I flew with Lee Lauderbach in Crazy Horse in 1995. It cost $1700 then. I
was given several flying options and chose an aerobatic experience. The
whole operation was very professional. There was a preflight briefing,
followed by the flight and a debrief afterward. The flight started by
learning how to taxi the P51 (or in this case TF51). Lee did the takeoff
for obvious reasons, and after gaining a very little altitude and a lot
of speed, he pulled to nearly vertical (probably wasn't as vertical as
it seemed at the time...I was too excited, and the maneuver was
unexpected, so I only recount my quickly formed impression). After
reaching altitude I was familiarized with the flight controls, including
three axes of trim and the power and rpm settings to be used. Then the
plane was turned over to me, and he had me demonstrate what I could do,
starting with standard turns and progressing through wing overs, barrel
rolls with different offsets, loops, Cubans, 2-point and four-point
rolls (I failed at 8-points), and stalls (very benign in the P-51 BTW).
Then he got permission to enter some sort of inactive military training
area where there was an airfield with bogus tanks and Migs parked all
around. Made a high speed pass over the runway at 50 ft., then to
altitude, split-s, and strafing runs with victory rolls. Back to
Kissimmee, rolling and looping on the way, military arrival at the
airport, and he talked me through a landing, which I bounced a bit. At
the debrief I was given a tape with sound of the whole thing and a
signed photo of Crazy Horse. Also, Lee entered 1.3 hours of TF-51 PIC
time in my logbook (I know, it doesn't make me a fighter pilot). My
impressions: One of the most fun experiences of my life, a dream come
true, very professional, the P-51 is a surpringly stable airplane, I'd
love to do it again, gives me pleasure to think about it. Maybe that's
more than you wanted to know :-)


Michael 182 wrote:
Something Dudley said in the Leaving Usenet thread got me thinking about
flying a P51. I found www.stallion51.com as an option. Does anyone have any
personal experience or know of any dual control Mustangs that offer a chance
to fly them?

Thanks,

Michael