Warbird Information Exchange

It's hard to believe with the tenticles of the wixtopus reaching all over the world
that the first flight of a amazing P-51D restoration has been missed/overlooked.
Mike VBC and his crew at Midwest Aero latest work of art took to the sky on June
26, 2025. P-51D s/n 44-72107 was a WWII combat vet serving with the 77th FS
20th FG and flew 9 mission before VE-Day. On April 16, 1945 1Lt Walt Umla destroyed
a FW-190 while flying it. He later received the DFC.
It flew the following missions:
11 April 45 1Lt James Seymour
13 April 45 1Lt James Seymour - aborted
16 April 45 1Lt Walter Umla
17 April 45 1Lt Leo Kerns - ERTN oil actuator
18 April 45 1Lt James Seymour
19 April 45 1Lt James Seymour
20 April 45 2Lt Franklin Richter - ERTN Reason unknown
21 April 45 2Lt Franklin Richter
25 April 45 1Lt Charles Cunliffe
See it at Oshkosh!

_________________
Don't touch my junk!!

From Midwest Aero Restorations Facebook page ...
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... &sk=photos

It did get a mention in the flyers thread but its great to see some pictures. Was worried this was going to have to wait until the end of the month.

Just out of curiosity, for the P-51D, are the armor plates that were installed behind the pilots still around to be installed should the owner want one or did they in up in the scrap pile?