Berlin Express heading for the UK

[Jhieminga]

P-51B 'Berlin Express', owned by the Friedkin family, has set out from its homebase in Texas today on a trip to Duxford. Having been fitted with a pair of post-WWII droptanks Lee Lauderback will fly the Mustang across the Atlantic to take part in the Flying Legends airshow at Duxford on 8/9th July.

Leg 1 of this trip saw the Mustang fly to Paducah, Kentucky. The journey will most likely take around four days to complete.

To keep track of this P-51 see here:
Follow the Berlin Express on Its Journey Across the World | Pursuit Aviation (http://www.pursuitaviation.com/berlin-express)
SPOT Shared Page (http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ttKhHZqYqIxTnMDDMCeL3GSYEqrNuj4Y)
https://www.instagram.com/pursuit.aviation/?hl=en

[treadigraph]

Be great to see this Mustang at Duxford 8/9 July. I believe a rebuild from wreckage recovered in the UK. Another visiting Mustang, P-51D "Frensini" already arrived at Duxford courtesy of a container.

[CloudHound]

It's arrived at Wick!

Follow the Berlin Express on Its Journey Across the World | Pursuit Aviation (http://www.pursuitaviation.com/berlin-express)

[treadigraph]

Great news!

Another visiting Mustang, P-51D "Frensini"

Self-correction: "Frenesi". Ooops!

[DaveReidUK]

Another visiting Mustang, P-51D "Frensini" !

Strictly speaking, it's an F-6K (converted from a P-51K).

[treadigraph]

True.

I think I read recently that this airframe has been rebuilt to an early P-51D standard but with the later strake that NAA added to improve directional stability issues caused by the cut down fuselage.

[Jhieminga]

From the Keypublishing forums (http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?141202-Duxford-Diary-(2017)&p=2398109#post2398109):
As one can see, the restoration of "Frenesi" is on-par with the finest/most authentic to emerge from Midwest Aero Restorations (even more evident when you look in the cockpit or into the gear wells) - in the above photo, the armor plate/seat has not been installed yet. The restoration was completed back in January of this year - the latest restoration to emerge from that shop. The airframe itself originally was built as an F-6K, but has been restored as a generic/standard late-model P-51D. The paint scheme is that worn originally by a P-51D-5-NA, the first production variant of the 'D', and while the airframe lacks some details of those early production variants (obviously they can't fly it without the dorsal fin fillet), it has an N-9 reflector gunsight installed as those early versions did, rather than the later K-14 computing sight, and although it has the late-style instrument panel rather than the early D-5 instrument panel, the main flying instruments are outlined with a white stripe rather than yellow, as the early D/K's had (different to the mid and late production examples). If you look at the stenciling of the production block information on the side of the fuselage, you'll notice there is a curious historical typo that was copied directly from a period photograph of the original "Frenesi".

First flight after reassembly was today (photo by David Whitworth):
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4255/34858107344_afec986c1d_b.jpg

[treadigraph]

Thanks Jhieminga, memory sorta right! Doesn't she look good, TFC's Candyman/Moose was always a favourite.

[DaveReidUK]

Some great photos on that Key Publishing link.

Though the quote from the poster there

The airframe itself originally was built as an F-6Kisn't strictly correct.

'Frenesi" (111-36135) was originally built as the last in a batch of 300 P-51K-15-NT aircraft, most of which went to the RAF as Mustang IVAs in the KM3xx and KM4xx series, plus some to the RAAF and a few to the Royal Netherlands East Indies AAF.

[Jhieminga]

Interesting, that makes her a sister ship to the P-51 that's in a museum in Soesterberg, The Netherlands!

According to Ed Shipley's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1317482600) Berlin Express is getting ready to take off from Wick right now but an inbound flight with an emergency is delaying them. Once they get going, Duxford is about 1.5 hours away. They support King Air is already showing up on Flightradar24 as 'B350'.

Edit: Looks like they're airborne (8.35am).

[treadigraph]

Just having a look at FR24, King Air just got airborne.

[DaveReidUK]

Interesting, that makes her a sister ship to the P-51 that's in a museum in Soesterberg, The Netherlands!

Of that batch of 300 P-51Ks, at least three are extant in addition to 'Frenesi'.

Probably the best known one is Tom Cruise's mount, N51EW (111-36123) 'Kiss Me Kate'.

The second is one of the ten RNEIAAF examples (111-30885), now a gate guard at Halim AFB in Indonesia.

The third is another F-6K (111-36126) in the Israeli AF Museum at Hatzerim.

[Jhieminga]

Interesting, I guess the Soesterberg one may be from a different batch then. It's P-51K-10NT 44-12125. I've only got this photo online right now:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5732/30575192932_fc4cd146a0_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NzPRCQ)
DSC_8685_crop (https://flic.kr/p/NzPRCQ) by Jelle Hieminga (https://www.flickr.com/photos/102686263@N02/), on Flickr

Berlin Express is North of Manchester, heading South-west, estimating Duxford at 10.40am.

Edit: ETA now 11.06am

[DaveReidUK]

Interesting, I guess the Soesterberg one may be from a different batch then. It's P-51K-10-NT 44-12125.

Yes, that's an earlier P-51K (111-30258) from a different block, albeit still Dallas-built ('Frenesi' and the others I mentioned are P-51K-15-NT).

