Mustang

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Dr. O

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denny
In the course of a long life I have flown a few planes here and there.
I usually don't mention it - a rose is a .... etc.
And many on here who fly commercial iron for a living have flown planes with vastly greater performance than any I might fly.
OTOH, yesterday I had a turn at the stick of a P-51. This is a C model with a fresh -7 engine. (a quarter of a million dollars worth of engine)
My impressions are immense power, even more immense noise, light ailerons , rapid speed gain as soon as the nose is pushed over.
A sweet airplane to fly. I can see why pilots who have flown these ships almost revere them.
Likely I will never again fly one but it was a blast - even for this grizzled old bird.
 
I think I speak for the entire group: We hate you!! :D
Seriously, that is awesome, it's on my bucket list and I'm sure almost any pilot here would love to be able to write even .1 P51 in their logbook! :D


Dr. O said:
In the course of a long life I have flown a few planes here and there.
I usually don't mention it - a rose is a .... etc.
And many on here who fly commercial iron for a living have flown planes with vastly greater performance than any I might fly.
OTOH, yesterday I had a turn at the stick of a P-51. This is a C model with a fresh -7 engine. (a quarter of a million dollars worth of engine)
My impressions are immense power, even more immense noise, light ailerons , rapid speed gain as soon as the nose is pushed over.
A sweet airplane to fly. I can see why pilots who have flown these ships almost revere them.
Likely I will never again fly one but it was a blast - even for this grizzled old bird.
Click to expand...
 
I flew the Collings C model as well. I agree with everything except light ailerons. Light maybe if you compare it to a B-17!

All the high performance homebuilts I've flown are far lighter on the controls. The Mustang took both arms to do a roll at a slower rate than what I can do in my Glasair with a flick of the wrist. Speed wasn't much faster than a Glasair III.

Having said that, it was worth every penny. A once in a lifetime chance to fly a historical military aircraft.
 
I think I would actually give my left nut to get to fly in a mustang!
 
Yeah, it is a sweet airplane.
McFly, I suspect the airframe you flew needed some adjustment.
As I said, probably never again. I had an 'in' sort of, that got me the chance to fly it :D
 
if anyone says "this thread is useless without pics", please make sure you specify pics of the PLANE and not anyone's left nut. thank you.
 
Dr. O said:
Yeah, it is a sweet airplane.
McFly, I suspect the airframe you flew needed some adjustment.
As I said, probably never again. I had an 'in' sort of, that got me the chance to fly it :D
Click to expand...

What C model dual control did you fly? Collings advertises theirs as being the only dual C model in the world. Every report I've read on the Mustang confirmed what I experienced; stiff controls.
 
You guys take this discussion off line! It's like hearing the Kennedy boys talk about what they liked and didn't like about sleeping with Marilyn Monroe!!:nono: We just can't relate to the discussion!!:mad2: Although we'd all like to have the knowledge to join the discussion!:D

Velocity173 said:
What C model dual control did you fly? Collings advertises theirs as being the only dual C model in the world. Every report I've read on the Mustang confirmed what I experienced; stiff controls.
Click to expand...
 
N747JB said:
You guys take this discussion off line! It's like hearing the Kennedy boys talk about what they liked and didn't like about sleeping with Marilyn Monroe!!:nono: We just can't relate to the discussion!!:mad2: Although we'd all like to have the knowledge to join the discussion!:D
Click to expand...

Well anytime you go up in an aircraft like that people want details.

Takeoff was loud (vibration) and the thrust was surprising. The pilot did an imediate "low approach" after takeoff at only 230 KIAS; friend said it looked slow. Climbout was at 170 KIAS and over 2,000 FPM. Cruise was at 210-215 KIAS at 5,000 ft. I believe MAP was 33 " and RPM 2,400 at that speed. Did 4 aileron rolls and 2 loops. Controls stiff in roll. Trim ball was all over the place (sensitive rudder). Hit 240-250 KIAS to do the loops. 3.8 Gs on the first and 4.1 on the second. Flew past their B-17 on the way home which alone was worth the price of admission (pics). He let me do the overhead (60 degree bank) and then he took over on short final. Smooth touchdown.

Great flight, although I could tell he was holding back. We didn't eactly ring it out but I didn't mind. Keep the MAP, RPM and Gs low to preserve the aircraft for future generations. I had no problem with that.
 
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I spent one hour in this bird ...worth every penny! Log book entry for bragging rights. I rolled her to the left and right. Shortly thereafter I bought my Mooney which is like flying a P51 except burning 10GPH instead of 60 GPH.
I'll never forget the experience of flying a museum quality warbird.
(sounds different on the inside with headphones on)
The Collings pilot did a four leaf clover . (four loops with a roll and 90 degree heading change for the next leaf)
 

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Thanks for sharing, guys. The birds are rare and people willing to share their experiences in them uncommon. Seems like a once in a (100,000 pilots') lifetime thing now.
 
Dr. O said:
Yeah, it is a sweet airplane.
McFly, I suspect the airframe you flew needed some adjustment.
As I said, probably never again. I had an 'in' sort of, that got me the chance to fly it :D
Click to expand...
Don't know about the P-51 but on a T-28 there is an adjustable linkage on the aileron trim tabs that can be set to make the controls as light as you want.
 
I had the honor of assisting to the annual condition inspection on a P-51. Changed tires, cleaned and installed the spark plugs, lubed and worked on the landing gear, and ran the gear while it was on the jacks. :happydance:

Now, all I need is a ride in it. :yes:

:D
 
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I'm glad to see folks flying planes like these. Let's face it, it costs a boatload of money to care and feed these planes. If pilots and others didn't pay to take the ride of a lifetime, mustangs would sit in a museum.
 
I wish it was $1,800. More like $2,200 for 30 mins. Video camera was broken as well. Due to traffic (B-17) delays I ended up logging .8 dual.
 
I flew with Lou Shaw in his dual control Mustang in 1990. Flew from the back for about 40 min then we stopped and he put me in the front. As we were strapping in he said "it's your airplane and you can do anything you want. I won't say or do anything unless you ask me a question or you get dangerous." The next 2 1/2 hrs were a blast doing loops, rolls, vertical rolls, stalls and spin entries. Shot around 10-12 landings and he had me doing go arounds as we were in the flair with full flaps. I found the rudder very heavy and you had to trim it with any pitch or power change. Ailerons and elevator were nice but started getting heavy over 250kts. Landed a lot easier than my SNJ. Ended up spending $2500 for a little over 3hrs. Best money I ever spent. Don
 
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