Amazing shot of Mustang bellylanding

[Flyingmike]

Flying ACe is correct....

Gerry Beck is the man to see in BWP (Wahpeton, ND.) He taught my uncle to fly.

They have a pretty amazing collection of restoration projects in the hanger....

Beck searches all over the world to find authentic parts for his projects. The Zero he is building will be one of very few still flying in the world.

He could have that 51 in the photo up and running in a few months...nothing to it.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

If my memory is working right (and it may not be)...

The shop I used to work in would get a new part machined, and then someone from FSDO would come over and check that it conformed to the spec for whatever it was. All of the data you could ever want on P-51s is stored by the NASM. You want to know what the differences in canopy release brackets were between the P-51D-5 and the P-51D-10, they've got those drawings and usually the memos that describe why the changes were made.

I'm pretty sure we just had a fed come out and do a conformity inspection of some sort. I didn't get too involved in that, I was just a lackey doing sheetmetal, brackets, latches and whatnot.

As to multiengines airplanes build using the Merlin: Lancaster, Mosquito, the DC-4/Merlin Conversion, and a few other minor types come to mind. It's not so much that they made millions of them, but that they haven't been snatched up by collectors like the Stangs and Spits have.

Dan

 

[ShawnC]

Sad shot to see. But anyone else do restoration hanger tour at Fantasy of Flight. Mr. Weeks apparently has the largest collection of new in box Merlin engines. The tour guides that that he started buying them after the motorboat racers started tearing them up racing with them.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

I dunno if Kermit his the largest collection of new in box Merlins or not.

I know of a now-deceased buy who had, on quick count, 120 in boxes. All hiding inside a barn. Him and Kermit were a bit chummy though, it wouldn't surprise me if Kermit got the engines when he passed.

Pretty amazing, they found a crack int he head on one of the engines, two days later there was a Merlin in a box. The next week, it got driven out for overhaul. Impressive to say the least.

Dan