The Commemorative Airforce brought there warbirds to Lincoln,Ne. last Aug. 13-15.On display and available for rides were the B24 Diamond Lil ,P51 Mustang Gunfighter,an AT6 and Stearman.The B29 was parked away from the display area,don't know why. Always had a strong desire to sample the P51 so signed up for the 30 min. demo ride to take place at 11am on the 14th.Weather was 80 deg, high thin clouds and light SE wind. The CAF has owned this Mustang for 30 plus years and it has given some 3000 rides.It is sn 44-73264,N5428V.It was built Inglewood Ca.,accepted into USAAF in England March 1945, Eighth Airforce,the airplane did not see combat.The European war was soon over,it was shipped back to the US and passed around to different air guard units and sold on surplus market in 1956. Approx. 15000 P51s were built,8000 were D models.The D models had the bubble clear canopy for better visibility and the RR/Merlin/Packard V12 engine of 1650CI and 1490HP.Engine has cylinder studs torqued and valves lashed every 25hr.Top end goes 500hr. till freshening and bottum end usually goes 1000hr.,they are expensive to work on.It also swings the four blade paddle prop,almost 14 ft. diameter. This is a gear reduction engine, at takeoff the engine turns about 3000rpm,prop turns about 1400 to keep tip speed subsonic. Demo pilot was Joe "Rifle" Shetterly,great guy who answered all questions and has pilot qualifications and endorsements galore.Got safety briefings,mostly parachute operations and bail out instructions.Must say the aircraft looked to be in excellent condition,very straight, no missing screws or fasteners,paint excellent no leaks or oil streaks.I have flown cropdusters for 29 years and was hoping for dual controls to get a little stick time,it was not to be ,which is understandable.The aircraft was crewed by a couple guys who checked it over thoroughly.For a 6000 hr. high performance airframe it looked very good. Climbed in,got strapped in,startup uneventful.Taxi to the active using S turns for forward visibility, it had a few rattles and squeaks about what you would expect for a 65 year old bird.Did the runup,mag check,cycle prop,5* right rudder trim,check fuel selector,secure canopy,check gages. Takeoff requires gradual application of power.There is not enough airflow over rudder at low speed to counteract engine torque and P factor from the big prop.Acceleration was brisk,about half way through takeoff run it felt like full power was "in",the thing accelerated very hard.The engine would make about 61" manifold pressure at field elavation,pulled 56" on this takeoff.Airborne at about 100mph,no flaps,gear cycled up quickly,flown low over runway and did steep pullup.Climbed to what I would guess 3000-4000 ft AGL,Joe said it is a real climbing machine Flew NW to where we live and circled house from about 1000' Joe said the airplane cruises nicely at 250mph,burns 60gph and gets along well on present day 100LL av gas.Fuel capacity in each wing tank is 92 gal.,fuseladge tanks of 85 gal. are remove, pylon mounted under wing tanks made for good endurance.Airplane is seldom taken above 12000 ft. as that would require IFR flight plan and it is not IFR equipped. Turned back to LIncoln,did steep turns,lazy eights,inverted flight not allowed to keep FAA happy.Did flyby over display area and landed 17L,full flaps,touchdown around 85mph.Seemed to be docile on the rollout,Joe said pulling back the power causes the big prop to act as very effective speed brake. War time empty weight was around 7100 and max. weight around 11000,I would guess you needed everything it had to get airborne off a soft grass runway at 11000lb. Much respect for the pilots and personnel that kept these things flying,many didn't make it home. For what it's worth,the 30 min. ride was $2k and was fully booked,kinda pricey but don't think a P51 is cheap to run.Much of it was a donation to keep these machine flying,sure would be sad if they weren't flying.
