Hi Pepper, long time. I just spoke with James Streit on the phone last night, and hope to interview him regarding the P-51 in a few short weeks. He remembered the flight and the newspaper article well. I gotta get hold of that one. Can you recall which newspaper it was? According to FAA documents Streit sold the aircraft to a William H Keenan of Jamul which is not too far from Gillespie Field. Do you know if the aircraft was kept there? I've been trying to track Keenan down but no luck so far. He only had it for two months before selling it to a Dr. Roger Sterling in L.A. Sterling later sold half of it to a Larry Walsh who perished in the crash together with a prospective buyer. As for the remains, I really don't know what became of them. I've never seen photos of N8678E in the black paint job so I agree with Rick here. Please post them for us all to enjoy.

T J Johansen
Oslo, NORWAY

Would like to see any photos. Thx.

Rick

You may be correct....  anyway,   it was a beautiful aircraft.

Thanks,  David S.

Just a guess, but "LL" might stand for Lee Lauderbeck...  Beautiful airplane...


Jim

Hi All:

Back in the early 60's, I was privileged to work on a P-51D that a friend (an ex-USAF instructor pilot) bought at auction in IL and brought back to El Cajon, CA (San Diego), where he kept it at Gillespie Field, a former military parachute training base ... he buzzed our small home town of La Mesa, CA on the way to Gillespie Field, creating quite the stir and garnered two writeups in the local newspaper about his adventures bringing it from IL to CA ...

If I remember correctly, this one came off the line right at or near the end of WW II, went to Canada where it was stored and then released for auction in the early 60's ... also, if memory serves me correctly, it had about 12 hours  TT on the airframe/engine ... he also bought a ton of parts, but I don't remember if we used any of them or if he sold them in toto or ?? ... he paid $4,500 for the whole shebang and later, when he put it up for sale, ran ads in Flying Magazine offering it for $12,000 - don't we all wish that'd happen today ?? ... :-) ...

After some amount of work - adding a 2nd seat, paint job, new radios, etc., the plane was ready ... this, in the day before Warbird-correct paint schemes, he had it painted gloss black, with white wing, stab and prop tips plus the spinner ... it was registered as N8678E ...

For my help, he gave me two rides, each of about 90 minutes duration ... being that Gillespie Field is very near the approach path to NAS Miramar (now MCAS Miramar), we saw several USN jets setting up to enter 'final', all of whom pulled out of their approach to come 'check us out' ... what a hoot ! ...

It was later sold to a 707 captain, who crashed it on Pacific Coast Highway a few years later, killing himself and his pax ...

Does anyone know if any pieces/parts were salvaged and recycled ? ...

Just a question and am thinking that the answer is 'no way' !! ...

I have a few B/W photos that I took and if ithere's any interest, I'll be happy to dig them out and post them here ...

Thanks so much,

Pepper

I have read tht the P51 Mustang was one of the greatest fighter planes and most succesful planes developed during the second world war.   

Also understand that North America Aviation prepared a letter contract to produce 320 aircraft and that the British-supplied equipment, including engines, would be specified and that a definitive contract would be negotiated on the basis of the letter contract.

Does anyone know where I could find a copy of the Letter contract or the definitive contract?  Wanted to see what the original requirements were that the P51 was procured to. 

Seems like in todays world the requirements for a new plane would be very very extensive and prescriptive. Was the procurement process for the P51 part of the reason it was so succesful?

thank you for your help

Last November I attended a plastic model show and swap meet near Chicago. One of the vendors was from Columbus Ohio and he told me that the talk around Columbus was that another GML was being talked about. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this rumor? I hope it IS true, as the 2007 event twas the most memorable event I have ever attended. I can honestly say i actually think about it sat least once a day, and its going to be 3 yrs sind i was there!

If anyone is looking for free photos and high quality manuals and blueprints I have found a site. Click on the link below to sign-up. Once you’ve signed up you’ll get a link to the download server in your email. Take a look at the Vought F4U Corsair blueprint and the Me 109 ones.

http://stores.ebay.com/FLUG-ARCHIV-20

I respectully submit my 60% model project derived from P-51B loft , augmented by dimensions derived from P-51D data in the microfilmed images and other NAA sources.

http://s437.photobucket.com/albums/qq99/packardpursuit/

Here is what I believe: The link to E-bay ad above, implies CAD work purporting to contain D fuselage loft and ordinates. What is shown in the ad appears to be work of Gary Henry, in supliment to  NAA digitized drawings.  While his cad work is quite good, I don't think it can be said it ,as offered inthe ad, constitutes a precise loft for D. I have another (later?) work also by Mr. Henry which appears  based on the B loft and ordinates which is probably more accurate. However, Mr Henry indicated to me that he was not happy with it for various reasons. Again, could not be considered a precise D loft.

I do not have an axe to grind with Mr. Ewbanks or Mr.Henry (infact I'd definitely like to see more quality work from the latter!!). The products sold by Ewbanks are quite good, in that he does make a lot of ponderous WWII tech data avaiable in a more practical and affordable format.

I've been actively working with the NAA Mustang microfilm since 1978. It is my opinion, there is enough data within the NAA drawings offered by  Mr. Ewbanks and others, to  arrive at a very precise loft for a P-51D, if one so chooses to to do the actual work it takes to find, collate, and publish it.

Mr. Ewbanks historically "interesting" advertising practices are another matter...