I'm Matthew Burchette, and I am having the time of my life
in the ultimate Behind the Wings episode with the P-51 Mustang. Bam!
I am going to try to contain my enthusiasm here, so that I can talk
normally during this interview, but Mark Bingham, how do you not freak out every
time you fly this plane?
I'm one of the luckiest guys alive to be able to fly a P-51 Mustang.
I will totally agree. Now our viewers, correct me if I'm wrong, probably
know a thing or two about the P-51 and its history. But give us a little rundown
on this particular plane's history, because it's pretty cool.
This particular plane was built in January of '45 by
North American in the Grand Prairie factory just outside of Dallas.
Oh nice.
and it was then commissioned with the Army Air Force in July of 1945.
The war, World War II, was pretty much over.
So, this immediately went into assignments with the National Guard, and it had eleven
assignments in the National Guard, three of which were right here in Colorado at
Buckley Air Force Base here in Denver.
Oh, no kidding. See, I love that kind of tie-in.
Now, everybody probably knows that this is a D model. And, if you don't, this is
why you're watching the series, which is great. Tell us a little bit about what
makes this a D model Mustang.
The D model is really the change from what they
called the Razorback Mustangs, which the fuselage was higher, and the canopy
it had a hatch that lifted open. But people complained about
the ability to see on the side and behind them, and so they had had success
with putting bubble canopies on. So the D model was the fourth iteration of the
Mustang, and it had the canopy that they could move back and forth. And then they
would essentially have 360 degrees of visibility, so they could see enemies in
every quadrants.
So, as a fighter pilot, that's always a good thing.
That's exactly right. In fact, it was so necessary, they traded a few
miles per hour to get the visibility by putting the canopy on there.
Yeah, I'd rather be able to see what's behind me.
Right.
You were saying that there's a lot of original equipment on this thing.
In fact, this is the youngest surviving D model Mustang in the world.
There were a number built after them, but they've all been destroyed.
So this is the youngest D model that still exists.
So, we've just alluded to some of the changes from the B to the C
to the D model, and one of those changes was from four 50s to six 50s. And that's
a lot of firepower coming out of this weapon.
That's one of the things that the fighter pilots asked for.
Is that they needed more firepower, and so they did go
to six 50 caliber machine guns in the D model Mustang.
So, another cool thing, is this hard point right there, which is actually designed for bombs.
But, in the ETO and the Pacific, it was way more important for the ever-present drop tank.
That's correct. In the effort to get to Berlin and bomb Berlin, they
needed to have firepower cover through the fighters, and they needed to
have a plane that would make it all the way. And to make it all the way, you had
to have fuel. So you had 92 gallons in each wing, you had 85 gallons in the
fuselage and 110 gallons on each wing on the hard points. And that could get you
1,200 miles into Berlin and back.
One of the neat things in Europe is the British actually designed paper drop tanks,
because you don't want to use a resource you make a paper tank.
You're going to drop it anyway, because, as soon as you saw the bad guys,
you punched the tank. It's kind of cool!
Yeah, the paper tanks were invented. It's kind of like a cardboard with a shellac on it,
and it would hold fuel for about ten hours before it would start to
disintegrate, which was just long enough to use them. And then they would drop
those paper tanks off to eliminate the drag, once they had taken the fuel out of the paper tank.
Here's some kind of cool cocktail party knowledge. The Germans
actually labeled their drop tanks with "keine bombe," which means "not a bomb,"
because they were dropping them over their own people. And the German citizens
were freaking out, because they were seeing these things on the ground, and
they're like, "Oh my god, it's a bomb." It's not a bomb, it's just an empty drop tank.
Neither here nor there. Okay, so let's keep going.
Alright, Mark, when I was monkeying around in your cockpit, not touching anything.
Of course.
I did notice that you still have the flare port installed right up there. Tell our
viewers a little bit about what that actually did for the pilot.
Sure. So, right to the left side of the pilot is a hole in the fuselage, and that hole allowed
him to shoot a flare gun. Looks like a pistol with a big barrel, like a big
shotgun shell. And he would have different colors in that flare to tell
people at his home airstrip if he had an emergency, it would be red. If everything
was okay, it would be green. Or if he needed some assistance, typically
it would be white or yellow. And he could shoot that flare out, so they would know
what his condition was, if they couldn't reach him by radio.
