Warbird Information Exchange

Is this the a/c 'stolen' from the museum in Israel by the IAF pilot and sold in Europe?? Not out to make trouble just curious.

Is this the a/c 'stolen' from the museum in Israel by the IAF pilot and sold in Europe?? Not out to make trouble just curious.

Speculation is that paperwork from Bill Lear's P-51 that crashed in Iceland on 6 June 1963 (N251L) was sold back to someone in Israel, and the identity was used many years later on the Mustang airframe flying in the UK today.

Col Israel Itzhaki (of the Israeli Air Force) rebuilt the frame now at Duxford using the fuselage of mustang IAF S/N 13,The wings of S/N 42 and parts of S/N 38 (which is now in display at the IAF museum). Itzhaki had a problem:The MFR plate of the # 13 fuselage was unreadable and in Israel he could not have received a C of A without having a manufacturer plate which will show the aircraft construction number. Since there was also no ID plate for the # 42, he had to find ID plate for his aircraft. Two theories may apply;

One, he used the ID plate from #38 (Unknown since the IAF museum won't allow anyone into the cockpit of 38 ).
Two, he bought the ID papers and plate from the crashed ex-Bill Lear Mustang, N251L.

We can not prove the first one since no one can open the IDFAF 38's canopy at the museum, nor the second since Itzhaki does not want to open his mouth and tell the REAL story.

The aircraft was sold to a Swedish firm (FlygExpo) in 1986. One of the websites which tells the story of G-CBNM claims that when the paint was removed in Sweden, they discovered a Swedish plate which showed the Swedish AF Serial Fv26158.

It is not known if Fv26158 was the Swedish ID of the actual 44-63864 airframe, or if Fv26158 was the Swedish ID of the IAF 42 airframe and has been associated with '864 due to the alleged paperwork swap when it was rebuilt in Israel.

Thanks, Randy. That uhh clears everything up, makes perfect sense now.