Special thanks to Bruce and Sam!!!

[Eddie M.]

P-51D

[Xplantdad]

Sounds good to me....ya gotta come out!

[mockingbird812]

My pleasure fellas. I still do not take for granted that I am planted at the focal point of all these cool cars, car shows, auctions, sYc members, etc. I know that someone else (Bruce ) would do the same for me if I were not living here. I still appreciate how much these photos and commentary mean when you can't get out here (kind of like when i can't make it to the sYc reunion).



P.S. for those of you that hadn't figured it out, Bruce's gouge and my sYc Official Event Photographer card helped me get a legit Media Pass at Russo & Steele. Thanks again Bruce!

[SS427]

[ QUOTE ]
P-51D

[/ QUOTE ]

Eddie, how good are you with holding your cookies? Bill will take you into the Superstition mountains and "fly the mountain" at about 300 knots and believe me, you are CLOSE to them! He will take you on as many aerobatics as you can handle and then for a good laugh he will buzz the indian reservation and Roosevelt Lake. The flight lasts about 45 from chalk to chalk and is a blast. Worth EVERY penny and then some. I will see what I can put together. Maybe we could even do it sometime this summer as I would like to get out there if I can.
Rick

[firstgenaddict]

WOW in a P51... that would be freakin awesome... there is a Stearman that looks just like that one you linked to located here in upstate SC...
near the BMW manufactuing plant at a private airfield...

[Eddie M.]

Rick I'm not sure how I would take it but I'm very willing to try its one of the things I always wanted to do so you can count me in

[SS427]

Well here is a little teaser for you Eddie. The first shot is of Ho Hun in her parking spot at the then Chandler Air Museum (recently sold and relocated in California if I recall) parked next to a P-38.

The second shot is us on our way down to the deck. I have no idea what his airspeed was at this time but I can tell you it was balls to the walls. I knew we were low and when I asked what our altitude was he told me to turn around and look at the cacti (done just after this shot). They were swinging behind us as we flew by from the vortex coming off the wings........

The last shot is of us lining up for a 300+ knot pass over Roosevelt Lake. Major no no but oh what fun it was. I think I even saw some topless sunbathers that pass or maybe the wind pulled them off.......

[SS427]

Here is a shot early on in the flight as we were headed into the Superstition Mountains. He cut the airspeed as we neared the mountain and I would guess we were doing something in the mid 200 knot or lower range.

I thought the second shot was as close as he was going to get and likely about 100 feet off the port wing. Nope!

How about maybe 25' feet off the port wing! Unreal. Bill is a phenomenal pilot to say the least and kept everything under control the entire flight. Upon return to the airport and while on final, Bill lowered the gear and cut the throttle back. At that very moment the tower came on and yelled, "51! Go Around! Go Around! I just barely caught a glimps of it but a Cessna 172 turned onto final just in front and below us. Bill immediately pulled the gear up, advanced to full throttle and blew right past the Cessna. When reaching the end of the runway he pulled straight up and corkscrewed. ALL of this was caught on a ground video camera operated by my brother as well as my video camera in the plane. The very next day while visiting Sea World in California, someone broke into the trunk of the car and stole my video case with all the video and camera. The only thing I had in my possession was the roll of film from a still camera that I also had with me.

Eat a light lunch, do LOTS of situps, running and weighlifting and I will see you on the flightline Eddie!

[Eddie M.]

Thats pretty cool Rick,I am looking forward to it.Its one of the things I've always wanted to do

[SS427]

I shot Bill an e-mail and will find out all the specifics. I have to come up with a fairly rough estimate of a date that we could all get together (Barrett-Jackson or earlier) and line something up. Bill (the P-51 owner) is in New Zealand 6 months out of the year and I will find out when he goes there. My brother can also line up a B-17, B-25, T-6 a Yak and/or others depending on what you want. If a group of us wanted to we could charter the B-17 (Sentimental Journey) for a group hop. He thought it would also be about $400 per person. I'm in on that one as I have yet to fly her of all the Warbirds I have flown in.