Mustang Over the Tetons

Air Classics, Jan 2005 by O'Leary, Michael

MAX CHAPMAN AND PACIFIC FIGHTER COMBINE FORCES TO CREATE AN ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE P-51

All of us interested in the great aircraft of the second World War occasionally get involved in a flight of fantasy - imagining what it would have been like to be on a WWII airfield. For me, I would certainly have liked to have been on a USAAF field in Britain as the early North American P-51B/C Mustangs were starting to carry the war directly to the heart of Germany. Mating the Mustang airframe with a Rolls-Royce engine was certainly a stroke of genius but the pilots of those aircraft did not have an easy task for they were flying right into a Luftwaffe that was still equipped with top-line fighters and battle-hardened pilots.

It would have been fascinating to experience the sights and sounds of a P-51B/C group returning from a long-range mission. Flights of Mustangs would be breaking over the field as other aircraft touched down. These machines carried a fantastic array of personal markings and, in many ways, were often much more colorful than the later huhble-top P-51D. Watching the Mustangs with their chipped and stained camouflage schemes and gaudy personal insignias landing, one certainly would have been startled to see a bright red Mustang enter the pattern... especially since the aircraft sported two canopies. And that is the start of our story...

John Muszala is well-known to readers of this magazine since, over the years, John has been responsible for restoring and flying a wide variety of Warbird aircraft. "I often get asked if I have a favorite aircraft. I do and it's sort of interesting how it happened. Back when I was in the 8th grade, I got tonsillitis and was recuperating at home. I was going through some books on airplanes and here was this photograph of Don Gentile's P-51B ShangriLa. It was a low angle, three-quarter front view of the airplane and I was fascinated with the lines of the plane. I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. When I finally saw Paul Mantz's P-51C at Orange County Airport, that really did it. I knew if I could ever get an airplane, it would be a P-51B/C Mustang."

Sometimes dreams have a way of coming true - even though it might take a long time. We were sitting in the office of John's Pacific Fighters at Idaho Falls, Idaho, and parked in the hangar was a gleaming P-51C. However, it was a Mustang with a difference.

"Back when Pacific Fighters was located at Chino Airport, we were building up a Mustang for Ed Shipley in 1993. I had gotten a P-51B/C windscreen from Carl Scholl who knew of my interest in the type. I placed the windshield on the incomplete fuselage and that really got a lot of thoughts going," recalled John.

"I started collecting any and all P-51B/C components I could find. Anyone interested in earlier Mustang components should take a look at a P-5ID erection and maintenance manual that lists all the part numbers. You would he surprised to find how many Ds on the production line were fitted with B/C parts - even quite a few A model components. For example, the gear trunion in the wing did not change between models," said John.

"We got the contract to redo the wing and fuselage of the P-51C owned by Stephen Grey's The Fighter Collection at Duxford and that gave us some good experience on the B/C series.

Over in Britain, my good friend Craig Charleston (who restored the magnificent Messerschmitt Bf 109E for David Price, along with many other Warbird aircraft) knew of my interest in the B/C. Now, Craig is a number one scrounger of anything aeronautical and he began to look for components and started finding some really choice items including a portion of wing that had been on Royal Air Force Mustang III FB206. The RAF received 852 Mk. IIIs which were similar to the USAAF P-51B/C and this was a great find. He just kept coining up with finds from various parts of southern England and these included components from USAAF s/n 42-103293 which was a P-51C-1-NT. I can't thank Craig enough for all his hard work in finding parts."

Pacific Fighters had just finished restoring Vought F4U-4 BuNo 97359/NX240CA for businessman and Warbird enthusiast Max Chapman. "Max also owned a dual-control TF-51D and P-51D," said John. "Max admired the looks and history of the B/C Mustang and we started talking. We struck a deal to restore a P-51C and in September 2000 we started to build the airplane.

"Max had some very specific requirements for this aircraft," said John. "He really enjoys flying his TF-51D Mad Max and likes to give other pilots and enthusiasts the experience of flying a Mustang. Max knew a couple B/C Mustangs were converted in the field to take a second seat. These were often 'war weary' (WW) airframes that were modified by enthusiastic crew chiefs. The planes were used for high-speed transports and to give crew members joy rides. In our shop, Kevin Larsen started researching these two-sealers and found a least a dozen different aircraft had been so modified, including a 14th AF B in China. However, Max wanted to take the conversion a step beyond - he wanted the second seat to be fitted with a full instrument panel and set of controls. By doing this, he could let someone have the very rare opportunity of piloting a B/C."