Kermit Weeks' P-51C comes home

Flight Journal, Oct 2001 by Jones, Geoffrey P

In early April 2001, Kermit Weeks' rare, Rolls-Royce-Merlin-powered North American P-51C-10NT Mustang arrived back at the Fantasy of Flight in central Florida looking better than ever. It has been totally refurbished by Art Teeter and his crew at Cal-Pacific Airmotive in Salinas, California.

Built in Dallas, Texas, in 1942 (manufacturer's number 103-26385), the Mustang was given the USAAF S/N 42-103831. In 1946, after being acquired earlier that year by Paul Mantz, it became famous when Thomas Mayson flew it to third place in the Bendix Trophy Races.

Until 1985, it was displayed in various settings at the TallMantz "Movieland of the Air" museum collection in Orange County, California. Kermit Weeks purchased the collection, and the P-51's restoration was started way back in 1987, at his Tamiami, Florida, facility; its extensive fuselage and wing corrosion, however, required a complete restoration at Teeters facility in Salinas.

Named INA the Macon Belle, it is now painted in Tuskegee Airman Lee Archer's WW II scheme (Archer was a member of the 302FS, 332FG, 15th Air Force), and at this year's Sun 'n Fun, it earned the "Grand Champion" award-well-deserved for an outstanding restoration. --Geoffrey P. Jones