I’ll never forget one afternoon in 1997 I was driving through Gainesville, Ga going to the lumber yard which is right next to our airport. Looked up and saw a p-51 flying over and I got so excited. Then I thought, who in the world has a P-51 around this area? The next day I got my answer. Jack Roush(NASCAR owner) had brought his P-51 in to give his sponsors rides in it. It was after a race at Atlanta motor speedway. Who was actually flying it you ask? Well it was none other than Chuck Yeager! Couldn’t believe it but have always cherished that quick glimpse ever since!
Kwit Urbitchin, I met Yeager at an air show in Charleston WV (at Yeager airport) in the mid 90s, I’ll never forget it. When he flew in, the announcer kept saying he was coming in from the northeast but we couldn’t see or hear him, when we finally did I understood how easy it would have been to get straffed in ww2! He was coming in below the mountain top level, we were looking at the sky, plus he was coming fast, he was pretty close before we heard the plane. Thanks for bringing him up, I’m from WV also and he was our hero growing up.
Shane K yes a true American hero in my book. I couldn’t wait to tell the girl that I had just started dating at the time about it. She asked, who is Chuck Yeager? I couldn’t believe she didn’t know who he was and what he did. Needless to say, it didn’t work out between us! We were later working on a regular customers house and he had a picture of him and his son with Yeager standing in Front of the mustang from that day.
No doubt Chuck Yeager was one of the greatest pilots and gentleman. One of the reasons for his double ace in WW2 was his super eyesight which he says was 20/7. He flew in the front of his formation because he could see the enemy before others so he got first crack at them.
My Dad had a memorable encounter with a P-51 during the war. My Dad grew up on a farm in the lovely Sugarloaf Valley near Hazleton PA. In 1944 he was 10 years-old and like most boys, obsessed with WWII planes, ships and vehicles. An older neighbor of his joined the Army Air Force after he graduated tiny Rock Glen High School and wound up in flight school. He did well and was training on a P51, close to or after graduation. Anyway, he called home and told his folks to tell everyone to be outside, eyes on the skies, the next afternoon. The teachers took the kids outside and waited. Sure enough, while on a training flight, he pealed off from his fighter group and the few hundred kids and neighbors heard the sound of a plane coming in over the Stony Ridge Mountain above his home town of Rock Glen. The drone turned into a deafening roar as he came over the mountain, turned and dived down to buzz the school low, my Dad thought at about 1000 ft. The whole school cheered and the kids all jumped up and down for joy! The sound of that Rolls-Royce Allison engine was pure power, loud and growling like nothing he ever heard before. The pilot then climbed and proceeded to do some barrel rolls and other aerial acrobatics that thrilled his neighbors below. He flew low around the conical Sugarloaf Mountain, then climbed and flew back to join his unit. My Dad said teachers were worried the pilot might get in trouble, but the younger school kids played airplane with their arms out like wings and got so worked up that the principal sent them home an hour early. That P-51 and its pilot were the talk of the valley until after the war ended. Dad said morale in the town for victory skyrocketed after that pilot’s little stunt. With planes like that, how could we lose! Dad never found out exactly what happened to that hot shot pilot, but he survived the war. P-51 - Cadillac of the Sky!
Absolutely, this was the ULTIMATE episode of Behind the wings. No better- looking, prop- driven aircraft around..... And an utter WWII legend in its own right!!!.
This is my favorite Warbird of all time! Also, I own 21 books on this aircraft, along with one 1/72nd Scale Diecast Model, two 1/64th Scale Models, two hats, one shirt, a pin, and several posters, and drawings, as well, and, every year at my local air show, I'm always taking pictures of the Mustang that calls the CB Airport, home: "Gunfighter".
Lovely aircraft , fantastic Engine. Possibly the finest piston engine ever made for its time. It’s a Merlin. And it’s what made the mustang a mustang. What a package.
Packard had a lot to do with making it a practical powerplant as far as standardizing parts & interchangibilty. Quite the collaborated effort in such a small time frame.
Spdbrd And every single Merlin Mustang off the production linen had an AMERICAN built version by PACKARD. NOT one RR built Merlin went in a production Mustang, all were Built By PACKARD IN AMERICA QQQ
I've been hopelessly in love with this gorgeous art piece for as long as I can remember. Never been lucky enough to see one up close and personal, but I believe I would probably cry for joy. It's weird, I know, but I just can't help it. Great video! Cheers from Patagonia!
Mark Bingham very cool that you took it over from Mike Bertz and kept it in the original markings he painted it in and glad she stayed here in Colorado....just saw her two weekends ago in Colorado Springs for the PPRAS 2019 show and she looked great!!
This is gonna be a tough episode to beat! But I can tell every episode is getting better and better and I have no doubt you are no where near the peak!!
Great video! Bloody love Behind the Wings, and this whole channel. And Matthew seems to have limitless positive energy, always such a pleasure to watch these videos!
My great grandfather flew this bird in WWII and was in action with japan and Germany on fighter escort also he flew a f86 and was awarded the medal of honer
One of the most beautiful WWII era planes ever built, especially in the polished finish. I didn't realize the front of the cockpit was flat like that, till this video. Interesting.
This video is really great! A guy with passion explains easily to people complex stuff! Thank you and I wish I have somebody making such a video of our plane!!!
