Sweet Merlin Music and Whistling Gun Ports is All You’ll Hear in This Video Captured at a Drive-In Airshow
There are more than 200 airworthy P-51 Mustangs around the world. The majority of them are based in the good old U S of A, but flyable Mustangs inhabit hangars in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Naturally there are fewer airworthy P-51Bs and P-51Cs than there are P-51 Ds and P-51Ks, but it’s still a thrill to see (and hear) any Mustang in the blue. Enjoy this video of a P-51B and a P-51D performing at one of Yankee Air Museum’s “Friday Night Flights” drive-in mini-airshows in 2020. The video was uploaded to YouTube by our friends at AirshowStuffVideos.
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The P-51B That Won at Hide-and-Seek for Decades
The P-51B in the video is P-51B-1-NA AAF SN 43-12252 completed in 1943 as CN 102-24700 and registered as NL551E. On 14 November of 1944 the aircraft crashed into Lake Louisa in Florida. The pilot, Lieutenant Dean Gilmore, perished in the crash. The aircraft sat in the lake until 2001, when low water levels revealed the wreckage. In 2002 the wreck was acquired by Jack Roush. Over the next six years the Mustang underwent restoration at Cal Pacific Airmotive in Salinas and was flown again in 2008. The aircraft wears the colors (and the Malcolm hood) of Clarence “Bud” Anderson’s P-51B AAF SN 43-24823 coded B6-S and named “Old Crow.”
Formerly Wrecked Racer Rescued by Jack Roush Too
The P-51D in the video is P-51D-30-NA AAF SN 44-74320 completed in 1945 as CN 122-40770 and registered as N551J (previously registered as N5466V and N51CY). This aircraft went into service with the Arkansas Air National Guard (ANG) in 1947. By 1958 the Mustang had been sold into civilian hands. Involved in at least two accidents, the airframe was restored and during the 1970s the aircraft raced in the unlimited class at the Reno Air Races as #76 dubbed “No Name Dame.” In 2000 Jack Roush acquired the Mustang and restored it to stock military configuration. After restoration the P-51D first wore the colors of Check Yeager’s P-51D AF SN 44-14888 coded B6-Y and named “Glamorous Glen III.” In 2005 the colors were changed to those of Captain Jim Browning’s P-51D AF SN 44-14937 coded B6-P and named “Gentleman Jim.”
