North American Aviation XP-51B's - a photo journey
Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:39 am
Hi folks
made an interesting discovery today (better late than never) .... but I'll come to that later
anyhow - I thought to share some P-51 knowledge with you:
as you know, two P-51-NA's were converted to XP-51B's - the USAAF serials being 41-37352 and 41-37421.
There exist photographs of both a/c while at NAA for testing purposes:
41-37352
this aircraft was taken from a RAF Lend-Lease Batch, assigned British serial FD450, US contract DA-140, British contract BSC282; repossessed and modified to XP-78, re-designated XP-51B, Model NA-101:
note the unusual style in the lettering of the serial - and the NAA logo on the tail shows that the photos were taken during tests at the factory.
41-37421
this aircraft was taken from a RAF Lend-Lease batch, assigned British serial FD519, US-contract DA-140, British contract BSC282; repossessed and modified to XP-78, re-designated XP-51B, Model NA-101:
two factory shots of '421 without serial applied and no cannons installed yet - also note the blank panel around the exhaust-stacks.
and a color shot from the Boeing archives:
below is another photo from later in the life of 41-37421 - note the US serial has been applied in the style of later production variants, i.e. on the tail, the bars have been added to the national insigna, and cannons are installed now (sorry for bad quality - found and copied it from the web - source is on the photo):
Here comes the interesting part:
This following photo shows 41-37352 when in use by the USAAF Training Command, when the a/c was based at Bartow AAF, FL, with code L82 on the nose - note the experimental panel around the exhaust-stacks, and cannons installed. [I must have looked at this photo at least a dozen times before the significance and rarity hit me....]
it is also known that this aircraft suffered an accident on 13th April 1944 at Bartow AAF, FL, with pilot Lt. Douglas E. Booth at the controls while on a training mission from Drew Field, FL. Further details are not know so far, especially whether the a/c was w/o as a result of this mishap.
Comments ?
cordially
Martin
made an interesting discovery today (better late than never) .... but I'll come to that later
anyhow - I thought to share some P-51 knowledge with you:
as you know, two P-51-NA's were converted to XP-51B's - the USAAF serials being 41-37352 and 41-37421.
There exist photographs of both a/c while at NAA for testing purposes:
41-37352
this aircraft was taken from a RAF Lend-Lease Batch, assigned British serial FD450, US contract DA-140, British contract BSC282; repossessed and modified to XP-78, re-designated XP-51B, Model NA-101:
note the unusual style in the lettering of the serial - and the NAA logo on the tail shows that the photos were taken during tests at the factory.
41-37421
this aircraft was taken from a RAF Lend-Lease batch, assigned British serial FD519, US-contract DA-140, British contract BSC282; repossessed and modified to XP-78, re-designated XP-51B, Model NA-101:
two factory shots of '421 without serial applied and no cannons installed yet - also note the blank panel around the exhaust-stacks.
and a color shot from the Boeing archives:
below is another photo from later in the life of 41-37421 - note the US serial has been applied in the style of later production variants, i.e. on the tail, the bars have been added to the national insigna, and cannons are installed now (sorry for bad quality - found and copied it from the web - source is on the photo):
Here comes the interesting part:
This following photo shows 41-37352 when in use by the USAAF Training Command, when the a/c was based at Bartow AAF, FL, with code L82 on the nose - note the experimental panel around the exhaust-stacks, and cannons installed. [I must have looked at this photo at least a dozen times before the significance and rarity hit me....]
it is also known that this aircraft suffered an accident on 13th April 1944 at Bartow AAF, FL, with pilot Lt. Douglas E. Booth at the controls while on a training mission from Drew Field, FL. Further details are not know so far, especially whether the a/c was w/o as a result of this mishap.
Comments ?
cordially
Martin
Last edited by Swiss Mustangs on Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:49 am
Interesting how very little on the cowling FWF matches up with production B and C's.
41-37421 rad scoop is very different from production as well.
I guess this shows how much can be learned from prototypes.
Rich
41-37421 rad scoop is very different from production as well.
I guess this shows how much can be learned from prototypes.
Rich
Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:59 am
Was that a standard color or is it just looks gray on 41-37421?
bill word
bill word
Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:03 am
bilwor wrote:Was that a standard color or is it just looks gray on 41-37421?
bill word
Pretty sure it was OD top and gray on bottom.
Rich
Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:46 pm
Here is a closely related photo. The Serial number appears to be 137924.
Martin, any idea what the story behind this one is?
Tim
Martin, any idea what the story behind this one is?
Tim
Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:16 am
Tim
this is in fact 41-37324
a factory shot:
and one taken during the same photo-flight as yours, with the number "4" on the tail
my records show that this ship suffered a landing accident at Eglin Field, FL, on 2nd February 1943 with Lt. William A. Sheppard at the controls
Martin
this is in fact 41-37324
a factory shot:
and one taken during the same photo-flight as yours, with the number "4" on the tail
my records show that this ship suffered a landing accident at Eglin Field, FL, on 2nd February 1943 with Lt. William A. Sheppard at the controls
Martin
Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:24 am
Very cool.
Tim
Tim
Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:31 am
I like those early P-51's. 
Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:36 am
Gr8 stuff, Martin! When are you going to write "that book"? 
Wade
Wade
Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:14 pm
sorry to rant, but is it just me, or does seeing boeing on a North American Aviation product want to make you puke ? I can see the ads in the future, Boeing, We helped win the war by building the B-25, B-17, DC-3, AT-6, P-51, SBD, and so on.........
Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:36 pm
Matt Gunsch wrote:sorry to rant, but is it just me, or does seeing boeing on a North American Aviation product want to make you puke ? I can see the ads in the future, Boeing, We helped win the war by building the B-25, B-17, DC-3, AT-6, P-51, SBD, and so on.........
Amen Brother! Amen!
And..
This is WAY COOL!
Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:50 pm
Matt Gunsch wrote:sorry to rant, but is it just me, or does seeing boeing on a North American Aviation product want to make you puke ? I can see the ads in the future, Boeing, We helped win the war by building the B-25, B-17, DC-3, AT-6, P-51, SBD, and so on.........
You do realize you're talking about Boeing "Legacy" aircraft here?
And no, it's not just you
