Fragile But Agile - P-51K 44-12016

51fixer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:34 pm

brian5592 wrote:

Will do Dave, thanks for the reply
I have some photos of him with the P-47, and the P-51.
And of course I grew up listening to all the stories of his time in the Pacific.
He actually had three kills, the third being a B-24/25/26 (I can't remember which) Landing gear was stuck up with a full bomb load, crew bailed out and and my Dad was ordered to shoot it down.
So there should be an American Flag under the two meatballs!
- one of his favorite stories.

Brian

Welcome to WIX.

Robbie Stuart · **Posted:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:30 am

From the son of a P-51 pilot, to the son of another, Welcome to WIX Brian.

Robbie

lmritger · **Posted:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:27 am

Welcome aboard, Brian! I can only imagine how thrilling it is for you to see the actual aircraft your father flew in combat. I, too, would love to see your father's photos and hear more of his stories when you have the chance to share them with us!

Thanks for joining our merry band of rabble-rousers, and once again, welcome aboard!

Lynn

Django · **Posted:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:08 am

Brian, welcome aboard! Looking forward to pics and more stories from your father!!

JDK · **Posted:** Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:40 pm

brian5592 wrote:

And of course I grew up listening to all the stories of his time in the Pacific.
He actually had three kills, the third being a B-24/25/26 (I can't remember which) Landing gear was stuck up with a full bomb load, crew bailed out and and my Dad was ordered to shoot it down.
So there should be an American Flag under the two meatballs!
- one of his favorite stories.

G'Day Brian,
And another welcome to WIX, and please feel free to scan those pics and give more detail on those stories. You may well be pleasantly surprised at what else is ferreted out by the guys on here if you do...

Pat wrote:

JDK wrote:

WARNING: This thread is now in the zone of rivet (date) counters...

Proceed with caution, and check your social skills remain enabled, or check them at the door.

Whoa, Hoss! Don't get the wrong idea...I was not bashing this restoration, it's gorgeous. I've installed a few Cherry Max's and Hi-Loks in vintage aircraft over the years; I was just wondering if they had even been invented in WWII.

Don't worry, Pat. It was a) a joke and b) well you were counting the dates of rivets, weren't you? Where 'counting' and 'rivets' occur in the same sentence, it's all getting a bit risky.

If you come along quietly, they'll let you plea bargain, and you'll be back out in 5-10; perhaps they'll give you a white, high gloss cell... :lol:

Cheers!

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Sat Sep 18, 2010 9:27 am

Jim Beasley wrote:

My Dad hasn't been at Chino since 1983 so I have no idea who that was.

T J Johansen wrote:

Jim Beasley wrote:

That's funny, because the last time my Dad and I were at Chino together was when Bald Eagle was all apart at Bruce Goessling's hangar in 1980 and I was 13 years old. Sorry I missed that obvious object sitting in the scrapyard when I allegedly walked past it; maybe you should have pointed it out to me then rather than being snippy on the web 30 years later.

Well, I guess that means your dad brought someone else over to our hangar as this was in the early 90s. One of the guys in the shop said that Jim Beasley was coming for a visit and we all expected the young guy who did accompany him to be his son, given that you had gotten "Frenesi" up and running at that time.This was not at Goessling's place but over on the other side of the field, a few rows from where Jack Croul has been having his latest P-51 put together in the last year. I did not go with Bret as he showed your dad and the other guy around, but waited to hear later if any comments were made about the fuselage sitting in the hangar. As none were mentioned I thought the subject had not been touched. at least I've pointed it out to you now, hopefully to be viewed as a bit of information, and not as being snippy on the web.

T J

That is somewhat embarrassing, but also slightly amusing. For close to 20 yrs I've been under the impression that it was you and your dad who were the guys that came by and looked over the operation at Pioneer Aero Service. Which is why I had hoped you would have seen the fuselage sitting in the middle of the hangar, and noted it was the original one from your "Bald Eagle". Makes sense that no further comment was made then.

