F-51H 44-64203..... status ?

Swiss Mustangs · **Posted:** Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:10 am

Hi all

here's a mistery.... (sorry for small pics - it's all I have)

44-64203 P-51H-5-NA, c/n 126-37629; served with the 57th FG 66th FS, coded AC-K, then with the 164th FS OH ANG [Mansfield, OH], then with the 139th FS NY ANG [Schenectady, NY]; after retirement, it was placed on display at Sampson AFB, NY; when that base closed it moved to the American Legion Post, Geneva, NY - somewhen later it was sold; and reportedly last seen on flatbed truck headed for CA....

what ever became of it ?

thanks, Martin

Blackbirdfan · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:20 am

Revival of an old thread. Good news, 64203 is about to begin restoration. It has been sitting in a box for a few decades, and has found its way to California where it has recently been uncrated and work is about to begin on it. I don't know if it will be a flyer or not. I'm guessing yes it will be.

Will

Triplane102 · **Joined:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:55 pm **Posts:** 491

MIGHT this be the 2nd "H" Mike Couches & family supposedly have? Thought I saw something like that on WIX (?) :drinkers:

or just another long night.

Blackbirdfan · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 2:34 pm

TBM Tony wrote:

MIGHT this be the 2nd "H" Mike Couches & family supposedly have? Thought I saw something like that on WIX (?) :drinkers:

or just another long night.

That is a very distinct possibility since the guy doing the work (I think) knows the family pretty well.

Will

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:40 pm

Very cool. I like the H models.

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:18 pm

Very interesting Will that you brought this up as we hauled the fuselage and wing yesterday and late last week. I would say that Mr. Coutches had already begun restoration work on the fuselage. The wing is still in the crate as it was when he crated and shipped it in 1967. Very cool and a great honor to have been asked to move this airframe. Its not every day that you get to move a mustang in a crate!

Mr. Coutches was great to talk to as he sure has some great stories. He has owned over 30 Mustangs throughout his career as well as many other awesome Warbirds. all of which is continuing with his family. Good stuff for sure.

Rick Turner, whose own Father had quite the history with early Warbirds including PV-2D Harpoon 84059, has these photos of 44-64203 when it was on the down hill side of the NYANG. Great photos and I imagine this is about what it was like when Mr. Coutches picked it up in NY.

Another cool story Mr. Coutches told us is that he had the H model moved to California inside of a Guppy and not trucked as mentioned earlier. He said a typewriter company had sent a load out to New York in a Guppy and had an empty load coming back so he was able to get the crated H model loaded on the Guppy to San Francisco. My question was who was filling up a Guppy with typewriters!!

Here is a shot of Mr. Coutches and his son Robert. Mr. Coutches was with us helping out and it was hard not to knock off work just to ask him about his amazing past.

Here are a few photos of the recent move

Last week we moved a crate with the wing and tail components. One big crate that was as strong as the day Mr. Coutches made it back in New York.

I couldn't help but take a peek inside of the crate and it was the stuff dreams are made of. A beautiful wing in great shape covered with preservative

The crate loaded up and ready to go to its new hangar facility that belongs to Robert

Who would think that a nice house like this in a nice neighborhood might have a fuselage of a P-51 in a back room off the garage? How many more garages out there have such goodies? Hmmm.....

Robin is pretty excited about his first Mustang ride.

Getting ready to remove the windscreen assy

She emerges into the daylight for the first time since the late 1960's

Mike has done a lot of work on the fuselage and had begun a restoration. From what i could see the airframe is immaculate with no visible corrosion from its time outside in New York. Sitting inside for 40 years helps a lot too!

Mike has saved a lot of Warbirds over the years. Someone needs to chronicle all of his achievements. Quite impressive. Here he is with his H fuselage on the driveway

All loaded up and secured.

In her new hangar all ready for some deserved attention

Triplane102 · **Joined:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:55 pm **Posts:** 491

MANY MANY Thanks Taigh! WOW! Really Cool Stuff ! With that House, you could nick name this H, " The Brady Bunch " Mustang !

That Cool house looks like the whole gang, Alice & tiger would be greeting you!

Sorry! Can't help show my age! Thanks again Taigh!

Blackbirdfan · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:34 pm

I didn't know this thread was even around till this morning when someone posted the link it to Michael Town's pic of the fuselage that he posted last night on FB. Since the OP was wondering what happened to it, I figured I'd shed some light on the subject. Hopefully I'm not stepping on anyones toes doing so. I have no association with it, but I do look forward to hopefully seeing another H model in the air in the future.

Those pics are really cool. The parts do look to be in very good shape. I hope it is a relatively easy restoration. The story about it being shipped in a Guppy is pretty cool.

Will

stryper · **Joined:** Thu Jan 08, 2015 7:18 pm **Posts:** 73

Thank you very much Taigh for sharing the pics. I wish I was there to here Mr. Coutches tell his stories.

It's fantastic to hear of another warbird headed for flight again. For a guy not in the know, I wonder how many more warbird airframes not listed in the Warbird Registry, and other sites, are still out there? Can anyone not bound by confidentiality agreements chime in?

Couger42 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:47 am **Posts:** 26

did you happen to see P-51B 43-24760 when you where at Mike Coutches hangers?

K5DH · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 9:03 am

Wow! That preserved "H" is the stuff dreams are made of. Finally, a "Mustang in a garage" story that's actually true! (yes, I know... the warbird community has known of this airplane's existence for decades... but still...). I've read bits and pieces over the years about the Mustangs that Mr. Coutches has owned. A chronicle of his amazing aviation career would be a fantastic read. I hope someone can capture his story in detail before he passes on.

Matt Gunsch · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 2:04 pm

K5DH wrote:

Wow! That preserved "H" is the stuff dreams are made of. Finally, a "Mustang in a garage" story that's actually true! (yes, I know... the warbird community has known of this airplane's existence for decades... but still...). I've read bits and pieces over the years about the Mustangs that Mr. Coutches has owned. A chronicle of his amazing aviation career would be a fantastic read. I hope someone can capture his story in detail before he passes on.

Not the first time it has happened, the first Mustang in a Garage story was this one http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 84786.html

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 3:12 pm

Funny that you mentioned it Matt because I was thinking of that very F-6D and that great photo of it in the garage when we were at the Coutches home. I asked Mike and sure enough he said that Lil Margaret was his bird that he sold to the guy Butch bought it from. Story goes that it was just an old D so it spent most of its time in the back yard instead of inside the garage, which I presume was already loaded up with newer and better Mustangs.

I thanked him several times for saving all of the cool aircraft that he has over the years. He is 90 years old and was enjoying the activity. His son Robert is very interested in the history and keeping things original which is great to hear.

iflyinanh · **Joined:** Fri Aug 27, 2010 7:43 pm **Posts:** 18

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2015 4:26 pm

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