Reported P-51 crash in Durango, CO

[lilbillyt]

Also back in the late 1960's, my dad flew his Aztec and some buddies to look at a P-51 in a hangar in East Tennessee. It was bare metal and covered in dust and smelled oily. Meanwhile there was a verified rumour that a guy in the Chattanooga area of east Tennessee had a bunch of P-51, and T-33 parts, engines, drop tanks, etc.
SO researching this accident yesterday, I found that Dr. Bertz' P-51 was purchased in 1968 from the Tallmantz collection as was the PT-17 my dad bought in 1968.
The P-51 that crashed yesterday passed through an owner in Signal Mtn, Tennessee and is probably the mystery Mustang we went to look at buying back in the late 1960's. Interesting that both P-51's in Colorado have a Tennessee connection.

John Temple from Chattanooga owned two P-51s, and his other steed was 44-74435 N130JT. I think this is the one you saw as he flew it between 1966-70. It was plain aluminium with the N# in black letters on the fuselage. Also, he didn't own N1451D until 1970. You didn't by any chance shoot any photos of it when you went to see it?

T J

That was my Dad's plane.. John Temple.. I'll see if I can dig up some pics for you.. Loved that plane..

[StangStung]

Since this two year old thread was bumped, can a Mod please update the headline to note this is not a recent occurrence?

[T J Johansen]

Has anyone seen this? The NTSB report is out, and somewhat interesting...

http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviat ... 339&akey=1

http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20 ... /-1/News01

T J

[WIXerGreg]

What a waste of life and machine.

[CoastieJohn]

What a waste of life and machine.

I was thinking the same thing after reading the NTSB findings. The findings didn't suggest any mechanical issues.

A general question - would it be correct to think the P-51 does not have much margin of error on takeoffs should something happen with the fight profile or controlability?

[JimH]

A properly trained pilot with adequate high performance tailwheel training should have no problem in a Mustang. The T-6 was designed to transition pilots into the high performance fighters. There is no substitute. In today's world with the Mustang training available there should be few issues. The Mustang is a straight forward airplane if you fly it by the book and properly prepared.

My .02

Jim

[Scott Rose]

Warbird Registry Entry:
P-51 Mustang/44-74446

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51regis ... 74446.html

[RobC]

This one has been wrecked more times than J.B. Mauney.

[C VEICH]

I have fond memories of "Unruly Julie" from my childhood days in and around Deer Valley, Arizona. It remains my favorite Mustang paint job to this day and I still think that Mike Clarke was one of the leaders of the push for authentic appearance. There were very few natural metal (as in unpainted and not polished) Mustangs around at the time and even fewer with drop tanks installed. I also recall it having some of the nicest sheet metal work around. It's still the only Mustang I have ever had opportunity to sit in. Good memories! Sure is too bad the airplane was destined for such hard luck and tragedy.