Such a beautiful aircraft. Where I live on a fairly regular basis, I can hear a P-51D from time to time flying overhead. Sometimes more than one.When I hear them, I bring up flight radar 24 and sure enough Crazy Horse I AND II and MAD MAX will be up around 10000 ft. Go out with binoculars and watch for a short time. I'm in central Florida and they are out of the Kissimmee War Birds airport. Once you have ever heard the Rolls Royce Merlin, you will never ever forget it.
Panzerfaust WRONG !!!! Its a K model Mustang, built in Dallas and it is powered by the AMERICAN made PACKARD V1560-7 merlin !! NOT one RR built Merlin was ever used in a production Merlin Mustang !! ! FACTS of history, less the lies, hype and British Bull$hit !!
Built in Texas, it is actually a K model. Essentially the same as the California built D model, with the Aero Products prop instead of the Hamilton Standard cuff blade of the D
Mustang is one of my all-time favorites. But another all-time favorite of mine to gets not enough recognition is the Douglas A-1 Skyraider just a badass airplane
rogerwilliams........sorry but the Mustang in this Video is a P51K, as he said it was built in Dallas, the "D's" were made in Inglewood Calif. too bad their info is WRONG !!!!
Amazing aircraft, I flew in one of these at Sonoma, it was so amazing, the sound, smell, backfires etc... one of the best experience I had. Such a shame he did not take him with him.
My guess is weight and balance. If the fuselage tank is installed and has fuel, then the back seat has a pretty low weight limit. Almost always the fuselage tank is empty with passengers. Other guess is he may not be insured to fly passengers.
@@ParkerUAS The back seat replaces the Fuselage tank. So if there is a rear seat there is no tank. However the rear seat is very small, smaller than the front. so being 6'2", he may no fit back there. Another reason would be insurance and one last reason is possible that the pilot was not current on landings and therefore makes him illegible to have a passenger, though that last one is very doubtful.
@@jollyrogerhobbies2386 , the only one I have been around is Toulouse Nuts and I thought the observer seat was where the radio compartment was. With modern radios being so much smaller it opened up that area.
@@ParkerUAS if I remember correctly, the radio sat above the tank. I remember reading about how the gauge for the fuselage tank was a sight glass mounted on the front of the tank over the pilots left shoulder. In stock photos, you can see the filler cap to the tank just under the port side rear portion of the canopy.
Thanks for the ride! How long would it take an 18 year old back in the day to learn to fly one of these things safely and then to train for combat? It blows my mind to contemplate that ... awesome. How much does it cost to maintain one of these things if you could get one? I got lots and lots and lots of questions.
I have read elsewhere that back in the day, pilots reporting to the ETO for combat duty had about two weeks familiarization training in the P-51 before going on combat missions. Also, the total time in their logbooks from the start of pilot training was about 200 hours.
My guess is that Mr. Bingham isn't 90 day current to carry passengers in a single engine airplane. It could also be insurance related, since underwriters love to impose restrictions like that, especially on unique aircraft.
That can get expensive. A Merlin slurps a lot of gas, and most FBOs would need an instructor checkout for before renting the most basic plane from them. Minimum of maybe $150 on the lowest end. Another consideration is that if he received payment of any sort for his interview. Then, if he took up a passenger in the context of this episode, there’s a violation of FAR61.113. He could be an airline pilot, but without operating under an air carrier certificate, he’d still be violating that pesky “no compensation” law. Sorry for getting a little in the weeds with that. If there’s one thing pilots love doing (other than telling people they’re a pilot) it’s sharing flying with someone else. I struggle to believe that the answer to the original question was “because I don’t feel like it”
What a d..ck for inviting him out to do a video but wouldn't take him up for a ride along. Unless that would put them out of CG limits which he would have explained. Not a real aviator. No respect.
@@johnosbourn4312 The $hitfire used a Brit Built by RR version of the merlin !!!! The Mustang used the PACKARD, made and redesigned and improved in AMERICA version in the Mustang only, no other plane used the V1650-3/-7/-8/-11 except the Mustang. HP depended on octane of the fuel, boost pressure altitude of engines. Mustang was 30 MPH Faster than a Mk IX $hitfire, although being 2,000# heavier, Mustang more aerodynamic, Laminar flow wing more streamlined thrust producing radiator and the more efficient wide bladed prop, dem facts of history !!!
Noticed the main gear doors closed while its was engine off. I thought part of the shut down check list was to release all hydrolic pressure, and the result was these doors would drop down. Reason why was to prevent accidental gear retractions. Did I miss something or is there a different retraction system on this plane?
You have covered a lot of my favourite fighter craft, and have touched on the EA-18G. With the new Top Gun on it's way, I would love it if you covered my favourite aircraft, the F-/A18E Super Hornet!
Hello !!!! IF that plane was made in Dallas and it a bubble canopy model it is a P51K, which were a D made in Dallas, The "D's" were built in Inglewood Calif. Gees guys get it right !!! Also the paper mache drop tanks were used NOT because aluminum was in short supply BUT to keep the supply of aluminum out of the hands of the germans as the tanks were usually dropped over Germany, eliminating a supply of aluminum from the germans, the paper tanks were useless once used
My grandpap was a Sargent in the United States Army Air Corp and he was an airplane mechanic stationed in Dallas for a spell. I wonder if he touched this plane. Oh boy 🥺
Well, Bill GReenwood of Aspen just sold his Colorado based Spitfire to the folks at Biggin Hill in the UK so there went our chance of getting one of these videos made about his lane!
