How to find/buy a Warbird ?

Maybe these forums would be more helpful.

http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/p51sforsale/4473142apr2005.shtml

 

I would start with your local contacts, try the low-key approach. I don't know if there are any "barn-find" Mustangs left but you can always go to the "experts" later.

There might just be one hiding out there that nobody knows about, yet.

 

You'd be a lot better off buying one that someone has already done the restoration. Last I checked (over a year ago) a good restored P51 was about 1M, probably a bit less now, but still pricey. However, you'll pay quite a bit for non-flying piece of crap to restore, and when you're done, you'll have waited a couple of years, and you'll have spent about the same money.

Art

 

What do you intend to do with it? Do you want to fly it yourself?

 

I would go to Oshkosh, Wi for the EAA show and meet the guys and who knows, buy a P51. I go every year to admire warbirds and check out vintage aircraft. July 28-August3, 2008

http://www.airventure.org/index.html

I love those ol' birds
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Trade-a-plane ad P-51 $1.8mil


http://tappix.com/792360

 

Here is a list of 291 surviving Mustangs. From airworthy to projects. Sort through them

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/survivors/p51list.shtml

 

+1

or Courtesy, probably knows more about the world's P-51 fleet/market than most anyone (retail)

http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/

(Need a partner?)

 

down in Kissimmee, Florida, there is an airport that houses the only, (I believe) P-51 that you can check out in to be covered by insurance. You might do some DD and give them a call.

 

If you are new to the market, I'd agree to go though Mark Clark at Courtesy Aircraft: www.courtesyaircraft.com

 

I heard about this one years ago: 44-73254
One of my co-workers flew into Baton Rouge as part of a TV sports crew. The airport was having some work done, so the van that picked them up from the charter plane had to divert and drive through one of the hangers as they left the airport. He spotted a P-51 sitting in the hanger. He asked somebody about it on the way back, and was told that the pilot had gotten in a close call while flying it, the incident had scared him quite a bit, so the plane had been sitting for a long time. According to the P-51 registry, it must be
44-73254, and there isn't any activity listed for it after 1978. Probably gathering dust. Got a spare million laying around?

 

For 1.8 mill Id buy a L38. I guess its different strokes for different folks though.

 

Doesnt that idiot Tom Cruise have a P-51?

 

I believe Tom Cruise owns one, unless he's sold it. Travolta, I think, does not own a P-51.

Arlie-- there are lots of guys who have scared themselves in P-51s-- Mr. Bigbucks buys a P-51 and scares himself so badly he's afraid to ever touch it again is a pretty common scenario.

 

Here's a few P40 projects: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/album/showphoto.php?photo=1689&size=big&cat=&si=Boneyard
Just fire up the time machine and head for New Zealand, 1962.

 

Again, I'm not sure of your background, but it would be best to get some good T-6 time to prepare to fly the Mustang if you are serious. I think most insurers require a couple of hundred hours in a T-6 for checkout in the Mustang - anyway, most Mustang pilots I know say the T-6 is easier to fly than the P-51 so by the time you have 200 hours in the Texan, you are about ready to fly almost any WW2 fighter type, just like they did in the 40s.

A good T-6 can run in the low $100s to $200K. An absolutely terrific airplane in its own right.

Have fun and fly safe!

 

I love flying the Texan. It was easier than I thought and I didn't need to watch the G-forces. Would like to have one, but I can only have a few toys. Having flown for a long time, I find it actually boring now. That is why I liked the Texan, I could go up and spin, flip and twist my brains out.

 

I would try getting ahold of Jack Roush, he is quite the avid P51 Mustang enthusiast, and owns two I believe.

He or someone in his company could probably point you in the right direction...

 

William. Here you go:

http://www.stallion51.com/

Years ago, I had the opportunity to go for a ride in this P51. At the time I was merely a starving Air Force pilot, and couldn't swing the $$$. I see it's still available. I used to live near this airfield and got to know the people there, a little bit. If they are the same people as back in the 90's, they are first class. They should be able to easily answer all your questions, and give some advice, you could likely trust. Best of luck. Keep us informed.
J

 

Hop into your time machine and travel back to my hometown airport in 1969. Several P-51s traveled through there back in that time period. One was for sale: $9000 price tag. Another was a regular flier. Until the day that the engine sputtered on take-off. Pilot tried to do a quick go-around and land. He lost all his lift on the last turn. Crash. Pilot and passenger dead. Somewhere in all my collectable junk, I have the oxygen guage from the instrument panel.

 

P-51s were scattered all around the world, sure would be fun trying to locate one.

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p51_11.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang#Non-US_service

Or check with the guys who restore them

http://midwestaero.com/articles/daddysgirl.pdf

Ask some of the locals... (Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields)

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/

Seems that some were "recalled" (for their parts)

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:7qCpukW74VwJ:archive.nacla.org/Summaries/V2I4P9-1.htm+surplus+p-51+mustang+hanger&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=15&gl=us

Dated July 1968

World War II Planes Scramble Once More in Guerilla Actions
Sklarewitz, Norman
VAN NUYS, Calif.-Most World War II vet- erans reminisce now and then. Robert Denny can do that- he flew a P-40 fighter over China -- but he does the other vets one better. For Mr. Denny, the war is...

