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The North American P-51D Mustang is a single-seat attacker/fighter aircraft. The Mustang was originally
designed by North American Aviation Corp as the Model N.A.73 at the request of the British Air Purchasing
Commission for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The prototype Model N.A.73X, NX19998, flew first in October 26th
1940, only 117 days after the project started. The early NA-73 Mustang fitted with an Allison V-1710 engine,
was an excellent low-altitude reconnaissance fighter, but had low performance above 15000ft. After re-engining
with the Rolls Royce Merlin, the P-51B was one of the best fighters of WWII. The most produced model of the
Mustang was the P-51D-NA that went in production in 1944. The P-51D-NA, was an attack/fighter plane equipped
with a 1695 hp Rolls-Royce (Packard) Merlin V-1650-7 engine. The armament consisted of six fixed 12.7 mm
machine-guns in the wings and some aircraft had rocket pylons added to
the undersides of the wings to carry up to ten rockets per plane. 6502
P-51D-NA planes were manufactured. Total production of all models was 15,576. |
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The Flying Legends' North American P-51D Mustang G-SHWN, painted in 'Royal Air Force KH774 / GA-S' colors including a Shark
mouth was one of the highlights at the Oostwold Airshow 2017 at Oostwold-Oldambt airfield. This Mustang is flown by the Norwegian Spitfire
Foundation. P-51D Mustang G-SHWN was in 1944 constructed at the North American Aviation Inc plant in Inglewood, California, as a P-51D-25-NA
and delivered to the USAAF as 44-73877. The aircraft wasn't used in combat service in WWII. In 1948, the designation of the
North American P-51 (P for pursuit) was changed to F-51 (F for fighter), so the P-51D 44-73877 became a F-51 in USAAF service.
After being retired from USAAF service, the aircraft was transferred to the RCAF as the North American Mustang TF Mk. IV c/n 122-40417 and
entered service as 9279 with No. 403 Squadron (Auxiliary) at Calgary, Alberta, on 23 January 1951. After been wfu RCAF military service on 29
April 1958, the aircraft was sold to James H. Defuria and Fred J. Ritts (dba Intercontinental Airways of Canastota, NY) and registered as N6320T
in the USA as a F-51D Mustang. In 1960, the N6320T was registered with Aero Enterprises, Elkhart, Indiana. in June 1960, the aircraft was sold to
Neil McClain, Strathmore, Alberta, and registered CF-PCZ. On 29 April 1968, the Mustang was registered N167F in the USA with Paul D. Finefrock,
Hobart, Oklahoma. On 1 September 1969, the P-51D Mustang N167F was damaged in a ground collision when it missed a turn and collided
with P-51D Mustang N2870D that was waiting for clearance to taxi for an air race at Euless, Texas. The aircraft was repaired
and in October 1970, registered to Paul D. Finefrock, Brownwood, Texas. In September 1980, the N167F was sold to the Scandinavian Historic
Flight Ltd. and registered first with Ward Wilkins/RLS 51 Ltd, Fort Collins, Colorado, and in 1984 with Anders Saether/RLS 51 Ltd. During an
extensive rebuild by Vintage Aircraft, Ft. Collins, Colorado, from 1980 to 1985, the N167F got the "Old Crow" color scheme.
The Mustang made her first post-restoration flight in 1985, and, on 27 June 1986, the aircraft was finally delivered to the Scandinavian
Historic Flight. In 1989, the N167F painted in green colours and called "Cisco", was one of the aircraft acting in the film
"Memphis Belle". In 1999, the N167F was repainted as "Detroit Miss", coded "E2-D". In 2001, the P-51D was painted
in drab brown colors, once again as '44-14450' with code 'B6-S' "Old Crow". In April 2009, the N167F played a role in the film "Red Tails",
telling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all Afro-American unit in the USAF history. This time, she was painted with an all red tail
for the duration of the filming in the Czech Republic. On 29 August 2012, registered ownership of the N167F was changed to Bank of Utah Trustee,
while the P-51D Mustang was purchased by a UK owner and the N167F was delivered to the UK in the same month. Since then the aeroplane has
been overhauled and refitted and is now in the color scheme of Lt. Blanchford, RAF 112 Squadron which operated from Italy in 1945 on ground
attack missions over the Balkans and along the Adriatic coast. On 25 February 2015, registration N167F was cancelled as exported to the UK
and on 2 March 2015, the P-51D was registered G-SHWN in the UK with Sharkmouth Ltd., Isle of Man. |
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