Janie's cockpit, sent to me by an individual by the name of Albert Patrick, whom I work with - you may certainly have met him. Having such a resource made available by such kind and generous owners, is really a blessing!