Readers' Responses:
Jim Church:
I think case #47 shows Leroy Penhal's race #81, P-51D-25-NA, s/n 44-74012, c/n 122-40552, N6519D. If it is,
then it had served in Canada as RCAF 9243, and was first brought into the US by James Defuria, of Canastota,
NY. At one point it carried the registration N6518D, although this reg. was later carried by the P-51 (44-63872)
in which Tom Kuchinsky was killed in during a CAF show in Texas in 1970. after a 1974 crash landing in Hudson,
Wisconsin (by Steve Hinton, I believe) it went to Vancouver, British Columbia, with Robert H. Jens for rebuild.
It was briefly registered in Canada as C-GPSI, but the rebuild was not completed. It was brought back to the US
and restored by Duane Williams, of Kellogg. Idaho. It is now owned by James E. Smith, of Kalispell, Mt. If it is
indeed N6519D, then it is the same Mustang featured in case #27.
Bill Eaton: Leroy Penhall's airplane was yellow with a red stripe similar to this
airplane's. Penahall's Mustang also had the race number 81 on the
vertical stabilizer.
MM.com:
The N number in the photo does not appear to support N6519D. After the six does not look like the top of a 5, and
after the 5 is certainly not a 1. Let's take a closer look & try to match some other N numbers.
N6329T, 44-74582 Identified by a well known Mustang historian who was at the show that year.
Jay Cullum:
I'm pretty sure this is N6329T, owned by my dad, Landon Cullum at the
time. this would have been back at Rockford IL in the early EAA days.
it was on display at EAA for a number of years in late 60's, early
70's. this ship was used to certify the Century III autopilot for
P-51 use by my dad.
owners: Landon Cullum, Jay Cullum, John Hooper, Bob Byrne, Joe
Thibodeux
Case Closed!
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