Warbird Information Exchange

I just read in the latest issue of Warbirds Intl. about Steve Coutches and his P-51H. It got me wondering about the P-51H in general. Does anybody know if the Whittington Brothers are still active much as far as Warbirds are concerned? Evidently they own the other flyable P-51 H.
I believe that Pat Harker who is restoring the Twin Mustang bought a P-51H project don't know what the status is on that one. Also the late Mike Coutches had a P-51H which evidently his son Steve has so hopefully that one at some point might get restored. Are there any others that people know about? In my travels I don't think I have ever seen a P-51H in person. I know it is a very rare warbird.
Slightly off topic anyone know if the XP -51G has made any progress I saw it in 2007 at the Mustang Gathering it looked like a long shot to ever turn into a flyer. Thanks in advance for any updates.

Steve Couches H model project is waiting for space to clear in the shop. Its not a matter of if it will be put together, but a matter of when. The holdup at this point is space in the shop to work on it.

Will

I think this covers pretty-much what's out there, Ed:

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/survivors/P-51H



"Louisiana Heatwave" was moved to the museum at Warner Robins after the Chanute museum closed.

http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Airframe/Ga ... 059032.jpg



John Morgan posts an occasional XP-51G update here:

https://www.facebook.com/Project-Xp-51g ... 156980548/

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Anybody know who brought 44-64697 from Ken Williams/Robert Cambers in Red Oak, Texas? I remember seeing it on Courtesy and was sold several years ago.
I drove around looking for it as Red Oak is on the way to the hangar.

Lynn

Okay , so there seems to be three H projects out there. 1) The Coutches second H which has been a basketcase for 50 years. 2) The Red Oak, TX project that sold recently. 3) The Washington state project sold by Courtesy Aircraft a couple years ago. The H in Minnessota is either number 2 or 3.

4) The XP-51G bits owned by John Morgan. Won't be completed in his lifetime. Missing wings, gear, rear fuselage, and many other pieces. Are there any surviving blueprints for the G or H mustangs? Doubt it could be rebuilt to airworthy without blueprints.

Goodall doesn't even mention 44-64697, so that's my sources dried up!

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

44-64415 has been rebuilt at least twice, once when William Hogan owned it and crashed it and once when Bill Whittington crashed it at Reno.

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remember the Oogahonk!
old school enthusiast of Civiltary Warbirds and Air Racers

To blackbird fan. You mentioned that the H model that now belongs to Steve Coutches is waiting in the wings to go to a restoration shop. Is it by chance either Dave Teeters or his dad Art? Also there is a Bearcat which would belong to Steve it has not been flown in many years. Is that also headed for the restoration shop as well? Thanks for the info guys.

Wow - the XP-51G would be cool with a 5 blade prop - I need to win the lotto and put myself in a position to help him out with a substantial donation!

Tom P.

Both the Bearcat and the H will be assembled/restored in Livermore. One of the Precious Metal crew chiefs will be doing the work. Neither plane really needs to be restored. The Bearcat needs to have all the rubber on it replaced (due to age), the engine gone through, and the prop overhauled (again due to age). It should be a very straight forward project. It was correctly preserved, it has just been sitting indoors for a few decades and needs to be gone through. The H model needs to be assembled. No corrosion on either one. The hangar that will be used for the reassembly of the H is simply full of customers planes that are either for sale or in for an annual or what have you. I think when they are ready to start work on them, the extra stuff will be cleared out.

Will

The 5-bladed prop is in possession of the Whittington brothers in Ft. Lauderdale. Several years ago there was a conversation discussing Morgan and the G project. Don's comment was something to the effect that Morgan had contacted him several times over the years to try to buy the prop from him, but he wasn't interested in selling it to him....that he had more money and more time than Morgan had, and ultimately he felt he would take the G off of Morgan's hands when John got tired of it.

Take that for what its worth.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Humm - as Pink Floyd once put in lyrics "Money, its a hit, but don't give me that do-goodie-good Bull S***"

Tom P.