Thunder Mustang

[hairy]

For serious style buy 2 fuselages and 1 set of wings........................

I like that idea !

Now THATS what I'm talkin' about. nice photo work.

[snj-5]

I'm (slightly) surprised we don't see more of these knocking about:

http://www.cameronaircraft.com/P51/P51_proto.htm

Anyone have more info? Last I heard, the "kit" was $175K or so.

I think a full-size, light-weight plastic P-51 (with D model canopy and
Allison or Merlin power) would be a hoot.

Bela P. Havasreti

[Dave Homewood]

There are some lovely photos on this thread on my forum of the Titan Mustangs and Thunder Mustang on the weekend at Masterton

http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi? ... 1169543671

I thought nothing sounded as good as a Merlin, then I heard the Ryan Falconer in the Thunder Mustang, and I'm having trouble still deciding which is best. I know the latter sounds much more grunty.

[dmx]

Imagine two of those Falconer engines in a 75 % scale all-wooden DeHavilland Hornet. OMG

[Bill Greenwood]

The Cameron is an interesting looking idea, but I don't remember any such plane flying at Oshkosh in 98. If it did it seems more would have been made of it by now. Maybe those WIX ers who recently wrote about the ability of the late model Allisons could get one to power this to race at Reno. I may be old fasioned, but am a little skeptical of new ideas. I remember the Pond Racer, with it's new plastic technolgy and it's press agent. It was supposed to be not only faster than Strega, Rare Bear, etc, but the Toyota engines were touted to be safer and more reliable. It never turned a race lap at over 400mph, at the end was backing down toward the T-28s. They had numerous engine problems and failures, and the result was the loss of the plane and pilot. I can't remember who designed the Pond.

[Roger Cain]

The Cameron is an interesting looking idea, but I don't remember any such plane flying at Oshkosh in 98. If it did it seems more would have been made of it by now.

Not sure why more never made it to production, but called the "Grand 51", here's a picture of it at Oshkosh by Gosh, July 31, 1998.

[Bill Greenwood]

Thanks, Roger I remember the Legend Mustang with a nosewheel and a turbine at Sun n Fun, but not much about that one. Maybe it did not recieve so much notice. The deilvered price quote seems unrealistic.

[Roger Cain]

Thanks, Roger I remember the Legend Mustang with a nosewheel and a turbine at Sun n Fun, but not much about that one. Maybe it did not recieve so much notice. The deilvered price quote seems unrealistic.

Thus, that cost may be part of the reason we didn't see more of them?

[RickH]

Bill, the Pond Racer was designed by Rutan.

From the Scaled Composites site:

Pond Racer (Model 158) 1990 = Unlimited-class racer developed for Bob Pond at Reno Air Races. Two Electromotive-Nissan VG-30 3-liter GTP engines, which ran on methanol and were designed to produce 1000hp each although they never gave more than about 600hp; span: 25'5" length: 20'0" load: 640#. POP: 1 [N221BP]. Appeared at Reno in 1991-93, qualified at 400mph. Destroyed in a forced landing crash in 9/14/93, killing pilot Rick Brickert.