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As most readers will be well aware, AirCorps Aviation has completed numerous world-class aircraft restorations over the past decade or so at their now-famed workshop in Bemidji, Minnesota. Not an organization to rest on its laurels, AirCorps is working hard on a number of fascinating projects at present, one of which they started in mid-2021 for the Wings of the North Air Museum in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. This particular effort is based around the mortal remains of a rare, early-model Mustang with an extensive combat history, this being P-51B 42-106602 nicknamed Shillelagh. Two of those who flew the Mustang also have interesting histories: David O’Hara, Shillelagh’s regular pilot (who named her) and Kenneth H. Dahlberg, the triple-ace and former Prisoner Of War who was at the controls on the fighter’s final mission. As already noted, Shillelagh’s rebuild began in earnest at AirCorps Aviation during 2021, and much has taken place in the interim. So without further ado, he
Modern American warriors retain the old GI’s capacity to innovate and adapt technology on the battlefield.
Anyone not gobsmacked by the idea of flying a helicopter on Mars has no soul. The sight of NASA’s Ingenuity conducting the first powered flight on another planet should have left all Americans awed and deeply impressed with themselves.
Innovation, adaption, and creativity may not be an American birthright, but it is surely in the American DNA. Our people have long applied these innovative skills in military affairs, making ingenuity part of the American way of war.
The traditional view of the American military is as a large bureaucratic organization, one in which orders come from the top and are executed at the bottom. There is truth in that. But, there is another face to how Americans fight.