P-51D, 44-73029 cons#122-39488 Photos?

airnutz · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 6:02 am

Can anyone help with photos of her rumoured service with AAF, RAF,
Norwegian forces? Nicaraguan(GN 122), or in her 1964'ish "Blue Lou IV"
color scheme? Smoke 'em here if ya' got 'em..please....

Currently owned by Jim Beasley and flown as "Bald Eagle"....

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 11:58 am

airnutz wrote:

Can anyone help with photos of her rumoured service with AAF, RAF,
Norwegian forces? Nicaraguan(GN 122), or in her 1964'ish "Blue Lou IV"
color scheme? Smoke 'em here if ya' got 'em..please....

Currently owned by Jim Beasley and flown as "Bald Eagle"....

As for service history the 51 would have been ex-Swedish as the Norwegian Air Force never had P-51s.

Are you sure you're talking about N51JB? I know that Dave Forrest had his P-51D 44-72483 N13410 painted as "Lou IV" in the mid-late 60s before it went "south of the border". 44-73029 came to grief in New Mexico in Nov. 63 in a take-off accident. The id later got assigned to the 51 now with the Beasley family. The actual fuselage was sitting in a friend of mine's hangar about a decade ago. Don't know where it went though!

T J

airnutz · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 2:11 pm

Thanks TJ...No, I am not sure..I am chasing down memories of various
"old guys" and my own memories. Some of the details are over in the
Vintage Forum, in the Lockheed 10&12 thread, page2.

The only thing I know for sure, is that there was a P-51 owned by James
"Doc" Almand in Grand Prairie, Texas in 1963 or '64..she was painted in
the colors of Col. Christians Lou IV...although in blue colour rather than
current interpretation of OD Green. I touched it, smelled it, heard it and
saw it fly along with some aircraft of the CAF. Since beginning this
inquiry one old timer says, "that Doc was/is a CAF Col. and this aircraft
was actually the first CAF historic colour-scheme....rather than the "then"
standard of white/red/blue. Again..could be another hangar story, but I'll
look at it all.

There was a story that she was sold some time after 1964 to a Latin
American military..and was lost during one of the wars there. Others say
no..she still lives as N51JB. The Warbird Registry and Mustangs Mustangs
differ in their documentation in the 1963-69 period.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 73029.html

To add to the haze Doc owned 2 other P-51's but they were lost in
accidents earlier than Lou IV. The second machine was a TF-51 or P-51
with a passenger seat. Lou IV was then purchased and painted.

As for the Norwegian history..I suspected as such..but if an "old timer"
says it, I'll check it out. So we'll modify that to Swedish history photos.

Thanks TJ for your valuable input!

Swiss Mustangs · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 3:19 pm

Okay folks

here's the early story:

This P-51D-25-NA was delivered from the Inglewood. CA, plant during the last week of February 1945, being built to Proj. No. 92979R - deployed to the ETO, this a/c left the U.S. during the 2nd week of March 1945. It reached Group Level during late April 1945 and was assigned to the 4th FG 335th FS -
After VE-Day, this aircraft, along with many others that had less than 100 hours TT, it returned to the U.S. during July 1945 for possible reassignment to the PTO. VJ-Day resulted in this aircraft being sent to storage.
The next recorded (in my books) assignment was the 112th FS OH ANG, before it went to Nicaragua as GN122 31st May 1958;
It was sold to U.S. and registered as N7779A 13th July 1963, and later adopted N51JB.

This a/c is not an ex-Swedish airframe !

Martin

snj-5 · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 9:26 pm

(slaps his forhead). N7779A is the current N number on a
good friend's '57 Cessna 180. I'm sure he'll get a kick out
of hearing what kind of airplane that N number used to
be assigned to!

Bela P. Havasreti

airnutz · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 9:45 pm

Okay..Hold Da Bus!!

I got a faded photo in the mail today of Mr. Almand's Lou IV sporting
N6160U on the verticle fin. There's a crossover or shared data and history
between "Double Trouble Two" and "Ridge Runner"..ohhh this is messy...

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 9:55 pm

airnutz wrote:

Thanks TJ...No, I am not sure..I am chasing down memories of various
"old guys" and my own memories. Some of the details are over in the
Vintage Forum, in the Lockheed 10&12 thread, page2.

The only thing I know for sure, is that there was a P-51 owned by James
"Doc" Almand in Grand Prairie, Texas in 1963 or '64..she was painted in
the colors of Col. Christians Lou IV...although in blue colour rather than
current interpretation of OD Green. I touched it, smelled it, heard it and
saw it fly along with some aircraft of the CAF. Since beginning this
inquiry one old timer says, "that Doc was/is a CAF Col. and this aircraft
was actually the first CAF historic colour-scheme....rather than the "then"
standard of white/red/blue. Again..could be another hangar story, but I'll
look at it all.

