Tag Archives: p-51

More WHF Fun!

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Some days things are just looking like they will be good.  The Warbird Heritage Foundation have their newly restored P-51 Mustang, Baby Duck, ready for flight.  Before they can do too much with it, they need to get some hours on the engine.  Consequently, they have had Vlado Lenoch coming across to fly the aircraft when possible to build the hours.

I knew that they had intentions to fly in the week before Christmas but I didn’t know exactly when.  However, the weather was crap for the majority of the week.  When I saw a  good forecast for Friday and I had some free time, I decided to take a chance and head on up to see if anything was happening.  If not, it was still a nice day to be out and about!

As it was, not only did the guess prove to be accurate, I got a bit luckier than even I had expected.  Baby Duck was out on the ramp when I arrived which was a good sign.  Indeed she would be flying and Vlado was coming to fly her.  What is the easiest way for Vlado to get there?  In his P-51 of course.  Paul also was planning on flying one of the other aircraft that day as well.  Bonus!

Vlado showed up and got ready to fly the Duck.  I scooted across the field to be in a position for good light and angles and it wasn’t long before Vlado was taxiing out.  A few other aircraft movements kept me amused while he headed out to the departure end.  Before I had left the hangar, I had foolishly suggested to Vlado that he keep it low on departure.  That was a pretty redundant thing to say.  Vlado certainly kept the aircraft in a good position for me as he came past and he built up speed before turning it into height.

I headed back since we didn’t know how long they would be out.  They actually landed away so were gone for quite a while.  Chris Doud had been in the right place to bag the back seat so he was having a great time.

When they got back, Paul had a chat with Vlado about how the flight had gone and then got ready to take the T-2 up for a run.  Vlado was also heading home in Moonbeam McSwine so I made a second run across the field to get the departures again.  They ended up heading out close together.  Both provided sporty departures so I was considering the day a very productive one.

I headed back to the hangar to await the return of the T-2.  They broke back into the pattern and landed so some taxi in shots and then a few pictures of a very happy back seat passenger made for the end of the day.  Time to head back to Chicago and enjoy all the traffic could offer on the last day before Christmas!

First Flight – for a while at least

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My friends at the Warbird Heritage Foundation in Waukegan have been working for a long time on adding another aircraft to their already excellent collection. The newest aircraft is a P-51 Mustang called Baby Duck. It is many years since Baby Duck last flew and she has gone through an extensive restoration since being recovered from a storage location near Philadelphia.

The work has been undertaken at Tap-Air in East Troy WI. They have been putting her back together after a thorough restoration of the whole airframe and engine and the whole process has been coming to a climax with the approach of the first flight post restoration.

After some engine runs and taxiing tests, the date for the first flight was set. Paul Wood, the owner of the foundation, kindly invited me up to see the flight and I headed up to East Troy on a gorgeous day. Pilot for the first flight was Vlado Lenoch. Vlado is a highly experienced pilot of Mustangs. He has his own aircraft, Moonbeam McSwine which he displays all around the country. However, he has flown many other aircraft. I think he said that this was his 25th!

After some final checks on the airframe, Vlado fired her up and taxied off for departure. I headed to a spot up the field to be ready for the first wheels up moment. While it was a lovely day, it was warm and sunny so heat haze was a big deal. However, you don’t get to choose when these things are happening so you go with it and get what you can.

The first flight went very well. Vlado took her up to altitude, cycled the systems, undertook some handling checks and basically made sure things were good. Then he brought her back for a flyby – a good sign that he was pleased with the aircraft. There then followed a debrief about e issues that he had found. The Tap-Air guys then took the opportunity to try and fix a few of the issues that could be dealt with immediately while we had a bite to eat before Vlado took her up again.

This time he had a longer sortie and pushed her a little harder with some basic aeros. All went well and again he showed his comfort with everything with another flyby. After landing, another debrief with the guys and a list of tasks to be worked on. There is still some work to do but, hopefully she should be making her way to her new home pretty soon. Probably not soon enough to make it to Oshkosh this year but there is always another year!

As a finish, I animated some of the shots together to make a pseudo-video.  Here is the result.