Andrew McKenna's P-51

Arguably the finest fighter aircraft of World War II.
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JoeS475
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Andrew McKenna's P-51

Post by JoeS475 »

I took this photo of Andrew McKenna's Mustang at this year's WWII Weekend in Reading, PA. It shows the awesome complex color of the exhaust stain, and at the same time demonstrates that while the exhaust is considerably higher than the wing, it still mirrors the airfoil perfectly! It was my first time seeing this particular P-51 in the air, and the simple no nonsense choice of markings is great.

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Joe
Joe

Bomber_12th
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Re: Andrew McKenna's P-51

Post by Bomber_12th »

This particular Mustang used to be owned by Jack Croul/Allied Fighters, which had the aircraft restored to that appearance (the only thing different about it now is that when Jack Croul/Allied Fighters owned it, it had a Spitfire mirror atop the windscreen, which Andrew McKenna had removed). When owned by Jack Croul/Allied Fighters, it was based at Chino. Eventually it was going to be painted in 354th FG markings, but that never came to be. After the untimely death of Jeff Harris (Allied Fighter's chief pilot and leader), and the sale of both of Allied Fighters' P-51's (both were restored in matching factory delivery schemes), both Mustangs went from the west coast to the east coast - 44-73420 to Andrew McKenna in Pennsylvania, and 44-74202 to Robert Dickson in North Carolina. Robert Dickson painted 44-74202 as the 357th FG "Swamp Fox". Andrew McKenna's plan/motivation with 44-73420 is to keep it in bare/factory markings, so that it honors all P-51 fighter pilots, not just one in particular. On a few different occasions now, he has paid tribute to a particular Mustang pilot (at airshows and funerals) by having the original name artwork applied with vinyl stick-on markings of that particular veteran's Mustang.

I love the photo, Joe! Under certain lighting it is amazing how brilliant the colors can be from that rainbowing effect. I think it has something to do with the polish/finish on the surface of the metal creating that effect, to that extent, as you don't see the rainbowed exhaust stains have that much brilliance on duller metal. Of course during WWII, with the higher lead content of the fuel, the exhaust stains were always more sooty/dirty in appearance, with far less to no rainbowing effect.

When "Miss Velma" flew the Atlantic in 2007 as part of Operation Bolero II, it developed some heaving/sooty exhaust staining, which I thought looked really cool - when it landed at Duxford, it really looked like it had just gotten back from a mission over Germany:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/North-Am ... 1729796207
http://www.station131.co.uk/55th/images ... ord_01.jpg
John Terrell

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Tom_Weiss
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Re: Andrew McKenna's P-51

Post by Tom_Weiss »

still WIP - exhaust reflections

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:D

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crazac
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Re: Andrew McKenna's P-51

Post by crazac »

Awesome shot Joe! And thanks for pointing it out.

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JoeS475
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Re: Andrew McKenna's P-51

Post by JoeS475 »

Thanks guys, and for the additional info Bomber- Your insight is second to none and I appreciate you sharing that knowledge with us. :)

Those are some stunning shots, Tom- I'll be grabbing those for sure! :)

Cheers,

Joe
Joe

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