I think I might have a photo of the pair who came by lying in a box somewhere. Will try to find and scan it. I'll post it here and I trust someone might tell me which 51 owner it was.

T J

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Sat Sep 18, 2010 10:05 am

I've been at Chino a lot and (as many of us have) I think I've been at Pioneer when I brought the SNJ back after the 1995 Pearl Harbor Carl Vinson launch, but never saw that fuselage or at least didn't appreciate what it was if I did at some point see it. If I had I would have asked about it and then maybe gone over to ask Bruce G wtf :?:

[/quote][/quote]
That is somewhat embarrassing, but also slightly amusing. For close to 20 yrs I've been under the impression that it was you and your dad who were the guys that came by and looked over the operation at Pioneer Aero Service. Which is why I had hoped you would have seen the fuselage sitting in the middle of the hangar, and noted it was the original one from your "Bald Eagle". Makes sense that no further comment was made then.

I think I might have a photo of the pair who came by lying in a box somewhere. Will try to find and scan it. I'll post it here and I trust someone might tell me which 51 owner it was.

T J[/quote]

brian5592 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:43 pm **Posts:** 5

Greeting all, and thanks for the many welcomes.
After much discussion with my scanner, and establishing a photobucket account, here is my first attempt at posing a picture.
http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/bll551/Dadonwing.jpg
This is my Dad on the wing of his P51 (the future Fragile But Agile) which I always thought was a D model?

One post talked about his kills being both in the P-47. My Brother and I are not sure- we will research more. I do recall that one was a Betty bomber, and I believe the other was a Zeke 52.
I do know that allot of his missions in the P51 were ground support, in what was then Indo China.

Please let me know if the link works, and I will post more. Most of the photos of intrest are at our other ranch, a 3 our drive for me, I will see if I can get my brother to upload some......

Thanks again for the welcome,
and if anyone has any info where Fragile but Agile might be viewed, please let me know. I had heard it might be at the Salinas, CA airshow.

DaveM2 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 19, 2010 6:08 pm

Brain

Link worked fine for me, thanks. Did your father eventually paint the friendly kill flag on the aircraft for the bomber shoot down incident? The Pima Museum recently rolled out their newly built example in the colours of 'Kit' Curdes who shot down a DC-3 mistakenly approaching a Japanese held airfield ( got the DFC for his troubles). IIRC a P-38 had an Aussie flag painted on it, having mistakenly shot down a Boomerang :shock:

Look forward to the other pics.....

Dave

Gundylunch · **Joined:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 6:52 am **Posts:** 5

Here's a shot of TT as I know it for you guys !!

Mark_Pilkington · **Posted:** Wed Sep 22, 2010 8:54 am

Django wrote:

Definitely agree!

Who would have thought we'd ever have a flying PTO combat vet Mustang?

Yes, its incredible, nearly too good to be true!

Regards

Mark Pilkington

brian5592 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:43 pm **Posts:** 5

Dave-
As far as I know, no Flag for the bomber kill.
Another interesting tidbit, he had planned to name the plane for my mother, Louella. "Louella's Black Magic".
Think he was rotated home before it could be done.
Also, he was in the Pacific when C. Lindberg was touring the area. Lindberg gave (I assume ) the squadron a talk on extending range by constant airspeed, decreasing rpm/mp as weight decreased.
I know they did alot of long range missions, and fuel was a huge concerne.

eallen · **Posted:** Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:00 pm

is this thing on? can you hear me in the back row? haha! anyone have pix? clue in the clueless why were the pix removed? is there something i am missing?

thanks from the new guy....

Jim Beasley · **Posted:** Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:06 pm

Here are a few:

If I'm correct this is the only flying mustang with a real aero products K model prop:

eallen wrote:

is this thing on? can you hear me in the back row? haha! anyone have pix? clue in the clueless why were the pix removed? is there something i am missing?

thanks from the new guy....

eallen · **Posted:** Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:15 pm

thank you jim very much!! that plane is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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