| Case#: | 6 |
| Date: | Jul 01 1998 |
| By: | Floyd Fowles |
| Photo: | Taken on west coast in early 70's |
| Status: | Closed |
| Serial: | 44-73027 |
| Registry: | N51MP |
MustangsMustangs
07/15/1998 09:00
Taken in the late 70's or early 80's on the west coast CA (either at Chandler or Madera).
Dan Martin
07/31/1998 12:00
This P-51 belonged to the Mustang Pilot's Club but has since crashed.
MustangsMustangs
09/30/1998 09:00
I finally found a match. This is 44-73027 x: N51MP.
This aircraft has a long career that might have ended this summer. 44-73027, F-AZJM, flew as "Temptations" recently but crashed with fatal injuries in the summer of '98. 44-73027 was sent to the RCAF in 1950 as RCAF 9250 until 1959. It was purchased by Trans Florida Aviation as N9164R. Numerous owner had this P-51 until Robert Guildford of the Mustang Pilots Club N5747, then N51MP. 44-73027 had a wheels up landing in Mojave, CA in 1974. In 1977 another wheels up landing - from an inflight fire.
The P-51 was rebuilt using an ex Phillipine AF airframe and was complete around 1980. Later that year the aircraft crashed and was destroyed.
Again it was rebuilt, this time using an ex TNI-AU airframe. William Speer purchased 44-73027 and it was raced as #56. In 1993 it was sold to France and registered F-AZJM and flew as "Temptations". Whether there will be a rebuild of the wreck is unknown at this time.
This aircraft has a long career that might have ended this summer. 44-73027, F-AZJM, flew as "Temptations" recently but crashed with fatal injuries in the summer of '98. 44-73027 was sent to the RCAF in 1950 as RCAF 9250 until 1959. It was purchased by Trans Florida Aviation as N9164R. Numerous owner had this P-51 until Robert Guildford of the Mustang Pilots Club N5747, then N51MP. 44-73027 had a wheels up landing in Mojave, CA in 1974. In 1977 another wheels up landing - from an inflight fire.
The P-51 was rebuilt using an ex Phillipine AF airframe and was complete around 1980. Later that year the aircraft crashed and was destroyed.
Again it was rebuilt, this time using an ex TNI-AU airframe. William Speer purchased 44-73027 and it was raced as #56. In 1993 it was sold to France and registered F-AZJM and flew as "Temptations". Whether there will be a rebuild of the wreck is unknown at this time.
Gregory Shaw
11/30/2000 00:00
This aircraft did belong to the mustang pilots club based at Van Nuys ca. It did have a gear up landing at Mojave airport during a pilot checkout. However it was destroyed on a flight to Edwards AFB. for a show. Two people were killed in the crash. The pilot was Bill Barnes, Pancho Barnes son. The crash destroyed the airframe, I was the crew chief at one time for the mustang pilots club and on Bob Guilfords F4U-7.
Chief Rick
12/28/2017 16:48
Bill was a very close friend of my father's. His passenger that fateful day was Cliff Hellwig. A high school friend of mine's father. Both of these gentleman (among others) put a lot of time into this aircraft. Knowing Bill as being meticulous, I'm buying off on the COOLANT LINE failure. My dad was first on scene with airport fire equipment. He said the aircraft was to join a formation with two other aircraft headed to Edwards when the accident occured. This 51 had a lot of TLC prior to the crash. The coolant line story seem's reasonable. It was reported that GLYCOL was impregnated into the helmet liners. (reported a number of month's later. Agency involved unknown).
Case Closed!
