Warbird Information Exchange

... nor P(F)-82's. We need more of both. Or any of both.

Most of these photos below are from 1948 starting at Grenier AFB and heading to Alaska's Ladd AFB where the 82nd FG was to be based to chase away Soviet Bombers from getting too close to Alaska. The link below gives a detailed history of the 82nd Fighter Group.
http://users.vermontel.net//~tomh/AIRCR ... /82FG.html


Thirty-one P(F)-51H Mustangs of the 82nd Fighter Group on the ramp at Grenier AFB, Manchester, New Hampshire


1948 at Whitehorse Airport, Canada


1948 at Whitehorse Airport, Canada


1948 at Whitehorse Airport, Canada


1948 at Ladd AFB


1948 at Grenier Air Force Base, New Hampshire F-82E, operated by the 27th Fighter Escort Group (Very Long Range) from 1947 until 1949.

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“PMURT KCUF”

North American P-51H Mustangs of the 57th Fighter Group at Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.


General Henry Hap Arnold visiting the the 57th Fighter Group at Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.


Members of the 57th Fighter Group standing in front of a North American P-51H Mustang at Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.


North American P-51H Mustangs of the 57th Fighter Group from Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.


North American P-51H Mustangs of the 57th Fighter Group from Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.


North American P-51H Mustangs of the 57th Fighter Group from Elmendorf Field, Alaska during 1947.

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“PMURT KCUF”

Love the H but a question on photo number 5. Is that a pair of Moose antlers mounted on the front grille of the CCKW? Nose art?

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

Thanks for the photos, Mark.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Looks like Caribou antlers. Possibly more than one set.
I saw the XP-82 and a P-51H at Oshkosh last year.
Most impressive and far too rare.

There is still the XP-51G project under rebuild as well.

I don’t think the XP-51G is being actively rebuilt.

There was a P-51H project at Coutches’ hangar at Livermore being worked on a few years back.

Back in the late 1940s, F-51Hs equipped the Air National Guard units around the country. They used to be based at my local airport, White Plains, which was the NY ANG HQ.

The majority of these "weekend warrior" ANG guys were ex-WWII military pilots and most of the maintainers had been wartime ground crew. So the standard of both flying and maintenance was very high, possibly better than in the active duty USAF at the time.

Reportedly, these ANG units had a relaxed atmosphere and basically functioned as a flying club for WWII vet pilots, who could show up on any given day, check out an F-51H or an F-47, and just go flying.

No wonder it wasn't easy to sell Navions to this crowd! Those must certainly have been more fun days to hang around HPN than now.

August

Anybody know how many P-51Hs are still flying

Two-ish, (These two were/are flyers, not sure if either have flown in a while.)
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/su ... l/44-64314
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/su ... l/44-64415

with another two possibly at some point in the future.
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/su ... l/44-64203
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/su ... l/44-64375

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45-47=-2

The Coutches P-51H N551H still flies a lot/regularly, flown by father/son Steve and Nick, but the Whittington's P-51H N49WB hasn't flown in some years as far as I've heard.

My, no doubt flawed, recollection is that after many years of not being seen, the Whittington 51H popped up at one show - was it Sun n Fun? - a few years ago, then disappeared again.

The last flight recorded for it by Flightaware was in 2018.

August

The last public appearance of the Whittington P-51H was way back in 2012, when it was at the Cactus Fly-In held at Casa Grande, AZ.

They have another H that is in pieces that were stored in Steve's dads garage for decades. Its complete, in great shape, just needs to be assembled. There was someone who was excited to get the rebuild underway but he had a falling out with the family and is no longer doing anything with it.

Will

Okay, here’s the deal. The market on the H, G, “ postwar” mustangs is screwed up. There are very few airframes and none of them are being restored or exchanged (sold) with an occasional cash infusion to these projects. They are being “ De-stored” or the opposite of restored. A term I made up for airplanes that the cost to restore them to airworthy is increasing at a rate greater than the increase of value to the project. Let’s say the value of the XP-51G is increasing at 3% annually while restoration and parts sourcing are increasing at 12% annually.
To offset this you have to create and increase demand. Supply and demand are opposite of each other in a typical supply and demand economic model. However, the supply can be so contracted, and scarce that the consumption disappears and people don’t want the product as they’ve moved onto another product. I recently spent a day at Road Race Atlanta as one of the guys I fly for was testing some of his vintage race cars. They actually have self service gas pumps with 110 octane leaded gas for $10.50 a gallon, 100 octane unleaded gas for $12.35 and 93 octane leaded gas for $5.64.
So , I can put exotic fuel in my car if I drive 225 miles to get it, do it myself, pay an entrance fee, . I’ve been driving sports cars since my Cameron in high school and I’ve found alternate fuels and don’t even think about leaded car gas anymore.
So the Whittington Bro’s have had their H and parts inventory for going on 50 years. The Mike Coutche estate has had two H’s and inventory for 55 years, and the Harker family has had the F-82E for thirty five years. They’ve since collected the three H projects that came available and put them in storage for the next several years. A couple of months ago, in upstate Michigan, an H model crash was found , so there’s another data plate. There just aren’t any out there.
“ Buy and Hold” as a strategy only works in real dollars if the real demand for what you have is increasing relative to other products. There’s almost no exposure, marketing, publicity, for the postwar Mustangs. The exception of course, is Mr. Reilly’s XP-82 which has garnered a lot of excitement and to a lesser degree the Coutche H has been doing more flying than it has done in years and getting some coverage. The Reilly twin mustang would be much more desirable if there were two of them flying and creating great interest. The Harker F-82E would be worth a lot more money now and have a greater demand by collectors if they had not bought the three H model projects. Can you imagine if a Mr Roush, Mr Yagen, or other aggressive collector had bought a couple of the H projects and they were flying or close to flying?
So the market for postwar a Mustang types is stifled and stagnant. Mr Reilly, Mr Coutches, and Mr. Whittington have done their part. They have airworthy airplanes. The “destored” Coutch H, the Morgan “G”, and all the other H projects should be restored to flying or sold to be restored to flying if they want to create more demand ($) for their asset.

[quote="JohnTerrell"]The Coutches P-51H N551H still flies a lot/regularly, flown by father/son Steve and Nick, but the Whittington's P-51H N49WB hasn't flown in some years as far as I've heard.

From OSH 2019;

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Chris