When this air plane belonged to Dr.Cummins, it was parked at chino airport, I got a 2 hour ride. I had just finished the 9th grade and this was a gift from my Dad who worked for PAC.

all Elmer did was to put a paint job on the aircraft the restoration was done by Aerosport at chino. CASE CLOSED ASCHER WARD

I remember seeing this aircraft at Canberra airport in late 70's early 80's I was struck by the flaps hanging down. Thanks for your work in keeping the history of these conversions alive

Went for a ride with Bob Converse out of the
Minter Field airport many years ago.
Bob is a great pilot and super guy.

44-84857 is not on the list of the 25 Mustangs which actually were deployed to Iceland in 1952. 10 aircraft out of the 35 aircraft which were readied for the journey to Iceland, were left behind in the USA.

According to written personal notes from Col. Robert W. Gruenhagen (flight chief, line chief and quality control inspector of the F-51 Mustangs stationed at Keflavik airbase in 1952) the following 25 Mustangs were deployed to Iceland:

44-72708
44-73788
44-74482
44-74880
44-74845
44-74717
44-73769
44-74586
44-74963
44-72843
44-74377
44-74522
44-84769
44-74382
44-73996
44-73826
44-74870
44-73409
44-74317
44-74811
44-84834
44-74975
44-74959
44-74368
45-11364

Col. Robert W. Gruenhagen is the author of “Mustang – The Story of the P-51 Fighter” Arco, N.Y., Revised edition (1976), ISBN-10: 0668039124, ISBN-13: 978-0668039123 and a well-known expert on the P-51.

I'm presuming that this is in fact, Roger Wolfe's former P-51...

I ventured into the Freightliner dealer in Sparks, Nevada, yesterday, to pick up some parts, and a somewhat boisterous & colorful older gentleman truck driver (70's) walks in, starts going on about an exhaust pipe for his truck, and throws in a comment about a P&W R-1340 out of the blue! Having spent several years around those when in grade school, I began chatting with him, and he matter-of-factly mentioned having had a P-51 once, and having raced it a few times, and so I began chatting with him, and it turned out to be none other than Mr. Wolfe himself!

It took a while to get the answer out of him as to why he sold the plane. His answer: "I up-graded to a T-33, that got me into nothing but trouble!". I asked him about air racing, and he was a bit bitter about it: he talked about the cost to enter a P-51 into the Air Races, versus what you could win - that age old argument.

We ended up talking for a good 2 hours about all kinds of things (he tends to kind of ramble on from one topic to another, though he's still sharp as a tack). He told me how he was able to buy the plane: seems he had been crop dusting since before he had his license(!), and was making upwards of $1000 per day back then! He said toys were easy to get back then. So, a Mustang was a drop in the bucket. (I think he was about 29-30 when he bought it)

Meanwhile, the guy behind the parts counter is kind of blowing off everything Mr. Wolfe was saying (and Mr. Wolfe could tell, and was having fun with it), not seeming to believe any of it. So, since I had never met him, and wanted to see if he was on the level, I asked him whom he sold the plane to, and he answered "Bob Guilford".

That was a name I hadn't heard in a good 20 years, and it was good enough for me. In the end, the parts guy, I think, realized that this wasn't just some eccentric...

So, I thought I'd tell this story here, where it apparently belongs. If anybody would like to chat with him, he did give me his card, and it's got his email address on it.

This airplane is the reason I am a warbird fanatic! I lived in N.Syracuse behind Mickey's Bait Shop on South Bay Rd. I was around 9 or 10 and used to ride my 20" single speed stingray bicycle to Brewerton just to play on this plane! Then one day it was gone. I have been to Oshkosh and have talked to P-51 owners, nobody had ever heard of the P-51 in the weeds sitting next to Rt.11. Thank You Google!!!

Brad -

I remember your mother, having met her at least once. She shared the name "Frances" with my mother. And based on when you lived at High Valley Ranch, probably met you!

Shoot me an email at bfg3@directcon.net if I may answer any questions for you (read the previous posts for how I fit into the the personal/corporate history of Bill, Marie and the company).

Ben Gay III
Former President/Holiday Magic, etc.
WWW.BFG3.COM

Angie Whitehead Giovenco, I would love to see the photos. My email is rebecca.kestle19@gmail.com

This photo is, in fact 63810. It was taken at the Fullerton , Calif. Airport on the day I removed it from the Planes of Fame Museum in Buena Park. I had just bought it from Maloney and was taking it to Chino for rebuild.i