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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

Warbirdsim's "Happy Jack's Go Buggy, Then and Now" Released

Well, my screen shots can't compare with those above, but here's my first flight. A short one, from NAS Whidbey Island to a (oops closed) airport to the west. Good stuff, John, as always. What a beautiful creation. With your "then-n-now" series, I find myself leaning towards the restored versions for some reason, but both are spectacular. As you can see, I made a perfect three point landing, which I think I'm not supposed to do in a Mustang... Oh well. Left the prop at 2700 RPM for landing too! :) Thanks, John!

- P

 
Very nice, Paul!

There is no problem landing Mustangs, especially those like "Happy Jack's Go Buggy", with all of the internal WWII-era hardware, in a three-point attitude. Even in the mid-90's Jeff Ethell walk-through of flying the P-51D (which had been civilianized), he recommends and then demonstrates three-pointing the aircraft, as being the best method for landing one. As he mentions, the higher the tail is, the more the aircraft will want to weather-vane with any cross wind, and with the tail wheel on the ground, you'll have more and immediate control, and the aircraft will be able to track down the runway better besides. Many of the most experienced Mustang pilots that you will see at grass-strip air shows in Europe and the U.S., and even at some paved-runway shows, like Chino, will land either with all three points at once, or very near so. It's fun when you are able to nail it, just bringing it in at the book landing speeds. Some of the more in-experienced pilots (and I'm talking real life) will always be landing the aircraft with the tail up, because they aren't landing at proper airspeeds, sometimes keeping it up at 120 mph or more! (There was a rather well known U.S. based current Spitfire pilot who posted his experience on the Warbird Information Exhchange a few years ago (that had just happened to him then), about riding in the back of a Mustang, where the pilot, likely quite fresh, had the aircraft going 150 mph up until the runway threshold!)

Steve Hinton, after performing a demo in "Upupa Epops" at Oshkosh 2005, brings the aircraft in for one of the most perfect three-point landings I have ever seen (note the elevator deflection).

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Thanks John. Very interesting. I don't know where I got the idea that three-pointers were "not encouraged" in P-51s, but I heard it someplace, obviously from somebody like me, who doesn't really know! Took a flight in the P-51B and the darndest thing happened, HJGB came up to play! :) I wish FS Recorder wouldn't freeze the props like that...

 
PRB said:
I don't know where I got the idea that three-pointers were "not encouraged" in P-51s, but I heard it someplace, obviously from somebody like me, who doesn't really know!
Click to expand...

I believe I read that in "George Preddy: Mustang Ace".
The filletless P-51D was the subject matter. 3-pointers and snap rolls were breaking the tails off. Fillet was field and factory mod to help stability and strengthen the tail. You and I both may have read that. Doesn't make it true but plausible at minimum.

I would trust John's research more than one author of a book. He gives me inspiration to read more.
 
John, thank you, I appreciate it! And I love the screenshot!

Here are some more shots from a couple of recent flights, doing a little "train busting", something the 20th was very familiar with. : )

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Laminar flow wing results in a very unique, but beautiful, looking wing tip.

locobuster_3.jpg


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Although there are a number of unique stories from Maj. Ilfrey's service during the war, one of the most colorful took place on November 15, 1942. At the time, Ilfrey was part of the 1st Fighter Group, flying P-38's, stationed at Chivenor, in the Lands End region of England. It was on this day that the group flew from Chivenor to North Africa, as part of "Operation Torch", the invasion of North Africa. Not long after take-off, one of Ilfrey's long-range drop tanks departed, so he no longer had enough fuel to complete the flight as planned. He thought early on that he would still have enough fuel to land in Gibraltar, but that didn't prove so, and he was forced to land in Portugal. Being a neutral country, he was told immediately after he landed that he would be interned. He was asked, however, if one of the Portuguese pilots could come up on the plane to have a look in the cockpit, and Ilfrey agreed. As the pilot was sitting on the wing, Ilfrey started the engines up as a demonstration. As he was doing so, another P-38 was making an emergency landing, and Ilfrey took the opportunity in hand, advancing the throttles and blowing the Portuguese pilot off the wing. Ilfrey took off and finally made it to Gibraltar. Because of the international incident that had just occurred, the U.S. State Department in Washington was actually demanding for Ilfrey's return to Portugal (something that Ilfrey didn't know at the time). However, the Commander of American Opeations at Gibraltar wired Washington telling them that Ilfrey had already left for North Africa before the order had arrived from the State Department, and nothing more ever came of it.

Later on, with the 20th FG, in the summer of '44, Ilfrey was shot down over France, 200 miles behind enemy lines. Some French locals took him in and disguised him as a French farmer, Jacques Robert, and helped him to escape. Within just six days, Ilfrey was back in England once more. Although all pilots who evaded capture were supposed to be sent back to the U.S., Ilfrey was able to get around the rules and got right back into combat flying.
 
Following the warbird forums, every once in a while, throughout the last few years, someone will post a photo or two after getting a visit by the aircraft at their airport, with it flying in and out of several airports around the San Antonio region (the aircraft is based at San Antonio Intl.) Sometimes you'll also see a new flight plan that it has flown show up on Flight Aware, here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N74190 The aircraft is said to be flown every weekend, or just about.

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Too bad there isn't more vintage ground equipment and vehicles available!

Nice plane! T
 
Agreed. I would just love to see an ORBX version of an active WWII airfield, with people flow and vehicles in all their vintage glory!
 
An hour ago, I bought the package, but I did not get download link!
Can someone help me?

Thank you!
Zsolt
 
Empty this SPAM folder!!!
Previously also properly received the link :isadizzy:

Still no download link! I'm waiting on it since morning!
 
Zsolt, I sent John a PM just minutes ago. It should not be long until you get some help. Great aircraft.
 
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