"Skywise" wrote in message
...
I live near Los Alamitos Army Airfield (KSLI) and it turned
out they were having a small show today. DRAT!!! Had I known...

Anyway, being so close I got to hear and see an F/A-18 do
some very low and fast passes. I'm about where normal traffic
turns onto final, so this guy was banked over on it's wingtips
and lighting up the pipes. But I digress...

Anyway, I decided to take a little jaunt on the Harley and I
found myself much closer to the field, in fact, about a 1/4
mile from the end of the runway. I was sitting in a right turn
lane when I hear the most spine tingling howl coming up behind
me. The hairs on the back of my neck literally stood up!! A
second later it turned into a growling roar passing overhead.
I looked up just in time to see a beautiful P-51 setting up
for a high speed low pass down the flightline. Oh, what a site!!

Now, I'm on a Harley with helmet and earplugs and I still
heard this thing coming up behind me.

I can only image what those on the receiving end of a strafing
run must have felt when they heard the howl of that plane
bearing down upon them.

The combination of a Merlin V1650-7 and a Hamilton or Aero Products
propeller at between 35 and 45 inches and between 2700 and 3000 RPM have a
sound so distinctive that many who have heard it never forget it.
You could fly 1000 airplanes with 1 P51 included in the mix somewhere
directly over my head with me blind folded and I'd pick out the 51 in a
nano-second :-)
Dudley Henriques