P51 C Thunderbird | Oshkosh 2023 Livestream.
A tenyearold boy paints a picture of a P51 Mustang on his bedroom wall and dreams that he is in the cockpit, swooping through a cathedral of clouds at 400mph. Everyone intrigued with warbirds likely shared this same fantasy at some point during childhood, but for most, flying a Mustang will always elude us. But this story concerns more than wistful aspirations, it is about how that same 10yearold boy made his dream a reality. Looking up at his wall, a young Warren Pietsch vowed that someday he would own and fly a P51… but he couldn’t do it alone.

Warren’s father, Al Pietsch, owned Pietsch Flying Service in Minot, North Dakota, and Warren was fortunate to grow up in the family aviation business. In the 1990s Warren took ownership of the company and renamed it Pietsch Aircraft Restoration & Repair, Inc. which would eventually become Minot Aero Center. Warren’s father, his mother Eleanor, and brothers Gary and Kent were all pilots and supported Warren’s flying career early on. Many others were also encouraging: Gary Johnson, a mechanic and pilot who began working for Warren’s dad in 1964 and now works for Warren; Don Larson, chairman of the Dakota Territory Air Museum; close friends Brian Sturm, Jay Blessum, and many others, played roles in Warren’s aviation story.
Over the years, as his experience and pilot qualifications expanded, Warren had the chance to fly warbirds, like the Mustang, with the Dakota Territory Air Museum and Texas Flying Legends. These opportunities arose because people in the warbird industry like Casey Odegaard, Bernie Vasquez, Doug Rozendaal, Dusty Dowd, and Forest Lovely all provided friendship, knowledge, encouragement, and/or training. Warren couldn’t have ventured down this path with Thunderbird without fellow dreamers like Gerry Beck and Bob Odegaard – it takes an industry to bring these aircraft back to life.

In 1999, Warren purchased what he believed to be a damaged P51A in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. It was only later that he discovered that what he’d actually acquired were the mortal remains of Thunderbird, the iconic blue P51C which Jimmy Stewart once flew in the Bendix Air Races just after WWII. This discovery, and the incredible history of this specific Mustang, began Warren’s journey to restore Thunderbird as a tribute to its legendary owners. Jimmy Stewart, Joe DeBona, Jackie Cochran, and Jim Cook. Thunderbird is truly a people’s airplane because of the many folks involved with the dream since the beginning, and those tasked with breathing life into the project.

Hollywood star (and US Air Force Reserve Colonel) James Stewart, posing with the winning P51 Mustang called 'Thunderbird' at the 1949 Bendix Air Race. Stewart was the aircraft's coowner at the time. The transcontinental pointtopoint race was held from 1931 until 1962.
Higher Resolution Image: https://tinyurl.com/5n6jc6cx

Thunderbird was a much modified P51C but has no known U.S. Army Air Force serial number. The aircraft was built with parts from three different airframes. Leland and Martha Cameron bought these postwar surplus parts to build and modify Thunderbird through their business, Allied Aircraft of Chicago, Illinois.
General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)
Height: 13 ft 4.5 in (4.077 m) tail wheel on ground, vertical propeller blade
Wing area: 235 sq ft (21.8 m2)
Aspect ratio: 5.83
Airfoil: NAA/NACA 45–100
Empty weight: 7,635 lb (3,463 kg)
Gross weight: 9,200 lb (4,173 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 12,100 lb (5,488 kg) 5,490
Fuel capacity: 269 US gal (224 imp gal; 1,020 L)
Zerolift drag coefficient: 0.0163
Drag area: 3.80 sqft (0.35 m²)
Powerplant: 1 × Packard (RollsRoyce) V16507 Merlin 12cylinder liquidcooled engine, 1,490 hp (1,110 kW) at 3,000 rpm; 1,720 hp (1,280 kW) at WEP
Propellers: 4bladed Hamilton Standard constantspeed, variablepitch, 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m) diameter
Performance

Maximum speed: 440 mph (710 km/h, 383 kn)
Cruise speed: 362 mph (583 km/h, 315 kn)
Stall speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
Range: 1,650 mi (2,660 km, 1,434 nmi) with external tanks
Service ceiling: 41,900 ft (12,800 m)
Rate of climb: 3,200 ft/min (16 m/s)
Lifttodrag: 14.6
Wing loading: 39 lb/sq ft (190 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.162 / 0.187 hp/lb (0.266 / 0.307 kW/kg) (without/with WEP)
Recommended Mach limit 0.8
Armament
Guns: 6 × .50 caliber (12.7mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns with 1,840 total rounds (380 rounds for each on the inboard pair and 270 rounds for each of the outer two pair)
Rockets: 6 or 10 × 5.0 in (127 mm) T64 HVAR rockets (P51D25, P51K10 on)
Bombs: 1 × 100 lb (45 kg) or 250 lb (110 kg) bomb or 500 lb (230 kg) bomb on hardpoint under each wing

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