Most Authentic Mustang Flying

[Couger42]

surviving P-51D's 44-13106, 44-73347, 44-73436 and 44-84896 all have the early style D-model canopy framing...

[Yak 11 Fan]

44-72773 D-FPSI also flies with the earlier style canopy framing.

[Mark Allen M]

10,000th Mustang ... sorry once again I shoot way off topic, but I thought some of you may find this interesting to see.



Sorry about that! ... How about I give you 20 more grand to make up for it ...

[maxum96]

10,000th Mustang ... sorry once again I shoot way off topic, but I thought some of you may find this interesting to see.


Sorry about that! ... How about I give you 20 more grand to make up for it ...

We'll let it slide this time. But only because you threw in the extra 20K.

[Tulio]

Mark, sorry for calling you glaring

I am -on purpose- posting this image here. It shows at the date (IIRC August 1954) very stock F-51 Mustangs, upon their arrival to Guatemala City. After years of denying the supply of Mustangs to Guatemala, the USA authorized their delivery -shortly after the left-leaning goverment of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz had been overthrown by a CIA-sponsored invasion.

There was fear of the new government to be overthrown, so they quickly flew this armed Mustangs over mexican airspace and delivered them to Guatemala. I think that at the time they were as stock as they could be, sans-USAF markings, of course.


Saludos,


Tulio

Photo Credit: Guatemalan Air Force Photo archives. Rescued through a project sponsored by http://www.laahs.com and supported by the Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca.

Attachments

[Ken]

This was a good thread and there have been many changes in the two years since the last post.

I know the original intent was to discuss "flying" P-51's, however I was just looking at images of the cockpit of "Willit Run?" at the Smithsonian.

So, which P-51's, flying or static, are as close to original as possible? (Gear doors included, salute to Vlado)

Ken

[Lynn Allen]

This was a good thread and there have been many changes in the two years since the last post.

I know the original intent was to discuss "flying" P-51's, however I was just looking at images of the cockpit of "Willit Run?" at the Smithsonian.

So, which P-51's, flying or static, are as close to original as possible? (Gear doors included, salute to Vlado)

Ken

Doesn't it only have 25hrs total time on it?

[mike furline]

This was a good thread and there have been many changes in the two years since the last post.

I know the original intent was to discuss "flying" P-51's, however I was just looking at images of the cockpit of "Willit Run?" at the Smithsonian.

So, which P-51's, flying or static, are as close to original as possible? (Gear doors included, salute to Vlado)

Ken

Doesn't it only have 25hrs total time on it?

211hrs, http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/su ... l/44-74939

[Couger42]

where the wings of later P-51D's left unfilled and unpainted? also did NAA do away with the rub plate on the clamshell doors?

[C VEICH]

where the wings of later P-51D's left unfilled and unpainted? also did NAA do away with the rub plate on the clamshell doors?

I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable than I will come along and answer definitively but it is my understanding that all production Mustangs left the factory with the filled wings.

[JohnTerrell]

The level of originality in the Smithsonian P-51D-30-NA (44-74939) is not all that apparent from the outside (as is the case for all of the most well preserved/original unrestored Mustangs), but it certainly is very much a time capsule throughout the interior. At some point, the exterior of the aircraft may have been completely stripped, since it is void of the factory profiled and painted wings - however, I also know that the practically factory-new P-51D-30-NA that was provided to Don Gentile for his war bond tour in the summer/fall of 1945 also had bare metal wings, void of any indication of the profiling/silver paint. I'm not sure if NAA would have done away with that or not on those very late production examples - the practice of profiling and painting the wings seems to have at least carried through/into P-51H production. A number of things show up in D-30 production that weren't present in earlier production examples, and there are variations within D-30 production alone - such as some D-30's had the original cuffed Hamilton Standard prop blades while some D-30's had the cuffless Hamilton Standard "paddle" prop blades, new from the factory - and while many D-30's had bare metal landing gear doors, as was the norm from all other earlier Mustang production, a number of D-30's rolled off the assembly line with all of the gear doors coated in yellow zinc chromate.

All of the D-models had rub plates on the clamshell doors, and the Smithsonian P-51D still has them too, it is just very hard to see them unless you get quite close to the aircraft or view high resolution photos, because at some point, for whatever reason, silver paint appears to have been sprayed over the inner surfaces of the doors, making the aluminum and steel portions the same tone (one of the aspects that takes a little away from the authentic nature of the airframe, here and there - like the yellow-painted gun bay, ammunition bay, and canopy handles too). The aircraft is an exceptional time capsule throughout the interior confines and cockpit, with original factory finishes/details preserved. The only interior detail that I know has ever been in question is the orientation of the mounting of the SCR-522 radio in the aft cockpit. Of course the aircraft is a preserved P-51D-30-NA, and thus does not fully represent a D-model that would have seen action during WWII (save for the rare few D-30's that arrived in the Pacific just days before V-J Day).

[Couger42]

thanks John that reply answered everything I had questions on and more... Your knowledge of P-51s is enviable...