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Gathering of Mustangs and Legends
by
Tom Hildreth
I first heard it when I walked from my car to the motel room. Somewhere in the bright afternoon sky over US highway 192 was the source of the sound. I squinted into the western sky for a moment and finally picked up the movement of an aircraft silhouette headed toward me. It was the unmistakable shape of a P-51 Mustang on final approach to Kissimmee Municipal Airport. The Merlin engine was throttled back and a nice series of barks emitted from the short stacks on the famed Rolls Royce powerplant. The hum of the propeller had a distinct doppler shift, descending as the little fighter flew by. I would hear this sound many times over the next seven days and never tire of it.
What had brought me to Central Florida was the lure of a very unusual aviation event called the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends, called GML for short. GML emerged from earlier plans made by the Mustang Operation and Preservation Society (Mustang OPS), to host a series of seminars for Mustang owners and operators. Large numbers of veteran Mustang pilots as well as present day owners responded to the invitations. The list of invitees soon grew to include notables like Bud Anderson, Lee Archer, Ken Dahlberg, Robert Goebel, Bob Hoover, Robin Olds, brothers Bill and Charles Pattillo, Pete Peterson, and Chuck Yeager, all men who had flown the Mustang in World War II. As media inquiries from around the globe began to roll in, the staff at Kissimmee knew they had their work cut out for them in managing the burgeoning logistics of GML.
An ideal base of operations for GML was found in the modern facility at Stallion 51 Corporation, a highly-respected Mustang flight training organization at Kissimmee. The meeting rooms at Stallion 51 were put to good use during the seminars, and the hangar did double duty as a banquet hall after hours. Throughout the event, executive and general aviation traffic flow at Kissimmee continued normally, though bizjet movements were often interspersed with flights of P-51s.
History was in the making on Thursday, April 8, when Chuck Yeager flew P-51 "Glamorous Glen III" in formation with an A-10, F-15 and F-16 of the Air Force's Heritage Flight. Though not billed as an airshow, GML attracted the attention of the warbird-minded public, who for $25.00 a head were able to tour the ramp on Saturday, April 10th.
The majority of existing Mustangs were produced at the North American Aviation plant at Inglewood, California. They are popularly known by their colorful names, commonly applied with historical accuracy to represent a particular aircraft of WW II fame. Included in the 67 Mustangs present at GML were some lesser known variants of the breed. "Frenesi" and "Moonbeam McSwine" are from the Dallas-built P-51K production run, and "Lil Margaret" is an F-6D reconnaissance variant, complete with fuselage camera ports. "Su Su II" and "Flying Dutchman" were built at Commonwealth Aircraft in Australia. Unfortunately, neither of the two US-registered lightweight P-51H aircraft were in attendance. On Sunday, a contingent of more than two-dozen Mustangs headed south to the Experimental Aircaft Association-sponsored 25th Anniversary Sun ' Fun fly-in at Lakeland, Florida.
The author would like to thank event coordinator Angela West for her cooperation in making my visit to this unique aviation event possible. A word of thanks is also owed to the staff at Stallion 51 for their first-rate hospitality. It should be mentioned too, that without the efforts of the mechanics who roll out the tool boxes early in the morning it would have been just another week at the airport.
When summarizing my experience at GML I keep thinking back to the 1987 movie Empire of the Sun, in which a young aviation-minded Jim, played by Christian Bale, realized he was about to be freed by Allied forces and exclaimed, "P-51 Mustang, Cadillac of the Sky!" My sentiments exactly.
The following is a list of Mustangs seen by the author at GML. It is incomplete-some of those little ponies ran off before I could catch them in the viewfinder!
Mustangs at Stallion 51Kissimmee, FL April, 1999
AAF s/n Tail no Civil reg Unit Markings Aircraft Name
474009 N988C Aint Misbehavin
413016 413016 NL5551D LH-X Dove of Peace
NL51JB B7-E Bald Eagle
474409 413317 NL51RT VF-B Donald Duck
472051 422051 NL68JR Sweet Revenge
412139 413318 NL357FG C5-N Frenesi
472145 472145 NL51PT HO-M Petie 3rd
413250 472308 NL151DM WD-A Ridge Runner III
473264 N5428V CY-U Gunfighter
473287 473287 N951M D7-J Worry Bird
472339 472339 NL251JC WD-C no name
463350 413410 NL51TK E2-C Lou IV
511381 414888 NL551CB B6-Y Glamorous Glen III
484390 484390 N2869D -E Section Eight
474404 474404 NL151RJ CH-B Dazzling Donna
405 NL405HC
474417 472197 N6327T FF-197 Donna-mite
472438 472438 N7551T Lady Alice
414450 N6341T B6-S Old Crow
474453 413903 NL251HR WD-L Glamorous Gal
474454 474524 N151HR YF-M Dakota Kid
474497 511471 N51UR PI-J DiamondBack
413500 N151AB HL-N Flying Dutchman
511507 413321 NL921 HO-P Cripes A'Mighty 3rd(Lakeland)
511525 511525 N151AF FF-525 Val-Halla
511540 511540 N151W PE-R Excalibur
474458 415326 N351DM QP-H Sizzlin' Liz
511559 511559 NL51MX MX-A Mad Max
9577 N151KM PV-577 RCAF
722580 422580 N2580 RF-K Six Shooter
484615 484615 NL55JL no name-Betty Boop artwork
484634 472218 NL51ES WZ-I Big Beautiful Doll
511636 511636 N11636 CO NG Stang Evil
473656 414237 NL2151D HO-W Moonbeam McSwine
473543 N151TP HP-P Sweetie Face
474582 474582 NL6329T FF-582 Crusader
473704 NL6168C FF-704 ATC-Webb AFB
484745 484745 NL851D LL Crazy Horse
484753 NL251BP RJ-P no name
463810 463497 N451BC TI-F Abgel's Playmate
474839 NL50FS FF-839 Su Su II (Luke AFB)
484786 N51BS 5M-K Lil Margaret
412840 LG-W
484850 FF-850 Su Su
472922 472 NL93TF L2-W Scat VII
472934 XB-WVL VF-T Shangri-La
472942 414151 NL5427V HO-M Petie 2nd
474950 414812 NL51DT HO-T Slender Tender and Tall
474976 474976 N651JM MR-J Obsession
475007 475007 N3451D PH-P Paul I
474389 N64824 B6-F
NL41749 CY-M
N86772 C5-T Mormom Mustang-Alpine Air
473 NL51JB B7- Bald Eagle
NL51YZ NACA
N51RH Ole Yeller
Miss Marylin II
Montana Miss
NL51WT OO Nervouse Energy V
N6306T HI-G
511582 NL5441V Spam Can
473210 CF-IKE WD-B Miracle Maker
413257 NL51DL Cavalier-camoflaged
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