RESTORATION OF AN Air Racing ICON

Air Classics, Apr 2004 by Day, Jerry

FROM WKECK TO KACEK, THE INCREDIBLE KEBIKTHOF MISS AMERICA

The familiar red, white, and blue air racer passed the start \finish pylon and began the second lap of qualifications at the 2002 Reno Air Races. Brent Hisey, owner and pilot of P-51D Mustang Miss America, pushed the throttle lever forward to increase the speed for the second lap. The goal for qualifications was to be one of the Unlimited Gold Class racers.

As Brent passed Pylon 6, he entered the "Valley of Speed," the equivalent to NASCAR's back-stretch where the fastest speeds of the race course are encountered. Miss America was approximately 100-ft above the desert floor and at an estimated speed of between 430-440-mph. Suddenly, the 3000-hp Rolls-Royce Merlin engine "let go." Atop the race trailer, the team members heard over the radio the dreaded call. "Race 11, Mayday! Mayday!" all eyes followed Brent as he traded speed for altitude to try to get to the runway. Smoke began trailing Miss America, indicating an oil fire in the engine compartment. oil also began covering the windshield, obscuring Brent's vision of the runway.

With wheels down, the engine died completely about halfway to the runway. The fourbladed prop stopped turning and immediately acted as a speed brake. A Mustang without engine power does not glide very well and began to fall out of the sky like a rock. Quickly realizing he would not be able to make the runway, Brent leveled the wings and landed on the desert floor. As Miss America rolled through the desert and sagebrush, the speed of the aircraft began to slow. Brent said he never saw the 3-ft deep ditch the right landing gear fell into. The landing gear was violently ripped from the wing, causing the aircraft to turn 180 degrees. Miss America came to a sudden stop, hitting the desert floor with the tail and right wing first.

Relatively unhurt, Brent unbuckled the straps, opened the canopy and was standing by the heavily damaged Miss America as the fire rescue squad arrived. The fire rescue squad immediately began pouring foam on the smoking engine. After the medics checked Brent, he was jeeped back to Miss America's pit and received a huge ovation from concerned crew members and air race fans.

After the race course closed at 5:00 pm, the crew members were allowed to go to the crash site and help in the recovery of Miss America. With the expert assistance of the airport aircraft recovery team and equipment, Miss America was loaded on a flatbed trailer and trucked to a "secure area" at the east end of the airport. Next began four days of disassembly work to prepare Miss America's "road trip" back home to Oklahoma City and Wiley Post Airport. As the damaged parts were removed and stored in the race trailer, crew chief Larry Butler kept telling everyone that "it will all buff out."

Whether you believe in superstition or not, events of the day Miss America crashed were unbelievable. Miss America's air race number is 11. all air racers have numbers on the wings and fuselage for identification purposes during the air races. The crash occurred on 11 September, at 11:11 am. By coincidence, the New York state lottery number for that date was "911." Also, prior to startup for qualification, Brent's helmet with built-in headset would not work and a back-up helmet had to be used. Engine start-up proved to be very difficult also. The new race engine, for the first time since it had been installed, did not want to start. As Larry Butler stated later, "the air race gods were not with us this day."

The restoration process of Miss America could not begin until the insurance company made a settlement with Brent. After several months of delays, the insurance company finally settled, and restoration began late in December 2002. The goal - a very ambitious one - was to have Miss America back in the air and at the Reno Air Races in September 2003. It was also decided that this would he a "total ground-up restoration." Wings, fuselage, and cockpit interior would be built as new as when she rolled off the assembly line back in 1944, except with new instrumentation and air racing modifications.

While waiting for the insurance company to settle, team members were allowed by the insurance company to continue the ongoing process of disassembly, cleaning of removed parts, and stripping parts of existing paint. The wings were separated at the center keel, stripped of paint and prepared to ship to Dave Teeter's shop, Airmotive Specialties, located in Salinas, California. The fuselage, cockpit interior, and new instrumentation were to be done by Larry Butler's shop, Warbirds, Inc., located at Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City. A new race engine was to be built by Rick Shanholtzer's shop, RSRacing Engines, located in McKinney, Texas. P-51 Mustang parts were supplied by Dennis Schoenfelder's shop, B&D Enterprises, located in Santa Barbara, California.

For the next several months, the restoration process continued. The fuselage, including the motor mount, instrument panel, all electrical wiring, and other miscellaneous parts were removed. all of the aluminum skins were removed from the frame of the fuselage and new skins were made. The tail structure, including the rudder, the main vertical section, and all controls were removed, and were repaired with all new structural framing and new skins, except for the rudder. It was also repaired but covered with fabric. The rudder is the only portion of the aircraft which is fabric covered.