Cavalier Mustang Demo at Maxwell AFB

P-Screamer · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:26 am

I am looking for any information concerning a P-51 Mustang demonstration that was held at Maxwell Air Force Base (MAFB) in 1969.

On 18 April 1969, a Cavalier P-51 Mustang appeared over the skies above MAFB. The aircraft had been brought to MAFB to acquaint the students attending the Air Command and Staff College with the attributes of a low-cost strike aircraft suitable for counterinsurgency roles in underdeveloped countries. Major Keith grimes was the project office for this event and I, at 13-years old, happen to witness the demonstration. At the time I had no idea of who was flying the airplane but I seem to remember reading somewhere (maybe People Magazine) that it was nonother that Chuck Yeager???

martin_sam_2000 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 08, 2012 10:05 am **Posts:** 378

Not too sure about Yeager. He was a brig. Gen. in 1969 so I don’t see him flying a demo.

Bob Hoover, however, was flying demos for Cavalier at that time, so maybe thats who you saw.

Always ready to be proven wrong, so please correct me of anyone knows more.

Sean

Speedy · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2019 5:48 pm

Kevin, I forwarded this to Hacker. If there is anyone who would know at this point in time, my guess is Randy would either know outright, be able to find some documentation of it in his notes, or be able to call either of the Lindsay brothers to ask.

Randy Haskin · **Posted:** Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:06 pm

This was most certainly the Cavalier Turbo Mustang III "on tour" at that time.

Although the Turbo Mustang III was never an official USAF aircraft or project, Cavalier had some support for the airplane to participate in what would eventually be the PAVE COIN program in 1970/1971. As part of this participation, the AF allowed Cavalier to go on a bit of a PR tour, visiting AF bases (and airshows) across the south, as well as allowing Cavalier to spend some time having the TMIII drop ordnance on an old Florida bombing range for Cavalier's own internal evaluation.

As for Chuck Yeager, I have not seen nor heard any evidence that he ever flew a Cavalier Mustang or Piper Enforcer. I don't know of him having been part of the testing or PR tour of the Turbo Mustang III. I don't have the name for the pilot at this Maxwell visit in '69, but I seriously doubt it was Yeager.

Here are the possibilities of who it may have been:

As was mentioned, Bob Hoover did fly the Turbo Mustang a couple of times. If there was a "big name" piloting it on that visit, it is possible that Hoover was the pilot in question. That being said, my information doesn't have Hoover flying the TMIII until May of 1971, and at that it was in Sarasota for Cavalier's internal evaluation purposes, and not taking it to an airshow or a demo at an AFB.

Gerry Tyler, the General Manager at Cavalier and the initial test pilot for the TMIII was also a bonafide big name fighter Ace, with a couple DFCs, Air Medals, and 7 air-to-air kills during WWII. If I had to pick a "most likely" candidate for the pilot on this Maxwell AFB visit, it would be Gerry Tyler.

The pilots who flew the Turbo Mustang tests and demos were Cavalier founder David Lindsay, Gerry Tyler, former RCAF pilot "Bud" McNair, and former USAF fighter pilot Howard Austin (who was also the TMIII test program manager at Cavalier). It could have been any of these pilots for the Maxwell AFB visit.

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Cavalier Mustang Demo at Maxwell AFB

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