Randy Haskin wrote:
Anyone have a shot of the Twilight Tear dataplate?
Does anyone else find it interesting that Cham Gill and Ken Hake owned both the "Twilight Tear" airframe AND the
N251L wreckage in the 1990s?
That's the registry, or (at first) the Warbirds Directory messing things up. I sent the following note to Scott in December hoping he will clean up this entry in the registry!
T J Johansen wrote:
The entry for P-51D 44-63864 is not correct. Two a/c have used this serial # and both of them are still registred as 44-63864. G-CBNM in the UK and N42805 in the US. The phase where we are talking about one single airframe would be this entry:
The known history of 44-63864.
Built by NAA at Inglewood Plant, 1944.
Delivered to USAAF as 44-63864, Dec. 1944.
- Served with 8th AF/78th FG/83rd FS.
- Flown by Lt. Hubert Davis as Twilight Tear/HL*W.
Delivered to Royal Swedish AF as Fv26158, June 17, 1949.
- Served with F16 at Uppsala coded K.
- Later served with F4 at Ostersund.
Henry Wallenburg & Co, Feb. 9, 1953.
- Overhauled by Svenska Flygverkstaderna, Malmo.
Delivered to IDFAF as 38, 1953-1961.
Then the two different a/c which both claim to be 63864 have these two individual histories from demob from the IDFAF.
44-63864 as currently owned by TFC, Duxford, UK
Israeli Air Force Museum, 19??-1978.
- Reported open storage, Herzlia, Israel, 1978.
Israel Itzhaki, Sde-Dov (later Herzlia), Israel, March 1978-1986.
- Restored to airworthy, Herzlia, 1978-1984.
- Powerplant rebuilt by David Zeuschel/Zeuschel Raging Engines, Sylmar, CA.
- First flight, Herzlia, Feb. 5, 1984.
- Registered as 4X-AIM, Feb. 1984.
Stephen Grey, Geneva, Switzerland, Sep. 30, 1986
Novida AB/Flygexpo, Malmo, Sweden, Oct. 30, 1986-2002.
- Registered as SE-BKG.
- Delivered to Malmo, Dec. 23, 1986.
- Flew as RSAF/Fv26158.
Dukes of Brabant, Eindhoven, Netherlands. (on loan del. Sep. 94)
- Flew as R Neth. East Indies AF "N3-615", 1995.
- Returned to Flygexpo. Flew as RSAF/Fv26158.
The Fighter Collection, Duxford, UK, March. 2002-2003.
- Registered as G-CBNM.
44-63864 as currently owned by Ron Fagen, Minnesota, USA
IAI, Lod airport, surplus for sale, 1960
William P. Lear Jr./Lear Inc., Los Angeles, CA, July 18, 1960.
- delivered Tel Aviv - Athens - Geneva Dec. 1960
William R. Pearce, Fullerton, CA, Dec. 11, 1962.
- Crashed Keflavik, Iceland during ferry flight June 6, 1963. Pilot Roger Gaston Arnoult killed.
- Wreck stored Keflavik, Iceland. Moved to the US in 1989.
Cham S. Gill, Central Point, OR, May. 1991.
- Registered as N42805.
Kenneth A. Hake, Tipton, KS, 1992.
Ron Fagen, Granite Falls, MN Oct. 14, 2005.
As to which of these two P-51s that is the real 44-63864 will probarbly be discussed for many years to come!
T J
Dan Johnson II wrote:
So is there a suggestion here that the "Combat vet " Twilight Tear at Duxford might not in fact be that bird after all?
Let's just say there has been controversy around that a/c since the day Israel Itzhaki "put the keys in the ignition and fired it up"!
T J