P51 Mustang

[mdsalemi]

There's been a bit of banter in the past of the P51 Mustang, and Geoff Eldridge even has some photos of his car with one.

For those that maintain this interest: http://www.amazon.com/Building-P-51-Mustang-Manufacturing-Americans/dp/158007152X

(newish book just reviewed in Smithsonian Air & Space)

[treedoc]

Michael,

You know that I couldn't resist responding to this thread any mention of "Our" mustang gets me going.

"Snifter" is a genuine war horse not WW11 but the Korean War, built in Australia too late for service in the Pacific War it was however flown from Borneo to Japan to join the occupation forces.

 That was it's first initiation into the cruel reality of fighter aircraft flying, three of the twelve Mustang and two of the esort aircraft and crews never made it.
Snifter survived it's ground attack duties in Korea until the Australian Squadrons converted to Meteor Jets. How do I know this, I've had the honour of knowing two of the survivors of that Bornio to Japan flight.
 

[mdsalemi]

I just received this in my inbox, courtesy of membership in the EAA.  What this amounts to is a SAFETY RECALL on the P51 Mustang!  Of course what makes this remarkable--in my eyes, at least--is that this notable aircraft first flew in 1940 (NA-73 prototype) and was last built in its final variant less than 10 years later.  Through all these service years in military and civilian garb, someone is still looking out for it, and just issued what amounts to a recall--with a complete set of instructions for correction.

http://www.eaa.org/warbirdsbriefing/documents/2013-03-13_p-51-service-bulletin.pdf

Now that's a "Classic Center" kind of attention!

[Garry]

Hi Michael,

This is a common occurrence with all aircraft.
My company as the Pilatus Australian Design Office records all part failures for the RAAFs' fleet of PC9's (now well over 20 years old) and as a result will often issue a 'before next flight' or mandatory service bulletin when we see a failure of a part (or even an incorrect repair).  We then do all the design work for the 'fix' and issue the bulletin. That will apply to the world wide fleet. Usually done by the OEM who also have visibility of gear failures but can be done by an authorised engineering facility for the aircraft type.

Given that there are quite a few P51's its not that surprising people are still doing modification orders. A another example is the CH47 Dakota or better known as the 'gooney bird' that still has quite a few flying and they probably date around the same era.

Garry