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First thing in the morning, is the Mustangs & Mustangs shoot. Sign up, then
follow the directions and your car (a finely tuned Mustang) will pull up along
side the classic fighter of WWII, the P-51 Mustang. A few seconds in front of
the P-51 is all you get 'cause there's lots of others behind you. A few shots
by event photographers and off you go into the display area. Everything went smooth.
I could not decide between the two lines of Mustangs &
Mustangs because I did not want to miss anything. So what I did is wait for a
little break in the line I was working, then run over to the other line and shoot
there for a bit and back and forth.
What the staff does behind the scenes is kinda cool. They print out a pic of the
digital shot of the Mustangs, then mount it on a plaque, install a plexi-glass
type of cover over the print and hand them out at the end of the day.
They were nicely done. I flew to Florida and rented a real
lousy car, so I did not get one ... wonder if they have any '05 Mustangs at
Hertz this year? We will check that for sure. So this year, you have no excuse,
get on down to Polk City and enjoy the weekend of P-51s, Fords, and Mustangs.
They had 1 line that split up by chance and sent you to "Ina the Macon Belle" or
to "Cripes A Mighty 3rd" for your shot. Photographers were ready and the staff was
directing you when to stop so the picture would be framed correctly. I went
back and forth taking shots at both P-51s, but mostly at "Cripes A Mighty"
because the background was cleaner with no distractions. The weather was great,
sunny and 70's, just perfect. The lake and trees and grass strip make a very
nice backdrop for the shot by the blue-noser.
Both of Kermit's P-51s are award winning restorations by Art Teeters from
Salinas, Ca. Salinas is about 30 min
drive from my house. I was able to watch the full-power engine runs of Cripes
before the first flight and see the first flight. I was also very lucky to be
flying around in a T-6 when Cripes came up along side us by surprise and I
was able to burn a few frames. With the drop tanks, "Cripes a Mighty 3rd" is
a stunning P-51.
The red-tail P-51C, "Ina the Macon Belle" painted up as the former ride of Lee
Archer, famed Tuskeege Airmen, is a sight to see. I was only able to see this
P-51 once during the restoration at Teeters' shop. The fuselage was almost done
and they were working on the wings. Art Teeters is working on a razorback for
Jack Roush now which will make 3 P-51s for his squadron.
The Ford Mustang before the "Mustang" was picked as the name had several names
they were throwing around. The Mustang was picked and the popularity and success
of the P-51 was one of the reasons it was chosen. Of course, that was a very
profitable choice for the Ford Motor Company.
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