The Gathering of Mustangs and Legends

[mayfair35]

Gentlemen:

I just returned from The Gathering of Mustangs and Legends. It was an incredible event set up by Stallion 51 of Kissimmee, Fl. Lee Lauderback outdid himself in the planning, coordinating, and executing of this unbelievable event. The original plans called for 100 Mustangs and 51 Legends. I heard various figures for the number of Mustangs that made it. The latest one, but unconfirmed, is 79.

It is impossible to cover all the individual things that happened but the F-16, F-15, and F-22 performed very exciting flyovers. The Thunderbirds and several outstanding private stunt planes executed many very daring maneuvers. There were B-17s, P-47s. a P-40, a C-5 (?), a Lancaster bomber from Canada, a P-51 in the unlimited class, and a P-51 from England that had been disassembled, shipped here, and reassembled for the show. I am sure there are several others that I missed but I was so busy, I hope you will excuse it.

Should you want to see excellent pictures of the event, I will list a site to check into. I assure you that you will not be disappointed. The photos were shot by Laura who is a member of Nathan Davis’ crew. Nathan has painted his P-51 as ‘Herky’ Green’s was in September 1944. Of course, there are a lot of pictures of his “family” crew but many outstanding ones of the show and the multitude of P-51s. There were 3 of us from the 325th “Checkertail” Ftr. Grp. in attendance: Barrie Davis, John Gaston, and myself. We were like kids with a new toy. Have to chuckle that both Barrie and I had to have a helping hand to get our leg into the cockpit. We both agreed that somehow Nathan increased the height from the top of the wing to the edge of the cockpit. We certainly could not have had a problem getting into the cockpit as we originally did it many, many times. Someone made a dastardly comment that perhaps our ages of 84 had something to do with it!

I apologize for the lengthy discourse but no matter how much I wrote, nor how eloquent I did it, I could not possibly do justice to this once in a lifetime tribute to the P-51 Mustang.

http://www.laurastants.com/funflying.htm

Cordially, Art Fiedler

[Erich]

Art

thank for the links of the show. You, John and Barrie are still looking dapper and strong ........

Erich ~

[fsbofk]

Yes, indeedy, that was an incredible display of P-51s and others, although I have to say that there seemed to be a little too much jet flying and not enough of the Mustangs in the air. Still, it was quite a site to see the 20 Mustangs flying over in their "51" formation. Mr. Fiedler, I had the pleasure of meeting you in the veterans' tent and having you sign a couple of my books - thank you! You mentioned that P-51 that was shipped over from the UK - I believe that was "Twilight Tear," in the colors of the 78th FG. IMO, that was the best looking 51 at the show - although others were shinier and more gleaming, I thought "Twilight Tear" was the best representation of an operational Mustang at the show - with her pronounced exhaust stains and dull aluminum finish, she looked just like she was back from a mission over Germany.

[mayfair35]

Greetings fsbofk,
Sorry I do not know your first name. If I had the opportunity of signing your books at The Gathering, it certainly was my pleasure. It was an event that will be remembered for a long, long time. I know we 325th FG members were elated with all the fine presentations.
Re: Twighlight Tear. You are absolutely right. She looked like our birds did as we made no attempt to keep them polished. But I hope you will forgive me when I say that I have a particular kinship with Nathan Davis' Mustang, #11. It of course was the personal mount of "Herky" Green and I flew it one time being fortunate enough to score a victory in it. Of course I have laughingly told Nathan that if our birds were that shiny, we would not have needed guns....we would have blinded our opponents.
I am glad you had an opportunity to share all the fine activities at Columbus, OH. Perhaps fortune will smile on us again and we will meet at another event somewhere, sometime....but not too far in the future.

Cordially, Art Fiedler

[drgondog]

Art - thank you very much for connecting me to Jim.

Regards,

Bill

[fsbofk]

Mr. Fiedler - there were so many P-51s at the show that it was a challenge to pick one's favorite - the good news is that they all were magnificent to behold, especially those in the air. I thought equally worthy of attention (though naturally playing second fiddle) were P-38 "Glacier Girl," P-47s "Hun Hunter XVI" and "Wicked Wabbit," the P-63, and the Lancaster - all rare to see on the air show circuit. Here's some photos of #11 from the show. Hope to see you at the next Mustang show ! - David

[mayfair35]

Hello David,

Please call me Art; Mr. Fiedler makes me feel even older than I am!
Yes by all means the other aircraft were certainly worthy of attention and respect. It has been many years since I saw a P-63, but Barrie Davis who was also there from the 325th FG flew them as "Pinball" machines at the end of the war. The Lancaster was certainly a highlight of the show that we had never dreamed of seeing. And of course, the B-17 was always my favorite to escort, and I enjoyed seeing it again.

The P-47 named Hun Hunter is interesting. One of our aces named his
P-51 'Hun Hunter' and was ordered by higher headquarters to remove the name. No explanation was given, just the order. He never put another name on it.

I thought the P-51 in the Unlimited Class (Can't come up with its name at the moment) with the counterrotating props was in a class all by itself. One of the crew told a friend of mine that its top speed was 502 mph! At the Reno air races, you can really tell when one of the souped up 51s comes by. The noise is quite different. I was surprised to have one of the pilots tell me he pulled between 120 and 130"Hg and used 3400 rpm. Compared with our 61" Hg and 3000 rpm, that is quite a difference.

He also explained that they had to cut off some of the wing and horizontal tail plane to reduce the lift. I knew what he meant as at 400 mph, the Mustang was said to fly 11° nose down. Can't verify the exact figure but pulling out of a dive with my wingman, I was astounded to see how far his nose was down in straight and level flight when doing about 450 mph.

Ah well, there I go again getting into war stories. Excuse!

Cordially, Art

[drgondog]

Art - Interesting about Hun Hunter in the 15th.

Henry Brown, leading scorer for the 355th FG had "The Hun Hunter ~ Texas" on both of his 51's and went down to flak in the second one. There were many PRO shots so widespread exposure - maybe being UK lessened some of the political correctness?

Henry is near the Rainbow Bridge as we speak.

Warm Regards,

Bill

[fsbofk]

Here is Hun Hunter XVI from GML

[mayfair35]

David, This is my second attempt to thank you for your pictures of this event. Obviously I am especially pleased with the shots of #11, the personal mount of Herky Green from the 325th FG. I must agree that Twilight Tear looked much more like our birds did so it also has a special place in my heart. Thanks for putting the photos on this site.
Cordially, Art