As the cobalt blue P-51C Thunderbird streaked across the 1949 Cleveland Air Race finish line with Joe DeBona in the pilot’s seat, the staggering average speed of 470 miles per hour set a Bendix record for piston airplanes. The Bendix race winner, owned by celebrity & WWII bomber pilot Jimmy Stewart, weighed just 6223 lbs and raced on a special mix of 150 octane gasoline produced by General Petroleum Company. Thunderbird was finished with 48 coats of primers and the iconic gloss cobalt blue paint.
44-79780 was accepted by the Army Air Force on June 13, 1944. It was crated and shipped from the Piper factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, where it was loaded on a ship bound for Naples, Italy. Once in Italy the Grasshopper was assigned to the 12th Army Air Force, Army Ground Forces on June 30, 1944.
Shillelagh flew an incredible 95 WWII missions with the 353rd Fighter Squadron 354th Fighter Group in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Nicknamed after an Irish club, Shillelagh / Shillelaugh (two different nose art spellings) embarked on an dizzying array of missions that included dive bombing, escort missions to Berlin, beach patrols over Normandy, scrambles, fighter sweeps, assaults, and patrols. Follow this incredible P-51B restoration and return to flight through Wings of the North Air Museum with the support of the Ken & Betty Dahlberg Foundation.
North American P-51D 44-73437 received the paint scheme of ‘Miss Kitty III’, USAAF 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, based in the China-Burma-India Theatre during World War Two. This immaculate Mustang, which was restored by Casey, Haley, and Brady Odegaard, Odegaard Wings, and AirCorps Aviation, first flew in 2019.
Lope’s Hope 3rd was a P-51C flown by Lt. Donald Lopez. Donald and Lope’s Hope 3rd served in the China-Burma-India theater with the 14th Air Force, 23rd Fighter Group, 75th Squadron. The 23rd Fighter Group was the descendent of the famous American Volunteer Group or Flying Tigers after the US entered the war…
Sierra Sue II is a World War II combat veteran P-51D-20NA. She was in very nearly original configuration at the beginning of the restoration. No “jump seat” behind the regular pilot seat has ever been installed. We believe the airframe was one of the most intact, original P-51s known…
The Harvard series of trainers were British Commonwealth Air Forces versions of the North American Aviation AT-6 Texan trainer used during and after World War II. North American delivered its first Harvards in October 1938 to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Twilight Tear is a war veteran P-51D-20, AAF serial number 44-63384. She was delivered to the 78th Fighter Group, 83rd Squadron at Duxford, England. This Mustang is restored in her original color scheme used by Pilot Lt. Hubert Davis, squadron code HL-W. Twilight Tear is named for a race horse…