Another Mustang Thread?

[Sisu]

This might be my favourite photograph of Bob Hoover's N51RH. Bob never raced, but was the Pace Plane pilot at Reno for many years. After releasing the racers he would orbit above the course watching things and ready to drop down to help anybody in trouble. Once in a while he would come down during a race and fly a couple of laps of the race course. It was always a pleasure to watch -- Bob was an incredible smooth pilot in the P-51.

I have always wondered about this one, though. Bob Hoover was really slow by Reno Race standards -- never over moderate cruise power. When he joined a race it was usually a slow heat and he'd join the back and the racers would not even be aware of him. He'd look right at home with the T-28s, Wildcats, FG-1D Corsairs and other slow movers. In this picture, though, Bob is on the course in front of Dan Martin -- the only red nosed Mustang that year. Dan was a charger, and should have been 100 mph faster than Hoover.

No situation like this is recorded in any of the accounts of Reno 1980. Bob obviously did not get run over. So what is the story behind this shot?

 

[Wurger]

 

[Sisu]

Bob Hoover's yellow bird at Reno 1980.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Sisu]

I am usually not a great fan of polished metal Mustangs, but this thing was just drop dead gorgeous! Polished Mustangs work best ( (from a photography point of view) on a day with interesting clouds. The reflections and tones can be quite beautiful.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Sisu]

An airplane with charisma.

Here's a link to a really good article about Lil' Margaret.

https://gizmodo.com/this-gorgeous-warbird-is-more-phoenix-than-mustang-572235249

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Sisu]

Lil' Margaret is about the most perfect Mustang I've ever been around. In 12 years after her groundbreaking restoration she'd only accumulated a couple of hundred hours of flight time. The owner always had other stuff to fly (another Mustang, P-47, and Corsair), and this one just sat around being perfect, I guess. The great Corsair restorer John Lane, who was flying it this day, said it's not a great pleasure to fly, compared to the lightened "sport" version Mustangs, because Lil' Margaret is heavy and draggy -- very much like a wartime bird.

The airplane was sold into Europe a couple of years ago, and the new owner promptly wrecked it trying to take off from a short wet very soggy grass strip in Britain. He said it just didn't accelerate like he expected it to, and it ran off the end of the runway at near takeoff speed with predictable results. Duh....

 

[Wurger]

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Some locals catching a few rays at the 1979 Homestead, Florida air races. That's Robert A, "Bob" himself mounting from the wrong side. This was the end of February -- racing in Florida in the winter was different...

Bill Clark's ill fated Dolly in the background.

Jeff

 

[Sisu]

Yep.

 

[Sisu]

I remember encountering this paint scheme in magazines when I was younger, and never liking it very much. On grass, though, in hazy winter light, it looked pretty good. Mustang on green grass (rare during airshow season in California) with a P-38 turning in the background...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots!

 

[Sisu]

Ah, the Mustangs of Miami...

Actually it was "The Mustangs of Homestead", since that is where the event actually took place. 22 Mustangs actually raced, plus Hoover's airplane, and at least one which was there but did not race. That is a big percentage of the less than 100 active Mustang flyers at that time.

The event was put on and financed by three brothers named Whittington. These boys had an unlimited flow of money from some "south of the border" business activities and spent a pile on this mid winter race. They put up $150,000 (1979 dollars, obviously) in prize money -- which was the largest Unlimited purse ever to this time. This brought out most of the Western racers, as well as lots of eastern birds that had never seen an air race.

It was a wonderful Mustang event!

 

[Sisu]

There were three real Racers there -- all Mustang based -- Don Whittington in "Precious Metal", John Crocker in the lovely "Sumthin' Else", and Steve Hinton in the always impressive Griffon powered "Red Baron". They were surprisingly evenly matched and each won a heat race, with the Red Baron taking home the marbles on Sunday

 

[Wurger]