Oh, that is really cool. Now the other thing I'm noticing is the wing on this plane.
I mean, you can see every rivet on here, and normally, when
these things came off of the factory line, they were all puttied over, because
this was what's known as a...
Laminar wing.
Yeah, so laminar flow is, you want to get the air coming over the top
and the bottom of the wing without a whole bunch of tumbling.
And so they were puttying over all of this stuff except, of course,
for the gun bays that you got to get in and out. But everything else was just as
smooth as they could make it.
They really did that until, at the end of the war,
when they couldn't get the planes out fast enough. Finally, they just left over
the rivet tops, and they got the planes out into the field as soon as possible.
That's really cool.
Alright, Mark, let's talk power.
Alright, so this engine is a Rolls-Royce Merlin
built by Packard, under license to Packard out of Detroit, and it has
1,460 horsepower. It's a V-12 engine.
Oh man. What was your top speed?
The top speed on this particular airplane is 503 miles an hour.
That's if you're going downhill, and that's your red line. Typically, 430 miles
per hour is what they would consider the top speed for operational purposes here.
So, the very first aircraft actually had a Allison engine, a V-1710 in it.
That's correct.
And it just didn't have the the super power, oomph, to get above 15,000 feet,
where we were needing to escort our bombers.
Right. So that was the A model Mustang.
We're talking about the D model Mustang now, and the real difference was
the B model had the Merlin engine put into it, and it also had a two-stage
supercharger. And the supercharger allowed it to go above 30,000 feet, where
the fighters were. And that's what really made this plane "zing," when it finally got
the Merlin engine and the two-stage supercharger.
So, Mark, take me through the startup sequence on this bad boy.
Okay, you have to be kind of a two-armed paper hanger to get this done,
but we start with the battery. So we turn the battery on.
Okay, right here.
Then we turn the fuel boost pump on, and what that
does is it pressurizes fuel from the fuel tanks up into the engine.
Okay.
Then we primer the engine with fuel. And then, once the engines been primered, we
turn the starter on. We have to hold the starter on, and that starts turning the
blades around. And, once you've turned four blades around, then you turn the
magnetos on. So, your starter's moving with your left hand, the magneto comes on
with your right hand. Then you'll see a big white puff of smoke come out of the
exhaust stack, and you immediately take the mixture now
with your right hand and move it into the rich position. And then it'll start
to kick off. And, in order to make it run smooth, you give it a little more
primer until it all runs smooth through the engine. You might have to bring the
throttle up a little bit just to make sure that everything's getting
lubricated with fuel.
Wow, that's a lot of work, and there's not a lot of room in here.
It's pretty tight. These cockpits were made for 18-year-old
boys, who weighed a 120 pounds and were five foot six.
And are not six foot two, 53 year olds.
Alright, so it wouldn't be Behind the Wings, if we didn't fly.
Well, of course.
And I notice you got a jump seat back there.
Well, yeah. But, I tell you what, how about I fly, and I'll tell you about it as I'm
taking it off.
Alright, I can do that.
Good deal.
I probably ought to get out though, huh?
If you have to.
Okay, so we've been cleared to taxi out to runway eight.
We're going on Alpha, engine already warmed up. We'll take off on eight.
You'll get to experience the roar of the mighty Mustang, and we'll come back and land.
And that's the shutdown of the Mustang. We turn the battery off, and we turn the
magnetos off. We lock the controls, and there's your flight of the Mustang.
Mark, how was it?
It was excellent! It's a great day to fly.
Well, man, thank you so much for letting our audience come with you on your flight,
because that's not something that happens every day.
Well, I'm grateful I got to share it with somebody.
Well, thank you so much, we really appreciate it. And we thank you
guys for watching. And, if you've got questions or comments, hit us up on
YouTube or Facebook. And, again, thanks for watching, because without you there is no
Behind the Wings, and I don't get to do stuff like this!
How do you, I'm going to put my hand out, so that you shake it. Used for
I am... instructing.
Yeah, thank you.
Mustang, it doesn't get any better than this, ever!
[Cameraman] Mic is not on
No.