Planes of Fame P-51A

[GregP]

The Planes of Fame's North American P-51A Mustang, Mrs. Virginia has completed the test flying and is now back operational. It had been down for some 3 - 4 years with radiator issues and the museum staff finally said, "Enough is enough!" They built a new radiator / oil cooler combo and it works great after one teak session.

Look for it to be flying in our airshow next weekend, May 3 - 4.

I may be mistaken, but I believe it is the only P-51A flying today, with a couple of A-36's also on the register as airworthy. In fact, one may be attending the airshow. Nice to have an Allison powered until flitting about again without sprouting liquid leaks every time it flies.

 

[GregP]

Hello any moderator.

Could you please change the name of the post to P-51A instead of P-5A? I'd appreciate the help there since I can't make that change and seem doomed to mediocre typing skills forever.

 

[Marcel]

It was the eye-catcher for me. Was wondering about a P5A
But good news and thinks for reporting it. I would love to see it one time.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is great news!

 

[swampyankee]

It gave me an odd feeling of expectation: was it one of these File:Curtiss P-5 Superhawk 060831-F-1234P-014.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


or one of these? File:Curtiss P-5 Superhawk 060831-F-1234P-014.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder if any examples of either of those remain extant.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Done

 

[GregP]

Thanks Joe and I'll get a few pics up close and in the air.

Our annual air show is May 3 - 4, so it shouldn't take longer than a week or so to post them.

 

[Gnomey]

Great to hear!

 

[MikeGazdik]

Can't wait to see some pics at least. One of my favorite planes when I was at the "Gathering of Mustangs and Legends" in Ohio in 2007, was getting to see Polar Bear. Not exactly correct but she had the Allison! Almost regardless of the model, I have a greater love for the earlier marks in aircraft. Something about the purity of the idea.

 

[GregP]

Hi Mike,

I generally agree and am an Allison fan, but the Merlin P-51's are VERY good, too, as I'm sure you know.

The problems we've had with Mrs. Virginia are all centered in the radiator setup. Steve Hinton finally had enough and they built a new one from scratch. They had initial oil cooler issues, but fixed it after the first flight, and it runs great now. The Allison in it, despite being repeatedly overheated, never gave a problem and still runs great. At lower altitudes, the Allison unit is quite fast and it actually a bit faster than the Merlin unit, but up high there's no comparison since they didn't put the turbo in it ... again, as you already know.

Most P-51's let the pressure out of the hydraulic system when they park and the inner gear doors float downward to the open position. When the engines starts, they come up automatically. In the P-51A, the system retains it's internal pressure and the gear doors stay up, even after years of no moving. They don't go down until gear retraction time.

When I post the pics, I'll throw in pics of "Boise Bee," a P-51C-10-NT. It is here and will fly in the air show. It isn't the P-51B-15 that Drgondog likes so much, but is as close as I am aware we have on hand.

 

[MikeGazdik]

Thanks for the added info Greg. I like all Mustangs, especially all the original canopy types, A/B/C. I think I like the Allison powered Mustangs because they are even more rare, and again because of how it came to be with North American promising a better plane than the P-40, but with the same engine. Success!! And obviously more-so once Merlin powered.

 

[GregP]

Here's a P-51A shot and few more tidbits.

Here's a P-51C-10-NT, Boise Bee.

A couple of guys in here said they wanted to see the Spitfire we built for the UK that had the contra-props. Here is an old shot of it.

And an old shot of a P-39 we built up.

All for now. The airshow hasn't started yet ...

 

[BiffF15]

GregP,

You have regular exposure to the Heavy Metal and I'm sure I speak for quite a few when I say thanks for passing along the shots!

On the P-51C does it have two seats? It looks from the shot like there is room (something missing) behind the drivers seat.

Cheers,

Biff

 

[GregP]

I believe the Boise Bee does have two seats, but will ask the owner, John Paul tomorrow if I see him. We had pizza this evening so it's possibility. The F-22 was good and the practice Heritage Formation was a P-38, P-47, P-51, and F-22.

I hope I can get some good pics, but will be on the main gate this time, so it will be busy. If I can't, a video will shortly show up anyway.

We DID get a Spitfire XIV with a bubbe canopy show up late today, so I will get pics at least of the unusual stuff.

 

[BiffF15]

Thanks!