Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Some pictures of my airplane...and another.

I just felt like showing off my plane today, so here she is.
Isn't she fetching? She's a classic and flies just as good as she did when she was new. Yeah, that's mine there with the red prop spinner.
No, not the silver one...THAT ONE with the red prop spinner, back by the hangar, next to the old Waco.
She's mine, she's paid for, and I love her, even if she can't pull multiple Gs or fly inverted.

But as to the P-51, it's the Collings Foundation's TP-51C, a two-seater and the only original fully dual-control Mustang in existence.
If you are a pilot and you want P-51 time in your logbook, contact the Collings folks...and bring your checkbook. But hey--it's for a god cause: promoting and preserving aviation history.
Seventy years old, and there's nothing built today that can touch her in flight.
Just as soon as I hit the lottery, there will be a P-51 in my air zoo, right alongside the Corsair, the A-26, the O-2A and the Stearman. (And my Cessna 172...never forget the one that you started with.) But for now, I'll just enjoy looking at, and listening to, this one.

10 comments:

  1. Just in case anyone's asking.

    According to Collings Fundation's site
    $2200 for a half hour of flight instruction
    $3200 for a full hour of flight instruction
    But how can you put a price on History!

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    1. Ouch.

      That was The Missus Herself slapping me for even thinking about it!

      (But I can dream can't I?)

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  2. Way back I worked on & was a flight mechanic in the CG on the HU-16, we used to joke about getting one just for fun, it was a great machine.
    Then we'd joke about getting enough money just for the fuel (115/145) to do the mag check before a take off...

    Your plane is great!

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  3. First you win the lottery, then you buy the plane. Then your arms fall off, and you drop dead polishing the thing. Oh, but what a way to go.

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  4. How much to sit in it while the pilot runs up the engine?

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  5. Ouch! It would be worth it though.

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  6. This plane was in Wyoming a few years ago, and they'd just had it polished-it sure was pretty.
    The pilot (who must have been over seventy, God bless him) must have asked those present ten times not to touch it. Good thing he did, as the urge to stroke the fuselage was pretty strong for several of us.

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  7. A beauty and bring a BIG checkbook!

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  8. Had heard of these but never have seen one, not even pics. Thanks for posting these.

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  9. Built right here in North Texas...

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