To confuse matters further, the Soesterberg example is masquerading as one of the aforementioned 10 Mustangs (H-307) that went to the East Indies.

[treadigraph]

Looks like a run in and break at Duxford. They is arrived!

[Jhieminga]

Looks like Berlin Express has reached Duxford!

[Jhieminga]

Yes, that's an earlier P-51K (111-30258) from a different block, albeit still Dallas-built ('Frenesi' and the others I mentioned are P-51K-15-NT).

To confuse matters further, the Soesterberg example is masquerading as one of the aforementioned 10 Mustangs (H-307) that went to the East Indies.
I forgot that the Soesterberg example wasn't an original Dutch example. Having read up on the history of this particular one, I noticed that the museum has the construction number listed as 111-30358. Is that a typo perhaps?

Also, according to the museum's information, during a 1966 restoration parts from 1 P-51B, 2 P-51Ds and 1 P-51K were included in this airframe (as well as Harvard wheels and brakes). Not quite a completely original example then, but still a well-preserved one.

[treadigraph]

I noticed that the museum has the construction number listed as 111-30358. Is that a typo perhaps?

Geoff Goodall has it listed as 30258.

[Jhieminga]

I noticed that c/n on the Warbird Registry as well, listing Geoff Goodall as source. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they made an error at the museum....

[Jhieminga]

I guess the best way to illustrate this is by borrowing Duxman's photo:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4133/35673683126_aac072b089_b.jpg

More photos here (http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?142675-Follow-Berlin-Express-to-the-UK&p=2399382#post2399382), and here (http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?141202-Duxford-Diary-(2017)&p=2399470#post2399470).

[Jhieminga]

Geoff Goodall has it listed as 30258.
Peter Baeten's 'Vliegtuigerfgoed (2005)' also shows 111-30258 as the c/n. It's looking more and more as if whoever typed up the details for the site made an error. I'll see if I can let them know.

I did find a better photo though:
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4230/35720054595_76079c3dee_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/WqsBLg)
DSC_8644_crop (https://flic.kr/p/WqsBLg) by Jelle Hieminga (https://www.flickr.com/photos/102686263@N02/), on Flickr

[DaveReidUK]

Peter Baeten's 'Vliegtuigerfgoed (2005)' also shows 111-30258 as the c/n. It's looking more and more as if whoever typed up the details for the site made an error. I'll see if I can let them know.

And 111-30358 was a P-51B-1-NA (43-12225) that went to the RAF as Mustang III FX930 and was destroyed in March 1945.

[treadigraph]

Odd that a later c/n is an earlier model/serial. Spitfires confuse me with Mk21 and 22 serials scattered amongst earlier MkIXs, MkXIVs, etc. No doubt a good reason for it!

[Jhieminga]

Thanks Dave! I've sent them an e-mail, hopefully this will be rectified in due course.

[DaveReidUK]

Odd that a later c/n is an earlier model/serial.

Yes, I'm beginning to think there might be more to this than meets the eye.

[treadigraph]

Looking at the Mustangs Mustangs site 43-12225 ought to be P-51C c/n 111-29258. Curiouser and curiouser...

[surely not]

Well N357FG is up and having fun this morning according to FR 24

[Jhieminga]

Yes, I'm beginning to think there might be more to this than meets the eye.
It might just be a case of having allocated blocks of serials per production location or order. The two variations discussed here are pretty close together though, which leads me to think that they should turn up in the same batch of P-51Ks for example.

[DaveReidUK]

Looking at the Mustangs Mustangs site 43-12225 ought to be P-51C c/n 111-29258. Curiouser and curiouser...

Not according to P-51 Mustang Production - MustangsMustangs.com (http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/production)

43-12225 is P-51B-1-NA 102-24673
111-29258 is P-51C-10-NT 44-11125

Other sources, Joe Baugher for example, agree.

[treadigraph]

Numerals were never my strong point! But 111-30358 is a K... isn't it?

[DaveReidUK]

Numerals were never my strong point! But 111-30358 is a K... isn't it?

I told you it was confusing. :O

I'm getting my FYs mixed up. 111-30358 (44-12225) is indeed a P-51K-10-NT.

Ignore my reference to it going to the RAF as Mustang III (P-51B) FX930, which was formerly 43-12225 (102-24673).

[treadigraph]

I told you it was confusing. :O

I'm getting my FYs mixed up. 111-30358 (44-12225) is indeed a P-51K-10-NT.

Ignore my reference to it going to the RAF as Mustang III (P-51B) FX930, which was formerly 43-12225 (102-24673).

That was sorta the problem I had... :ok:

[Jhieminga]

Museum has agreed that the c/n should be 111-30258 and will let the website minders know. Thanks for all the additional info!

[treadigraph]

Oh dear. Diving in for her first pass this afternoon at something like 350kt, the perspex portion of the Malcolm Hood left the aircraft leaving Nick Grey flying a cabriolet. Both halves of the tailplane were dented. The canopy frame stayed with the aircraft. After a quick handling check Nick landed safely with a few extra knots. What a great shame. I hope Comanche Warbirds have access to a spare so she can be displayed elsewhere over here this summer.

For some reason Frenesi didn't fly, but it was nice to see them both.