[rollei_list] Re: OT: P-51 Lore
- From: Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:39:41 -0700
John,
In 1990, I saw a far more modern aircraft doing that same
job.
Jerry
John Jensen wrote:
> There are lots of stories to be told about the P-51 (a
> great plane); first contract to the RAF, etc. My
> personal one is about me sitting on a Tel-Aviv beach
> looking at a Mustang slowly patrolling the beach,
> going north then south, and back again. Looking for
> invaders, obviously. And this is a plane still in
> service in 1985 (or so).
>
> John
>
> --- Marc James Small <msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > First, my father was a friends of the fellow who did
> > the initial test
> > flight on the NA-73 in OCT 1940, which design
> > eventually became the P-51.
> > This guy also did the initial test flight on the
> > NA-62, the later B-25
> > Mitchell bomber.
> >
> > Second, these aircraft were intended to last around
> > nine months in
> > operations. That is, an airplane accepted by the US
> > Army Air Forces in,
> > say, JUN 1944, was intended to be dead and junkable
> > by MAR 1945. Jerry can
> > tell us about MTBF, but that is the harsh rule of
> > the jungle. That ANY of
> > these aircraft have survived today is a simple
> > miracle: the USAF was
> > trying to junk all of their F-51's in 1949 to change
> > over to an all-jet
> > fighter force until the outbreak of the Korean War
> > kept the Mustangs on the
> > go for another four years.
> >
> > Third, the US Department of Defense actually had a
> > new run of Mustangs done
> > in 1967 by Cavalier. These included both straight
> > gasoline powered
> > versions and some, the Enforcers, with a turboprop
> > engine. Look up
> > OPERATION PAVE COIN on Google for details. (The
> > USAF old-timers were
> > horrified, as they had hoped that a new P-38 would
> > be produced -- these
> > guys had flown them all and believed the P-38 to be
> > a far more capable
> > vehicle for Forward Air Support (FAS) and Air
> > Interdiction (AI) missions.
> > But the P-38 cost something like three times the
> > price of a basic P-51, and
> > the last P-38 mechanic was retired around 1965.}
> >
> > I have no idea whether any of these aircraft had
> > bimetallic elements in
> > them, but I'd not be surprised. The Mustang was a
> > great aircraft in a
> > zillion ways, but its most endearing quality from
> > the perspective of the
> > war-planners was that it was cheap and easy to
> > produce. It is always best
> > to buy the cheapest widget when you can get it in
> > really GRAND quantities,
> > and it is the cream of the crop when it turns out to
> > be the best aircraft
> > of the bunch.
> >
> > Marc
> >
> > msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
> >
> >
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