Successful P-51 gear up landing

[Coyote Chris]

safe Mustang gear up landing.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze2nEipDLR0

[Bigger Al]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

It's a shame that the aircraft was damaged, but the pilot should be very proud of the job that he did.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Awesome landing... as the owner and pilot said (I think it was them) looks like "minimal damage"...

Sad to see any airplane damaged (even the local 172 fleet!) nice when the damage is repairable and nobody is hurt!

[Dave65882]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Agreed, fantastic job done by this pilot. Guess the fan in the back got a little more than they wished for.

On a somewhat related topic, did i hear them say it was an Australian built P-51? If so, does anyone know the history of these, i.e. were they built after the war, during, how long and how many are in service, etc?

Thanks

[JET1]

im confused...

do Australian mustangs NOT have the gear cable release under the floorboard that you pull to manually have the gear fall out and lock with your mandatory cockpit visegrip pliers? ???

[W J Pearce]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

On a somewhat related topic, did i hear them say it was an Australian built P-51? If so, does anyone know the history of these, i.e. were they built after the war, during, how long and how many are in service, etc?

Thanks

The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation of Australian built P-51s in the tail end of WWII. I think they produced around 200 aircraft, 120 CA-17 and 80 CA-18. The CA-17s were assembled from imported parts while the CA-18s were built in Australia by CAC.

[Dave65882]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Cool, learn something new everyday.

Thanks Bill.

[Leo]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Another point on the CAC Mustangs. Some of them flying now are atomic bomb test survivors. I know Jeannie Too is.

[ozfuryfan]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Guys,this info was posted on WIX a while ago,it was a heads up regarding the inner door hinges on all Mustangs.Apparently the Aussie ones were made fron Magnesium whilst the N.A ones were aluminium alloy,I assume the door jammed up so it would not matter what alternate release system you had.Please,all you folks who fly the P-51,check this out,I can't give you a link but the info does list a difference in the number cast on the hinges,cheers,Pete

[Skyracer]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Another similar failure happened to a friend of mine at the Reno airport several years ago. Cause was the chrome plating peeled off of the inside of one of the landing gear retract cylinders and jammed the piston in the cylinder.

He did a good job of setting her down with one gear fully extended and the other one about 1/3. Damage was pretty minimal considering. He sent a few parts home (aileron, flap, gear door, etc.) and repaired them then spent a couple of days doing the remaining repairs at Reno and flew her home.

[Leo]

Re: Successful P-51 gear up landing

Not to head off-topic but while waiting at a light at S. Virginia and S. Meadows this morning a semi-trailer (marked wide load w/ pilot cars all over)went by me with a low wing plane on it. I did'nt get the type, maybe a Glasair or Cirrus or such as the body was blended like those are (I'm not up on current civi planes), two circular cooling inlets on the nose cowl. It was intact and on it's gear, seemingly undamaged except for about the last 8 inches of the prop being curled back.
Whole rig was headed south out of town. I can't find a thing in the local media about it. Only NTSB I found was a Cirrus but that was last July.
Looked like the result of either a bad day at the airport or a really good day off-airport!