 Flying a P-51C Mustang
One of the greatest fighter planes in World War 2 — Page 2
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| Flight Day John, Barb, Lynn and I left for the airfield a little early. We arrived at Moffett Field almost an hour before our scheduled flight. As it turned out, when I tried to pay for Lynn’s entrance to the event, I was told, "The ladies are welcome to come in on the flier’s tickets." So, the ladies’ entry was complimentary. As we entered, John and I were drawn to the P-51C Mustang that we were going to fly.
Because we arrived early, we were able to watch the procedure that takes place when a person is getting ready to fly the Mustang. We watched as an older man struggled, a little, to get into the back seat of the cockpit. This really fed my concern of there might not be enough room for me to fit in the plane comfortably. Finally, the pilot tried to start the P-51C’s Rolls Royce engine. It took several attempts before the sixteen cylinders began running rough, but finally smoothed enough for the pilot to get the plane into the air. John and I watched as the P-51C Mustang raced down the runway finally getting enough air-speed to raise up off the tarmac. Shortly after becoming airborne, the landing gear was tucked away under the wings. Now all we had to do was wait until the little airplane returned. The sky was overcast, but the clouds had finally raised enough for flights to take place. The problem with a low ceiling in this area is when the clouds are below a certain altitude, there isn’t enough room between the clouds and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Our flight path would take us over those mountains to the Pacific Ocean where our P-51C adventure would take place. |
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