A-36 Conversion

[airnutz]

On the Princess Elizabeth thread I was "still miffed" at an original Allison
A-36 being converted to "yet another Merlin Mustang". When no-one was
able to reply accurately, I thought about it a bit. I think the basis of this
evolved from an Air Classics short series on the Allison 'Stangs. I traced
it back to a 1980 issue.

I only have a clipping..but it says,"while a civil registered A-36A is in the
hands of a aircraft restorer who wants to rebuild the machine to P-51B/C
configuration."..and goes on to say, "This particular A-36A had a P-51D
cooling system and scoop installed somewhere along the line in place of
the retractable unit that was a feature of the Allison Mustangs. The
rareness of the A-36A makes it a shame to convert such an unusual
Mustang, especially considering the amount of work involved".
Christopher Shores(Britain)..no N#, No Ser.#

I've looked in Mustangsx2 but the A-36A to B/C conversion considering
what is there for info, fails to connect for me. As for other sources.

The upshot of all this...Have I been "wrapped around the axle", about
a conversion that may have never happened????

[Swiss Mustangs]

I belive you are focusing on this one:

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/su ... 3738.shtml

another paperwork shuffle using an A-36A ID but w/o the related components. Will look where the parts went.


Martin

[airnutz]

In the Princess Elizabeth thread the John Paul connection was offered-up
and discounted. Ahhhh.. so the Apache was split up? The Collings A-36
at mustangsx2 was not informative. I am curious! What parts went
where? The "Bee" is a B/C right? So did Collings get the A-36 wings with
dive-brakes etc., and what other stuff? Did the "Bee" evolve from the
A-36 fuse?

Confused in Texas

[Randy Haskin]

I only have a clipping..but it says,"while a civil registered A-36A is in the
hands of a aircraft restorer who wants to rebuild the machine to P-51B/C
configuration."..and goes on to say, "This particular A-36A had a P-51D
cooling system and scoop installed somewhere along the line in place of
the retractable unit that was a feature of the Allison Mustangs. The
rareness of the A-36A makes it a shame to convert such an unusual
Mustang, especially considering the amount of work involved".

Sounds like 'Polar Bear' to me.

[TimAPNY]

Polar Bear is in P-51A config; correct?

"As" still had Allison engines in them from what I recall. And a 3 blad prop.

I do recall reading that they added some D stuff to it to make it safer to fly.

[C170BDan]

Didnt know if you saw my post on the other thread so here it is again...

From what I understand Mr. Paul's A-36 project was sold and he had assembled a large collection of B/C model parts to build one up. So it doesnt sound like the A-36 was "chopped" up to make a Merlin powered razorback.

Here is the link to the thread...

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... ee&start=0

Read the 9th post down on this thread.

Other than maybe some paperwork shuffling and maybe some misidentification of airframes I dont think any A-36/P-51A airframes have been "chopped up" to converted to B/C machines.

With shops building up new parts now there is no need to convert the early models to late models.

[Swiss Mustangs]

My words

the paperwork was retained by Mr. Paul for his B/C model project, while the A-36 components moved on. The open question now only is what happened to Apache hardware ?

Polar Bear indeed is a P-51A and was rebuilt from a crash, retaining the original ID.

Martin

Martin,

Notice JC's post in the linked thread. They kept the paperwork for some reason and the A-36 stuff was sold to the Collings Foundation. The Foundation still owns it and she is in Florida slowly being worked on.

This has been a mystery since I started checking out and posting on the WIX probably 5 years ago now. We could never figure out just what exactly Collings obtained or the ID of the pieces. I asked Rob Collings many moons ago and he wasn't sure at the time either. He might now I'm not sure. It is nice to finally solve the puzzle.

Ryan

[C170BDan]

I guess it comes down to... what will Mr. Paul register the airplane as? Will the paperwork reflect a serial number from an A-36 or a B/C model?

[AirJimL2]

Are there any pictures of the Collings project or are they keeping it quiet?

Jim

It is listed on the Foundation web page so I can't imagine it being quiet.

I have personally never seen any photos of her but my dad did a few summers ago and he said she is slowly coming along.

Jim Harley might have seen her but I'm not sure. I'll ask Rob about her when I see him next weekend when the bombers come here to Houston.

Ryan

[airnutz]

Thanks guys. The Collings website had no photos or data concerning their
A-36 nor did Mustangsx2. As for the John Paul reference, Musx2 reported
that the A-36 stuff was sold to another A-36 project in 1980. But there
was no #'s or details as to who/what. Then of course the 1980 Air Classics
article stirred the pot.

I'm glad the A-36 emerged somewhat complete with Collings. I will be
interested to understand the details of all this when things "flesh-out"!

Thanx a bunch guys!!

[Ryan Keough]

All: Looking into this... will post once I have some data on our A-36. Thanks.

Ryan Keough
Collings Foundation

John Paul sold the A-36 pieces to the Collings Foundation. So therefore the A-36 pieces would be from the airframe 42-83738 which was also N4607V. The only confusion is that John still owns the paperwork to the A-36.

We know this because it came straight from John's son when he posted here on the WIX last year some time.

Ryan

[bdk]

Polar Bear indeed is a P-51A and was rebuilt from a crash, retaining the original ID.

And has a D-model scoop I believe.