P-51B or C at Miami University Campus 1945... mistery pic !

[Swiss Mustangs]

Hi all

attached photo (source http://scholar.library.miami.edu/umhist ... ent_page=8 ) gives me quite some headache... it apparently was taken at the Miami University Campus, FL.... it shows a P-51B or C, but what seems out of place in that part of the World are 1) Malcolm hood and 2) D-Day markings.... to my knowledge, malcolm hoods were only installed in the ETO (supported by theD-Day markings) and also it seems strange and is unheard of that an early variant veteran from the War in Europe should have been ferried back to the Z.I. for display purposes, when hundreds of similar airframes were at hand nearby.... Low-time airframes were sent back after the war, but this.... ?



can anyone shed light into this mistery ?

Cordially
Martin

[King]

And who allowed the nice young lady to sit right smack dab on the top of that Malcolm hood!?!

[Jesse C.]

Could it be an Aces Mount that was sent back for a War Bonds drive and then given to the school as a teaching tool?

"Gee, Dottie, you look really swell stitting on that ultra rare Malcolm Hood. NOW GET THE HELL OFF IT!!!"

[Connery]

Looking at the people they almost don't look like typical American college students, to me they (at least some) look more Italian or French.

[RickH]

Maybe the location can be figured out by looking at the cars in the background ? A couple don't look much like American cars of the period.

[Django]

There's a '37 Ford and and a '36 Terraplane. I think the coupe on the left might be an oddball make like an Essex or LaSalle.

[Dan Johnson II]

Bet it's an F6C

It might explain this photo from Gruenhagen's book on the Mustang that has always made me wonder. Note the caption saying F6Cs were reconditioned for the Pacific. I've never seen a Malcom bird in the Pac either, but maybe this pickled F6C is the one in the photo and it never made it to the Pac after being reconditioned to go there?

That's if the caption is accurate of course.

[dollar65]

Looks like it could be a 503rd FS machine, with the code "D7" on the side, checkers on the nose have been erased, but it looks like it still had a white spinner with the red band (which width could vary).

HTH,

Laurent

[FITD]

No identification on the Mustang, sorry, but a quick Google search of North Campus, University of Miami, shows an aerial photograph of the Anastasia Building of the University which looks very similar to the image in your photograph Martin. One caption advised that RAF students were trained in navigation in this building.

Looking forward to an answer on this topic!

FITD

[Bill Greenwood]

Great sleuth work Django, I hoped someone on the site might be able to identify the cars. Remember the good old days when you could actually tell one brand of car from another. I drove a rental in Galveston for 3 days and am still not sure what it was, I think, Hundai, which has improved quite a bit over the years. Now you can buy a decent reliable new car at a reasonable price, sure would be great if you could get a similar quality new plane for less than $200k. I own a Bonanza, a nice one from 1988, just saw a new one priced at $690k! That's without a turbo, course it did have a nice TVcomputer instead of instruments you can actually read.

[frankspeaks]

Kinda looks like invasion stripes on the bottom of her wing and below the insignia, and a white tapering stripe on the nose just above the exaust stacks.

And the paint is awful faded to be a war bond plane...

Lots of tech schools were given old birds after the war and this is probably one of those.

edit: Probably an ex-warbond plane that was just too outdated to put back into service....

[AirJimL2]

I can't help at all with the Mustang, but I just want to clarify that the photo was not taken at Miami University. Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, and I can categorically state that no buildings on campus match the photo. There is always confusion between Miami University in Ohio and University of Miami in Florida.

Jim

[harvard_1]

martin
I believe this is F6C 43-25139 from RFC to university of miami 2-24-45. This aircraft departed the U.S. 10-3-44 and returned 8-27-45. I would like to know if you have any info on P-51D 44-63476 while with the 15thAF. My history cards say the F6C was assigned to the 9thAF.
HARVARD_1

[Dan Johnson II]

Hah! I guessed right!