...They were in- tended for pilot training, but the Pentagon has decided that the T-28 is useful for what it calls counterinsurgency warfare...
...now the asking price is $8,000...
...of Tucson has a $3,750,000 contract from Brazil to overhaul 18 of its aging A-26 bombers, first made in 1942...
...with about $50,000 worth of work added to the $10,000 purchase price, they can be sold for at least $75,000...
...His On Mark Engineering Co...
...Some South American nations have received World-War II vintage U.S...
...has come full circle with the T-28...
...Denny of On Mark thinks he could find 75 A-26s...
...On Mark just finished converting 50 A-26s for the Peruvian air force...
...But limited warfare has produced an urgent need for relatively slow, economical.planes that can carry heavy loads of bombs, machine guns and other weapons to support antiguerrilla land campaigns...
...Many owners are sitting fast, figuring the prices will keep going up, but some are selling...
...In shops at the local airport here, half a dozen of his workmen are replacing nose cones on A-26 Invaders, a bomber used widely after the Normandy invasion but not manufactured for 20 years...
...The Columbus division of North American Rockwell Corp...
...military aid program...
...Denny has found it profitable to live in the past-at least, when it comes to airplanes...
...But when the Vietnam conflict grew, it quietly started scouring through old Govern- mnent storage areas and buying back World War II vintage craft from private owners...
...or have purchased them from private American arms salesmen...
...Air Force base in Ari- zona, where unused planes are stored...
...models, plus anti- skid brakes and modern reversible propellers...
...The Pentagon is repurchasing T-28s from private owners who got the planes as surplus to use for crop dusting or stunt flying...
...Such sales are legal with State Department permission...
...stopped making slow, propeller- driven attack planes more than two decades ago...
...One businessman in the field says T-28s cost about $3,000 a couple of years ago...
...To outfit the planes for Vietnam com- bat, On Mark installed 2,500-horsepower engines to replace the old 2,000 h.p...
...Most of them are being dis- tributed to 13 foreign governments, generally without charge, under the U.S...
...A Booming Market Hamilton Engineering Co...
...The profit margin in converting such planes is re- spectable...
...Since 1962, North American has been paid $30 million to convert about 320 T-28s for close air support duty...
...Starting in 1953, the company built the single-engine prop plane for the Air Force and Navy at a cost of $142,234 each...
...Its 12-cylinder Rolls Royce engine burns 62 gallons of fuel an hour...
...France has been one source of T-28 spare parts...
...Turning back the aviation clock is a costly business...
...The Pentagon won't say what gov- ernments are getting the planes, but South Vietnam is one of them...
...Denny, the war is still on...
...warplanes as gifts from the U.S...
...Gordon Strube, owner of Consoli- dated Aeronautics Corp...
...Others have been put to specialized uses like chemical bombing of forest fires or have been used for racing...
...Resurrection in War The U.S...
...Hairston recently paid out $2.000 for a load of junk offered by an airplane surplus company...
...An oil company had kept them for use by exploration crews...
...Most of the purchase was worthless scrap, but the buy included some hard-to-find engine mounts, still in their World War II over- seas shipping crates with the Army post office number faded but dimly legible...
...sold for about $2,500 a decade ago now are being offered by private owners for $10,000...
...For instance, the P-51 and the T-28 use the same propeller...
...Last sum- mer the Army paid $15,000 for one, to be used as a chase plane in a helicopter test program...
...Sim- ilarly, some South American nations with old U.S...
...The sudden enthusiasm for old warplanes has produced a shortage of parts and planes- and a sharp rise in prices for both...
...Strube recently found 12 A-26s in a hangar at Wichita, Kan...
...The U.S...
...You would think the supersonic jet and the intercontinental missile would have made the old planes obsolete...
...Government occasionally buys back planes that it once dumped on the surplus market for next to nothing...
...Not long ago, the Pentagon paid On Mark $400,000 each to rebuild 40 A-26s, double what the planes cost when they were built ini- tially during World War II by Douglas Aircraft Co...
...In 1944, a P-51 cost about $57,000...
...now a division of McDonnell Douglas Corp...
...has rebuilt two P-51 Mustang fighters being sold to the Bolivian air force by a used plane dealer for about $45,000 each...
...Strube travels about 75,000 miles around the world yearly buying up old planes, often for their engines, instruments and arma- ments...
...In 1958 the Government sold a batch of them for about $1,500 each...
...Richard Hairston, owner of Aero Sport Co., figures there still are 175 P-51s in private hands...
...The spare parts situation is desperate in places...
...The base has one A-26 left, and that one is in the base museum...
...in North Hollywood, Calif., has 40 A-26s stashed away in Tucson air- port, "just waiting for customers...
...Other workmen labor over wing fuel tanks and fabricate new exhaust pipes for a more powerful A-26 engine...
...is one of several aviation companies being paid handsomely by the Pentagon to put old warplanes back into fighting shape...
...warplanes are refurbishing the craft for use in insurrections and local security...
...A-26s that the U.S...
...But air racing has all but died out, and flying a P-51 for sport, for instance, is expen- sive...
...One dealer grumbles that a four-bladed propeller costing $600 three years ago now sells for $2,400...
...At the San Bernardino county airport in Cali- fornia, Aero Sport Co...
...It also strengthened the wings and added racks for more bombs...
...Many old warplanes not scrapped after World War II or Korea have been converted for use as corporate executive aircraft...
...We're about cleaned out," says a spokesman at the Davis-Montham U.S...
Vol. 2 • July 1968 • No. 4

 

The P51 in Orlando area is "Crazy Hourse" owned by Lee Lauderbaum. I flew "Lady Jo" in Reno, owned by Darryl Bond (a real gentleman).

Daryl's is an original TF model (one of ten ever made), not sure about Lee's though I'm sure that it will offer the same exterience.

One word of advice. FLY THE AIRPLANE! I was very much in awe, much like when you let someone drive your Ferrari and they seem a little timid. Next time I'll throw it through the air a little more.

Pics from Reno. ......Drat Can't upload. They are in a Reno file located here somewehere.

 

PS

Wanna go halfies?