There was a story that she was sold some time after 1964 to a Latin
American military..and was lost during one of the wars there. Others say
no..she still lives as N51JB. The Warbird Registry and Mustangs Mustangs
differ in their documentation in the 1963-69 period.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 73029.html

To add to the haze Doc owned 2 other P-51's but they were lost in
accidents earlier than Lou IV. The second machine was a TF-51 or P-51
with a passenger seat. Lou IV was then purchased and painted.

As for the Norwegian history..I suspected as such..but if an "old timer"
says it, I'll check it out. So we'll modify that to Swedish history photos.

Thanks TJ for your valuable input!

Well Mr. Nutz,

Your note that Almand had several 51s kind of explains it. Dave Forrests N13410 was previously regd. to a company called Texantiques Co. of Grand Prairie, TX around 1964. Very likely Almand! This bird was painted as Lou IV, and it did go to El Salvador in 1969. Returned to the US and is now with Dan Martin in Hollister. Almand's N7999A did crash in NM in 1963, and the id got transferred to another plane. This became N51JB, a number it has kept until today!

Swiss Mustangs wrote:

It was sold to U.S. and registered as N7779A 13th July 1963, and later adopted N51JB.

Oh Martin, what to do, what to do..... N51JB was originally N7999A and not N7779A. Now see how happy you have made Bela, and all for nothing. Shame on you... :wink:

T J

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 10:02 pm

airnutz wrote:

Okay..Hold Da Bus!!

I got a faded photo in the mail today of Mr. Almand's Lou IV sporting
N6160U on the verticle fin. There's a crossover or shared data and history
between "Double Trouble Two" and "Ridge Runner"..ohhh this is messy...

And N6160U became N13410. I guess we managed to id the 51 then! I had always thought Dave Forrest painted it as Lou IV, but now stand corrected. I guess it is fair to say that this must have been the first 51 in civilian ownership to wear WWII colors again??? Any chance we could persuade you to post the photo of N6160U?

T J

airnutz · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2005 11:21 pm

Sorry, TJ I don't have that capability at present..the original is pretty faded
..photoshopping it will help, and I have been assured a copy. By then I'll
probably have Photobucket etc. Will mail you when that is realised. I'll
check with the fella who sent the copy as to ownership, etc.

Thank-you very much for the help!!!
Jim

PS
The TF-51 was in CAF white/red/blue...Almand apparently "blasted off"
at full-throttle in his '51's, that's how the first 2 were wrecked. No regard
for torque-steer! The TF went through a fence and broke the tail off aft
of the second seat!
EDIT
here she is later when owned by Mr. Forrest..
http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/su ... 3-p23.html

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Sun May 08, 2005 6:58 pm

Doc Almand has a picture of it in one of rooms with other pictures from his Air Force days. A lot of history there.

Cheers,

Lynn

airnutz · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2005 4:40 am

Hi Lynn, The photo of 6160U you saw in Docs office...how was it
composed? Air shot, ground shot? From the side, or quarter angles, or
from above..or??

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2005 3:50 pm

Its a shot on the ground looking at the A/C from the A/C's 5 O'clock position in front of a hangar. The nose of it is facing the right side of the picture. I didn't know he had other Mustangs. I used to get my medical from him and enjoyed the wait looking at all the bits he has in his office.

Cheers,

Lynn

airnutz · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2005 6:14 pm

Thanks Lynn, different than the one I've seen. The one I've seen, is of it
on a ramp with a concrete patch. Head-on shot port quadrant, from above
30-40 degree angle...nose facing left. As for his other '51's, I didn't know
either until I started enquiring.

Edit 7:45
And I guess I really, don't "know", I'm just hearing stories...still digging...

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2005 8:14 pm

airnutz wrote:

Sorry, TJ I don't have that capability at present..the original is pretty faded
..photoshopping it will help, and I have been assured a copy. By then I'll
probably have Photobucket etc. Will mail you when that is realised. I'll
check with the fella who sent the copy as to ownership, etc.

Thank-you very much for the help!!!
Jim

PS
The TF-51 was in CAF white/red/blue...Almand apparently "blasted off"
at full-throttle in his '51's, that's how the first 2 were wrecked. No regard
for torque-steer! The TF went through a fence and broke the tail off aft
of the second seat!
EDIT
here she is later when owned by Mr. Forrest..
http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/su ... 3-p23.html

The only other 51 besides N10601 in CAF colors that I know of was N835J which was owned by some guys in the Dallas area in the 1960s. To the best of my knowledge it didn't crash as N835J though. Is this the same plane which is in the photo in that office. Or was that N6160U? Here it is:
http://image28.webshots.com/29/6/69/82/237766982aSUjIC_ph.jpg

T J

kennsmithf2g · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2005 10:34 pm

Hi,

Is this the plane that you are talking about in it's CAF colors?

TTFN....Kenn

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