They should be grandfathers by now, happily retired. They could spend their summers seeing the country they fought to defend. Maybe cruise the remnants of Ro
They should be grandfathers by now, happily retired. They could spend their summers seeing the country they fought to defend. Maybe cruise the remnants of Route
Over the past several years, aviation historian Chuck Cravens has brought us regular updates regarding ongoing restoration projects at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. Many of the aircraft involved have been for the fabulous Dakota Territory Air Museum, and such is the case for this particular story about the resurrection of a long-lost, legendary racing Mustang which dates to the post-war Cleveland National Air Races. The original constructors of this race plane built the airframe up from the components of three different Mustangs, but did not record their serial numbers. They listed it as a P-51C with the FAA, with the registration being N5528N. During her racing career, the Mustang bore the names Thunderbird, and later, Mr.Alex, so with the lack of a definitive airframe serial number, we will refer to it henceforth simply as Thunderbird/Mr.Alex. For more details on the airframe's history, please see Chuck Craven's fascinating first piece on the aircraft HERE. Th