Who here has ridden in a P-51?

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It's on my bucket list. In fact, I plan to retire in a couple of years and I plan to seek out a P-51 owner (that owns one with a back seat), who will take me for a ride. The Mustang has always been my favorite war bird and I will do whatever I need to for a ride in one...
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
....go to air festival in OSHKOSH, WI in 2 years?


I've been to Oshkosh many times during EAA and those guys are way too busy to be giving rides...
 
I was thinking of something more along the lines of doing some plane related work for a P-51 owner, and then just tag along sometime when he plans on flying with no one else occupying the rear seat. Paying 2 or 3 grand for a ride is a bit much...
 
Bought a 30 minute ride 20 years ago for $250, no rides available at Oshkosh generally, best bet is a CAF event but it isn't cheap.
 
My neighbor at age 71 took a P-51 flight out of Roanoke, VA last year and flew over my house so I could photograph him. He flew helicopters in the Marines during the Vietnam War and always wanted to pilot a P-51. I believe it cost $2,200 for the ride of his life. They even did a barrel roll over my house! Cool!

Here is the newspaper article and some photos I took with a 500mm lens.

http://www.swvatoday.com/news/floyd/article_7cd21ba4-a77f-11e6-9f40-6b868b5bcc56.html

Tom NJ






 
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
My neighbor at age 71 took a P-51 flight out of Roanoke, VA last year and flew over my house so I could photograph him. He flew helicopters in the Marines during the Vietnam War and always wanted to pilot a P-51. I believe it cost $2,200 for the ride of his life. They even did a barrel roll over my house! Cool!

Here is the newspaper article and some photos I took with a 500mm lens.

http://www.swvatoday.com/news/floyd/article_7cd21ba4-a77f-11e6-9f40-6b868b5bcc56.html

Tom NJ









I envy him...
 
Those pictures give me feelings that other men get by looking at other photographs on the internet.
grin.gif


My bucket list has the P-47 on it, as you can tell from my username. I'd like to actually pilot one, but have a lot of work to do before that could ever happen. I'm still young enough that I could make that happen by my 40's.

Of course, I'd like to actually own one. That's a goal too, but involves significantly more doing.
wink.gif
 
There are some great youtube videos from the cockpit of the mighty P-51, just in case you can't afford a ride!





I've not ridden in one, they look very sedate compared to our Extra 300L's. And they carry a whole bunch more airspeed, with rolls performed at 210Kts instead of 150Kts.
 
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Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Those pictures give me feelings that other men get by looking at other photographs on the internet.
grin.gif


My bucket list has the P-47 on it, as you can tell from my username. I'd like to actually pilot one, but have a lot of work to do before that could ever happen. I'm still young enough that I could make that happen by my 40's.

Of course, I'd like to actually own one. That's a goal too, but involves significantly more doing.
wink.gif



That's quite the challenge. There aren't many still flying today for one thing. Secondly, I don't know of any that have a 2nd seat, and you'd have to be extremely rich to own one. There are quite a few Mustangs still flying, and many of them have a back seat, so my quest should be a bit easier than yours. Good luck in your pursuit!
 
You can say that again. Trainer versions were never in huge supply for them. My elders flew them, so I'd just like to see and feel what it was like for them on those days flying high above Europe, hugging the B-17s. Just get a taste of what it was all like. Very thrilling just to think about it.
 
Pretty sure I was 8

Moms first boyfriend after divorcing dad owned a metalworking company and restored old birds.

I flew in a trainer (I think it was called the D model) when he delivered it to the client - we flew from peoria IL to Demoines Iowa to drop it off.

Id flown with him dozens of times his normal bird was a 210, and I often flew for extended periods of time when we would go up.

The riding and flying in the Mustang was absolutely unbelievably fantastic. Life altering.

We took a 152 back home on the cheap and the realization that I was unlikely to experience that again starting sinking in.


UD
 
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Originally Posted By: Linctex
In Dallas, a 30 minute ride is $2000
50 minute ride $3000
I would imagine the cost to operate the plane incredable. Every once in a while I try to go for a helicopter ride and it is pricy. The P51 is an ultimate plane in its class.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Originally Posted By: Linctex
In Dallas, a 30 minute ride is $2000
50 minute ride $3000
I would imagine the cost to operate the plane incredable. Every once in a while I try to go for a helicopter ride and it is pricy. The P51 is an ultimate plane in its class.


Expense is why I would approach a P-51 owner the way I mentioned earlier. I don't want the owner to get the plane out and fly it just for me. I would rather make myself available for when he plans on flying the plane anyway with an empty back seat. I won't care where he's going, I'd just be going along for the ride. I highly doubt P-51 owners only fly to give rides, I'm sure they do a lot of flying with an empty rear seat...I actually had this scenario set up with a 51 owner a few years back...his name was Vlad (I can't remember his last name), and he had a blue nose 51 he kept at the Lewis University Airport in Romeoville, IL, which is right next to my office. I saw him with the plane one day outside of his hanger and I stopped by in my car. After talking with Vlad for a bit, I asked him if he'd call me so I could go with him sometime when he had an empty rear seat. He said he would and took my number. A couple weeks later he called me and said he was heading out for a flight. I was out at an airport working at the time and couldn't get away. He never called again, and since the plane has been moved to another, unknown location. I hope that wasn't my one and only shot...
 
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Yea, if you can't afford the price, watch all of Kermit Weeks "Kermie Cam" Videos; dude has probably the best private collection of WWII aircraft in the world and has videos of him flying all of them, including 2 P51s! I think one is a back seat trainer. Heck, maybe give him a call.
 
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Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
I would like to take a trip in the front of a DC3.


I got to fly in a DC-3 from MI to Oshkosh for EAA one year...didn't get to sit up front though...
 
In the 60's when I was finishing up A&E school getting ready for my "practical" test I sat in the cockpit of the local P-51 and with the owner on the left side went through the complete start-up. When the engine finally fired after a few turns I could feel the goosebumps on my arms and back. It was like waking up a monster. We ran it until the temps came up, checked everything and shut it down. It was a systems and installation check after installing a newly rebuilt engine. I helped with the rebuild. I was quite a process. The other engine that we rebuilt as a display engine was at the San Diego Aerospace Museum and was lost when the 1978 fire destroyed almost everything.

All the flying warbirds of that era are a treasure I hope can be kept in the air.
 
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