Topic: Got a Chance to Ride in this!......

[brewsky]

Only problem was the $2000.00 ticket to ride!

[Steve F]

WAAAAAAY cool.    That is one of the sexiest aircraft ever made. 

[brewsky]

Yep....he was practicing for the next days air show while I was at the local airport....it was pretty impressive!


I was told he did have one taker for the ride that day!

[74cb750]

I rode in a Cessna 172 for free once. 

[Yamahawk]

Only problem was the $2000.00 ticket to ride!

P51 Mustangs are getting scarce now... Glad you got to see what one was like. I flew one... in my Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator S. Pacific Series lol...
Charlie

[brewsky]

Only problem was the $2000.00 ticket to ride!

P51 Mustangs are getting scarce now... Glad you got to see what one was like. I flew one... in my Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator S. Pacific Series lol...
Charlie

Yea....I flew one in my head at about 12 years old or so....sitting behind an old portable fan with the blade guard removed in my attic! It had a variable speed control knob instead of a joystick!

[Sigop]

I put my WWII father up in a B-17 a few years ago, in which he was a tail gunner.  He blessed the P51 for having saved their bacon on a few occasions.

[70CB750]

I put my WWII father up in a B-17 a few years ago, in which he was a tail gunner.  He blessed the P51 for having saved their bacon on a few occasions.

Way cool!

[Yamahawk]

I put my WWII father up in a B-17 a few years ago, in which he was a tail gunner.  He blessed the P51 for having saved their bacon on a few occasions.

They fly a B-17 into Metcalfe field down in Bowling Green, Ohio and give rides to Veterans, it is a very cool thing! Would love to take that Liberty Flight someday...
Charlie

[70CB750]

I put my WWII father up in a B-17 a few years ago, in which he was a tail gunner.  He blessed the P51 for having saved their bacon on a few occasions.

They fly a B-17 into Metcalfe field down in Bowling Green, Ohio and give rides to Veterans, it is a very cool thing! Would love to take that Liberty Flight someday...
Charlie

I live in Northern Virginia, you can see all kinds of planes flying over us.  Like space shuttle on top of a Boeing.  Seen B-17 few times, you hear it first, sounds like doom.  Cant imagine sky full of them and waiting for bombs to start falling.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

How cool.  I got to ride in a bi-plane (aerobatic ride) at a flying circus near Richmond, VA in the 80s.  It was pretty amazing.  Flying in a P-51 would be amazing.

[dhall57]

Went to a air show last year and their were several P-51 that flew in. Later in the show a WWII P-51 pilot who was just shy of his 100th birthday showed up. They were able to get him in one of the planes and everyone was taking pictures of him in the cockpit. Here's a couple pics I took.





 
 

[brewsky]

I put my WWII father up in a B-17 a few years ago, in which he was a tail gunner.  He blessed the P51 for having saved their bacon on a few occasions.

Way cool!

+1

That had to be one scary job!

[Sigop]

He said when they first showed up our intel was so poor the bombers did not know what they were and were first shooting at them also.  Also recalled when one P-51 ALONE came in after the German fighters and took a few out. He was later awarded the medal for heroism. Tough times for all.

[vfourfreak]

Apparently the P51's performance was not great with the original Allison engine. When it was given a Rolls Royce Merlin and Packard built versions of the same, it became an awesome war bird.

Kev

[dusterdude]

True,the naturally aspirated allison was not good at high altitude.the supercharged merlin turned the p51 into the 2nd baddest plane of wwII.

Sent from my R1 HD using Tapatalk

[dhall57]

In my above pics the gentleman in the cockpit is Anthony Goebel. He flew the P-51 in WWII and had 4 or 5 offical kills I think he said. He was one of George Preddy's wingmen. George Preddy was the top P-51 ace of WWII and is a native of my home town of Greensboro NC. It was a honor to meet Mr Goebel and shake his hand. The pretty young lady is my daughter-in law.

[Sigop]

Nice.

[dave500]

those old planes as nice as they look were dangerous anyway?plenty of bombers and fighters crashed on take off and landings let alone being shot at,any and all of those men including all the ground crew are true heros.

[jlh3rd]

Yep, the switch to the Merlin engine turned the dog , P -51 Apache ( the original name) to the thoroughbred Mustang ( named given by the British)
     102 days from design to rollout. A feat never accomplished again.

[vfourfreak]

     102 days from design to rollout. A feat never accomplished again.

That is astounding ! I never look at someone from that generation and think what an old duffer. People then had to achieve things that I know I never will.

Kev

[jlh3rd]

those old planes as nice as they look were dangerous anyway?plenty of bombers and fighters crashed on take off and landings let alone being shot at,any and all of those men including all the ground crew are true heros.

You gotta remember that these pilots were 18, 19 years old. A lot of ‘em anyway. They were lucky to have 200 hrs, if that, before they were thrown in a 4 engine bomber or a 1800 horsepower single engine fighter and told to engage. So, not much experience in handling takeoffs and landings under various circumstances. I look at it more as the aircraft were highly complex and powerful for the day with little time to learn the characteristics of the machines, not that they were dangerous.
Yep,heroes all right...

[vfourfreak]

I can't find a link or even an image, but tucked away in a very out of the way location at Heathrow airport is a plaque commemorating the fastest Atlantic crossing at that time (the early 1950s). It was set by, you guessed it, a P51 Mustang. Imagine flying one of those beauties flat out across the Atlantic. I'd say the pilot's ears were buzzing afterwards.

Kev

[vfourfreak]

I can't find a link or even an image, but tucked away in a very out of the way location at Heathrow airport is a plaque commemorating the fastest Atlantic crossing at that time (the early 1950s). It was set by, you guessed it, a P51 Mustang. Imagine flying one of those beauties flat out across the Atlantic. I'd say the pilot's ears were buzzing afterwards.

Kev

Found a reference to it (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/cfblair.htm)

quote :

On January 31, 1951, Captain Blair flew his Mustang - which he had named "Excalibur III' non-stop from "New York to London's Heathrow Airport. One objective of the flight was to test the effects of the then-relatively unknown high-altitude phenomenon called the "jet stream." Captain Blair encountered the high-velocity westerly winds at 37,000 feet precisely as he had planned, and the resulting tail wind, in his words, "blew me to London." He covered the 3,478 statute miles at an average speed of 446 miles an hour. His elapsed time of seven hours and 48 minutes set a record for a transatlantic crossing by a piston engine plane that still stands.

Four months later, on May 29, Captain Blair took off in this same Mustang from Bardutoss, Norway and headed for Fairbanks, Alaska. It was the first solo flight over the Arctic and the North Pole, and the first by a single-engine aircraft. On this 3,260 mile nonstop flight, which took ten hours and 27 minutes, he proved the accuracy and practicability of a system of navigation that he had developed for flying in polar regions. (He also took care of a personal errand. As he flew over the  Pole, he dropped from the cockpit window a letter from his young son Chris, addressed to "Santa Claus.")

These achievements did not go unrecognized. At a White House ceremony the following year, Captain Blair received the coveted Harmon International Aviation Award as "the world's outstanding aviator" from President Harry S. Truman. He was also awarded the Gold Medal of the Norwegian Aero Club, only the 16th time in 43 years anyone had been so honored.

"Excalibur III" the scarlet P-51 in which he had made his historic flights, is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

[Sigop]

Great find.  Thanks.