Did I See a P-51B??

Back from spending a lovely week of vacation out on Block Island
off the coast of Rhode Island, reading about the disastrous Sydney
to Hobart sailboat race of 1998 (probably not a good read while
vacationing on a sailboat) and then Ed's book "When Thunder Rolled".

Perhaps Ed's book got me into a r.a.m state of mind more sensitive
than needed, but on my last day before shoving off to Buzzard's Bay
and home, I rowed the dink to shore to do my final bike ride, and
ended up with a real r.a.m style treat.

I'd spend much of the week watching the circuit of a beautiful AT-6
in WWII colors flying about overhead. He'd been flying every day,
all day during the entire week and I came to believe he was perhaps
giving rides. A dark blue top with gray underbelly. Looked like a
really beautiful restored/maintained aircraft.

But on this final day, as I pedalled in to Old Town harbor preparatory
to hopping on the boat and shoving off for points eastward and home,
a very loud and powerful, yet smooth sound made it to my ears. I
looked up expecting to see the now familiar AT-6 zoom by but instead,
there was a sleek nosed prop aircraft in silver finish and big black
and white stripes on lower body and wings hauling up over Great Salt
Pond eastward out to sea. A P-51 over Block Island!!!

He was really booking and as he turned to make another climbing circuit
of the island, it *looked* like the invasion stripes on the fuselage
went *way* high aft the cockpit. Couldn't really tell, but it *looked*
like a P-51B, not the more common D variant.

Is anyone flying a P-51B in the New England/NY/NJ area? He headed out
over the W to WSW ocean in the direction of NY or NJ. Are there any
"razorback" mustangs flying, and would anyone be flying one in the Block
Island area this past week?

Very nice aircraft. Red nose, silver, and invasion stripes, but
couldn't get a good look at details from my vantage point. I'd have
made an effort to bicycle out to the airport had I known a mustang
was on island!

Block Island is among my favorite places on this earth, and the BI
experience was greatly heightened by that short brief, fast, climbout
last Saturday. A real unexpected thrill.


SMH

Is anyone flying a P-51B in the New England/NY/NJ area? He headed out
over the W to WSW ocean in the direction of NY or NJ. Are there any
"razorback" mustangs flying, and would anyone be flying one in the Block
Island area this past week?

There are three actual P-51B aircraft flying. One is in England and two in the
U.S. Both of those are silver one painted and the other polished. Both are
painted in the markings of the Tuskegee Airman with red tails. I think one has
a red nose but can't remember for sure. One is owned by Kermit Weeks in FL and
the other belongs to the Commemerative (nee' Confederate) Air Force.

Don't know of one in the New England area.

John Dupre'

In article ,
IBM wrote:

"Leadfoot" wrote in
news:TM75b.14484$n94.9230@fed1read04:

"JDupre5762" wrote in message
...
Is anyone flying a P-51B in the New England/NY/NJ area? He headed
out over the W to WSW ocean in the direction of NY or NJ. Are there
any "razorback" mustangs flying, and would anyone be flying one in
the Block Island area this past week?

[snip]

Don't know of one in the New England area.

Maybe a Spitfire or Hurricane?

There is or was an A36/P51A? regularly at Watsonville, CA airshows
at one point.
In any case it was a razorback and P51-ish.

IBM

It belongs to a friend of mine, Jerry Gabe, and is based at Hollister.
It is aa A model, recovered from the Alaska wilderness about 20 years
ago. It has the B/C/D radiator installation, but with the Alloson engine.

--
To get random signatures put text files into a folder called ³Random Signatures² into your Preferences folder.

A P-51A in olive drab with grey undersides named "Polar Bear" visited the
Hiller Air Museum in San carlos, California last year.


There is or was an A36/P51A? regularly at Watsonville, CA airshows
at one point.
In any case it was a razorback and P51-ish.

Orval Fairbairn wrote in
news et:

[snip]

It belongs to a friend of mine, Jerry Gabe, and is based at Hollister.
It is aa A model, recovered from the Alaska wilderness about 20 years
ago. It has the B/C/D radiator installation, but with the Alloson
engine.

Lucky him.
What I really used to drool over was the Sea Fury.
2500Hp worth of Bristol sleeve valve radial goodness....

IBM

__________________________________________________ ____________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - FAST UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD - http://www.uncensored-news.com
The Worlds Uncensored News Source

In article ,
(Jdf4cheval) wrote:

A P-51A in olive drab with grey undersides named "Polar Bear" visited the
Hiller Air Museum in San carlos, California last year.


There is or was an A36/P51A? regularly at Watsonville, CA airshows
at one point.
In any case it was a razorback and P51-ish.




That's Jerry's plane -- A-model with B/C/D scoop.

--
To get random signatures put text files into a folder called ³Random Signatures² into your Preferences folder.

That's Jerry's plane -- A-model with B/C/D scoop.


Yea...I was flying out of Hollister when he did one of his 1st flights in the
airplane and the landing gear didn't come up. He screamed in panic over the
radio "My gear won't come up, my gear won't come up!!!" to which the mechanic
on the ground calmy replied "Then don't put it up."
Makes me comfortable to have him fly a two million dollar warbird.


-John
*You are nothing until you have flown a Douglas, Lockheed, Grumman or North
American*