[Mark E Horan]

Gang;

I'm not sure that that quote about the USN trials of the P-51 is entirely correct. Bob Elder, an SBD pilot at Midway BTW, was a heck of a pilot and I doubt not that he brought his P-51 down okay. However, somewhere at home I have photos of a P-51 that made an arrested carrier landing during "trials" and the only thing stopped by the arrestor gear was the tail...the forward 3/4's of the plane, less the tail section, ended up in the barrier.

Mark E. Horan