Although in recent years, this aircraft has been most associated with current owner/pilot Jim Beasley Jr., it was his dad who purchased the aircraft back in 1978/79 (after plenty of pestering and persuading by a then very young Jim Beasley Jr.). Jim Beasley Sr. was already a pilot at the time, owning a couple GA aircraft, but wasn't really interested in WWII aircraft, but the young Jim Beasley Jr. had caught the warbird bug very early and very strong. The story goes that they flew into Cape May airport, around 1976 (when Jim Jr. would have been only 9/10 years old), and saw three Mustangs parked there, including a couple that were owned by Jack Shaver, and Jim Jr. was able to persuade his dad into asking about purchasing one - the answer was $75,000, and Jim Beasley Sr., a bit sticker-shocked (a lot of money for an aircraft at that time), decided not to do so. Then, a year later, both Jim Sr. and Jr. were back at Cape May airport and all three Mustangs were still there, and once again Jim Jr. persuaded his dad into "having to" purchase one - this time around, the price had risen to $90,000, and no go. Jump forward another year, and while passing through Texas (a detour so that the young Jim Jr. could see the CAF warbirds at Harlingen) they saw a rather rough Mustang sitting in a barn, that was registered N51JB. With his initials already in the N-number, Jim Jr. used this as further leverage to try and persuade his dad that now, more than ever, he needed to purchase this aircraft (after all, it was owned at the time by an individual by the name of Jessie Baker, and had previously been owned by Junior Burchinal, so in the eyes of Jim Beasley Jr., it was only fitting that it should continue to be in the ownership of someone with the same initials). So they met the owner, Jessie Baker, spent the night at his house, and Jim Beasley Sr. ended up purchasing the aircraft for $140,000 (with a spare engine). As Jim Beasley Jr. has said, the aircraft really was a piece of crap when it was purchased, and it literally had garden hose for fuel lines (despite the fact that the aircraft had been raced at Reno in 1970, '71, and '77). Jim Beasley Sr. had the aircraft flown to Chino, CA where it was restored over a two-year period by Unlimited Aircraft. Just to give an idea of how poor of condition the aircraft had been in, the restoration cost was a further $100,000.
The aircraft was completed in the markings of Lt. Robert Eckfeldt, of the 374th FS, 361st FG. At the time, it was widely thought that aircraft of the 361st FG had been finished with insignia blue upper surfaces, based on poor color quality wartime photos, but it has since been determined that they originally used RAF dark green - Jim Beasley Sr. thought the original wartime paint scheme looked pretty with the blue upper surfaces, as the WWII photos seemed to indicate, and that is how it was painted and will likely continue to remain as long as it is kept in the Beasley family (Jim Beasley Jr.'s son, Jimmy, has already soloed in the family's L-4, and will certainly be continuing in his father's and grandfather's footsteps).
While waiting for the Mustang to be completed, Jim Beasley Sr. purchased a T-6 for $20,000 (different times!). He had plenty of tail dragger time in a Pacer and Cub, but nothing heavy like a T-6 - he fairly much checked himself out in the T-6 and then flew it all over the country (different times!). When it came time to fly the Mustang, Jim Sr. had been flying the T-6 for about a year, and with no formal warbird training schools like there are today, he went for a ride in the back of "Bald Ealge", with Jim Maloney at the controls - they did some pattern work, landed, got out, and then Jim Sr. got in the front and just flew it (different times!). Jim Beasley Jr. soloed the T-6 at the age of 17, and then began flying the Mustang after he had about 200 hrs in the T-6 (much like his dad before him, when the time came, he jumped in the aircraft and just did it).
