Oh, this was fun!

A couple of weekends ago, I was down in Galveston/Houston for the Wings over Houston airshow.  During preparation, I got the opportunity to fly in Lone Star's P-51.  The pilot was Cousin Gumby.  The flight was some formation work with the museum's P-47, flown by Tuna, out over the beach in preparation for their performance in the USAF Heritage Flight.  Way cool.

(Actually, it was way hot!  It is very warm with the sun beating down through that canopy, and this thing doesn't have an air conditioner!)

  

 

The Heritage Flight during the show, with Gumby in the P-51, Tuna driving the P-47, Ichi in the QF-4E, and Shadow sticking the F-22A.  Beautiful job, guys!

All photos by yours truly, except the top one, graciously provided by Outlaw13.

The Sweetest Sound In The World

There is absolutely nothing in the world that sounds as good as a Merlin powered Mustang. Yummy!

Galveston Gal - Up And At 'Em

Lone Star Flight Museum's long awaited return to the ranks of Mustang ownership has been completed with the purchase and restoration of 'Galveston Gal'.

After a lengthy restoration and repaint, the aircraft made its airshow debut at NAS Corpus Christi, followed by a weekend at NAS Ft. Worth participating in the USAF Heritage Flight with an A-10C Thunderbolt II.



N4151D is actually a TF-51D, a true dual control Mustang, one of 12 built to this standard. Originally built as a normal P-51D, it was converted to dual controls while in service with the El Salvador Air Force. To my knowledge, it is the only survivor of these conversions. Once owned by Lone Star, they purchased the aircraft back from owner William Hane in 2009, and had it rebuilt by Ezell Aviation in Breckenridge, TX.

'Galveston Gal' is a faithful recreation of the P-51D that was flown by Lt. Ray Lancaster in the 370th Fighter Squadron, 359th Fighter Group. Now 90 years old, Lt. Lancaster was present in Galveston at LSFM when Tom Gregory brought the aircraft in on its delivery flight from Breckenridge.



The original 'Galveston Gal' was not named for a particular lady, but for the song made famous by Gene Autry.

These photos were shot in Ft. Worth during the airshow. The Heritage Flight was flown by Cousin Gumby in the Mustang, with General Tommy in his backseat, while Rifle was driving the Hawg.

Mustang Magic

I had heard about this mass gathering of Mustangs a couple of years ago, but had just now stumbled upon some video on Youtube. Decent quality video at that. The occasion was on Sep. 30, 2007, at Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus OH - the Gathering of Mustangs.

There is nothing that sounds like a Merlin powered Mustang. Arguably the best fighter aircraft ever built (given it's time period), it is a magic machine. Easily the most prolific fighting warbird still in existence, it is a treat to see one or two at an airshow. For this meet, 20 (yes TWENTY) of them were in attendence. I truly wish I had been there to see this - a sight that hadn't been seen since the days of WWII - twenty P-51s in formation!

Very cool.