Warbird Information Exchange

I wouldn't mind if they waited till after the 3rd weekend in May.

August

I do believe the D had a thicker wing.
Many pilots prefered the B over the D. In the 354th FG most of the
old timers kept thew B while the new guys flew the Ds. Some were gun shy of it especially since they were shedding their wings due to probelms
with the gear uplocks which allowed the inner gear doors to open letting air blast suck the mains down causing the wing to fail. The 325th FG in Italy lost a number of new Ds to this with fatal results. At least 5 were lost over England due to this including one flown by Lt Bill Clearwater on a test flight after assembly.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Jack,

Are you talking about the lack of mechanical up-locks that caused problems with the early airplanes? Also there were issues with gun bay doors which is why they got changed to the heavier ribbed type of door. The gun bay door would occasionly come ajar which could also cause a structural failure.

Regards, Sparrow

Yes, I believe that's correct. Has I recall the inner door would creep open
just enough to let the wing catch it and lank it open and then jerk the main out. 325th FG P-51 ace Art Fiedler talking about it in fair detail on the Mustangs site detailing the loss of his friend Lt Terry on a practice mission in their new D-5s.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lait/site/P-51%2044-13593%20article.htm

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Don't touch my junk!!

Reading that report, it indicates that the gear was indeed in the uplock hook as they found during the recovery in the late 90's. It is my recollection that the 1st A models had only a hydraulic uplocking system that wouldn't hold the gear leg under a "g" load and several airplanes were lost because of the gear pooping out a failing the wing. They corrected that fairly rapidly by installing the mechanical uplock. The clamshell doors also have 2 hooks, fore and aft that engage a locking mechanism. I think that the cause's of these incidences were traced to gun bay doors letting go and failing the wing. This is why the later, heavy style of gun bay door was introduced to keep them from puffing up and leaving during flight. We have had occasionally during racing speeds a red light come on for the gear. This simply means that one of the clam shell doors has moved far enough to trigger the micro-switch causing the light to come on. The gear leg is still locked in the up lock hook. Curing the light usually means shifting a washer or 2 to tighten up the catch on the clam door.

Thanks, Sparrow

So true. There are at least 4 Mustang projects in process at Chino not to mention other one-off projects (P-40B, P-59, Helldiver, Morane-Saulnier MS-230, worlds longest T-6 restoration project, etc.).

Mr Beasley tells me he's flying to LA on 5 Apr with the intent of bringing it 'home' Of course, if they don't get the airworthiness certificate by the 4th as hoped.... plans may change.

Regarding the B/C wings, I always thought that the thickness was the same as the D. The only thing I though that was different to the D where the tips, which are a different shape.

As you probably know, when PE was originally restored in the 80's, it had many D model parts including the tips, but the correct type where fitted when TFC rebuilt her.

There was an excellent article in the Flying Legends 2005 programme on the rebuild of PE which told in detail what had to be done to get her back to stock C condition.

Sad to see her go, but at least the efforts of the TFC team will be seen in the USA.

Cheers

Paul

i thought that the difference was the wing root in front of the gear wells
paul

Paul, my understanding on the wings is the same as yours.

I look forward to seeing PE again. Having seen her in the Regina and then the Kasparoff years, this is a warbird that has been worked on by a lot of hands over a 25-year span, getting better each time. My hat was always off to Regina for getting her into the air as the only B/C then flying, albeit somewhat of a mutt; and the progressive improvements in both the US and UK have made her a proud machine indeed. A real warbird community success story.

August

I've never heard of any difference in wing tips between the various Mustangs either and I'm almost certain that the airfoil was not changed, ie, the wing thickness. The leading edge extension, armament, and clam shell gear doors are all visually different between the B and D. I'm sure there are other internal differences as well. Where is Charlie Neely when you need him?!!

You're right there!

I think Pete Regina did a great job for the time.

Hope you enjoy seeing PE as much as I did!



There where some major differences there too which where all detailed in the article I mentioned.

All the references I have for the P51 B,C & D airfoils are NACA 45-100 for both the root and tip.

Cheers

Paul

I am aware that there is an extra rib in the aileron on a B/C compared to a D.

Thanks for that Yak11 Fan.

Again I think this is mentioned in the article too!

I'll have to dig it out along with 'America's Hundred Thousand'.

Cheers

Paul