P-51D Cockpit Project - Honouring a fallen hero

[jasonp51d]

At Bottisham Airfield Museum, former home to the 361st FG, we are re-creating the cockpit section of a P-51D Mustang to honour the memory of Colonel Thomas JJ Christian.

Colonel Christian was the extremely popular commander of the 361st FG and former West Point graduate who was killed pressing home a dive bombing attack on August 12 1944 near Arras, France. Those who knew him all said that he would have gone on to a much higher command in the Air Force had he survived the war - perhaps more poignantly he never got to see his daughter, after who he named his aircraft.

We have purchased a fibre glass replica from the bulkhead to aft of the canopy and plan to fit it out so it is complete internally and will show visitors to the museum what an 8th AF P-51 would have looked like in 1944.

So far we have a complete instrument panel, rudder pedals & bar, canopy, windshield, control column, radio selector and oxygen regulator. We have also had an extremely generous donation of a seat & rudder pedals from one WIXER who put it in his suitcase and brought it over to the museum on a trip to the UK.

However we still need a number of items to complete our restoration such as a throttle quadrant, N9 gunsight, SCR 522 radio and fuselage tank amongst others.

We appreciate that these items are valuable and we only have a tiny budget. The items we need are only for static and need not be in the best condition as we are prepared to restore them. Any leads on any parts would be much appreciated especially the smaller items such as canopy latches, trim wheels, canopy cranks or tracks. And although we have the seat, we have none of the mounts or mounting frame.

We are determined to display a complete a cockpit as possible and any help would be greatly appreciated.

A link showing video of our latest open day can be found at:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTE8dult ... r_embedded















Thanks

Jason
Bottisham Airfield Museum Chairman
Webmaster http://www.361fg.com
jasonwebb361@btinternet.com

[jasonp51d]

Anyone???

[Fouga23]

Can't help with parts, but great project!!

[PbyCat-Guy]

Where did you get the fiberglass fuselage? that's cool.

[Ken]

Do we know if he was lost flying his assigned aircraft?

BTW, another WIXer did this fine historical writeup on the aircraft:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=99061557156

Last edited by Ken on Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[jasonp51d]

Thanks for the kind wishes.

The fuselage came from http://www.gateguardsuk.com/ who did the P-51's for the film redtails.

[CraigQ]

Do we know if he was lost flying his assigned aircraft?

Yes, Col.Christian was flying LOU IV the day he went down.

[jasonp51d]

Ken,

Yes - MACR and other loss records show he was lost flying his assigned a/c Lou IV/Athlene.

The circumstances of his burial are currently being looked into as he was buried in the WW1 cemetary in Arras, France but due various errors post-war he was laid to rest in an unknown grave.

Excellent research by Laurent Wiart has identified the correct grave and we hope this error will be put right soon.

Cheers

J

[jasonp51d]

Ken,

Thanks for the link to Wade's face book note on Lou IV/Athelene. We provided some photos for his research for his painting "Daydreams over Cambridgeshire". Wade kindly agreed to supply a copy for our museum but sadly it was lost in the post.

[whistlingdeath77]

the wartime photos are wonderful. That mock-up is great too

[PbyCat-Guy]

Thanks for the kind wishes.

The fuselage came from http://www.gateguardsuk.com/ who did the P-51's for the film redtails.

I went to the website, and looking through the photos, I thought I spotted Mudge standing next to a Spitfire replica. Mudge is the new spokesperson.

[jasonp51d]

Might be easier to deal with Mudge.