Hey all! I heard from a few posters on here that there would be an interest in following my P-51B project. I would be honored to keep you all updated right here in this thread! For those of you who do not know or have not yet heard of this project, I will give a little background.
Leland Hedges Pennington grew up in nearby Rochester, NY and attended Monroe High School. He graduated in 1942 and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. After training in Tuskegee, Alabama, he was assigned to the 301st Fighter Squadron based in Ramitelli, Italy. Pennington flew the P-51B-10-NA Mustang, which he named "Lucy Gal" after his wife back home.
Flight Officer Leland H. Pennington
P-51B "Lucy Gal" - Thanks to Chris Sheppard!
On April 21st, 1945, Flight Officer Pennington was lost in combat somewhere over Zara, Croatia. His group was returning to Ramitelli after a successful escort mission over the Attnang-Puccheim Marshalling Yard in Austria. Pennington radioed in that he was "Sack timing solo" and did not require any assistance. This was the last that Leland was ever heard of.
Our museum, the 1941 Historical Aircraft Group in Geneseo, NY wishes to build from the ground up a flying tribute to Flight Officer Leland H. Pennington. We plan to construct "Lucy Gal" full-scale and airworthy to help tell the story of Pennington and the Tuskegee Airmen as a whole. We will use this P-51 as the centerpiece to our annual Tuskegee History program as well. Each summer, in the days leading up to our airshow, we bus in children from inner-city Rochester and give them a tour of our museum. This is coupled with a lecture by actual Tuskegee Airmen as well as historians. With a flying P-51, we could expand this program into a year round event!
So, now that you all have the background, here's what I've got so far...
In the pic above is the following...
- Throttle Quadrant (for a D-model, but hoping to trade)
- Tachometer
- Blinker Oxygen Flow Indicator
- Reproduction Data Plates
- G2 Pitot Tube
- Lacker AN-N6 Gun Camera
And thanks to a very generous grant by the Dassault Corporation, we now have use of the 3D Design Software known as "Solidworks."
Welp, that's all I've got for now! But stay tuned, there is most definitely more to come...
To Learn More : http://fighterfund.blogspot.com
_________________
Austin Hancock
Volunteer - National Warplane Museum
Commercial & "Warbug" (Aspiring Warbird) Pilot
Project Lead - LG44 ('Lucy Gal' / 'Yellow 44')
ahancock51@gmail.com