The Last of the Wild Horses

P-51D-25NA 44-72844. C/N 122-39303. On 12 February 1945 the aircraft was built on contract Number AC-2378 at Inglewood, California. On 16 February 1945 the airplane was accepted by the United States Army Air Force. Eight days later, the Mustang was delivered to Newark, New Jersey, New York Port of Embarkation. On 13 March 1945 the aircraft departed the United States for the European Theater of Operations and the Eighth Air Force. “Most of the 8th AF's P-51s were shipped into Liverpool as deck cargo and then trucked the seven miles out to Speke Airport. They were then stripped of protective sealant, checked over and test flown. The work was done by the Lockheed Aircraft Overseas Corporation and they were then ferried to Base Air Depot No 2 at Warton, about 30 miles away. BAD 2 handled almost all P-51s before they were allocated to fighter groups.” Subsequently, 44-72844 was assigned to the 2nd Scouting Force and was coded YF-M (overscore). The Mustang was named “L’il Larry III” (L) by its pilot Lt. Ray L. Shewfelt. ’72844 was, “a replacement for the P-51D 44-14524 “L’il Larry II” that Shewfelt had pranged on 8 April 1945 at Y-1/Tantonvillke, France.” Therefore, the airplane saw only a very limited amount of action before combat operations ceased in Europe in late April 1945. During the beginning of July of 1945, the 2nd Scouting Force, as well as its sister squadron the 358th fighter, “began ferrying their Mustangs with the lowest flying hours (200 hours or less) to Speke for shipment back to the States.” On 16 July 1945 the P-51D 44-72844 was returned to the United States and was put into storage at Newark, New Jersey. A month later, on 23 September 1946 the aircraft was flown to Almsted, Pennsylvania for update and overhaul. On 22 October 1946 the airplane was assigned to the National Guard Bureau’s 120th Fighter Squadron (Colorado) at Buckley Field, Denver, Colorado. While assigned to the Colorado National Guard, on 9 November 1947, the Mustang was damaged during a landing accident due to engine failure at Buckley Field, while being piloted by William G. Diller. Subsequently, the aircraft was repaired in order to soldier on with the 120th Fighter until the end of June 1948. On 30 June 1948 the airplane was assigned to the Texas National Guard’s 182nd Fighter Squadron at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas. It is interesting to note that while 44-72844 was with the 182nd it was named “Lynn” (L) and used for pest control (mosquito abatement). During the first few months of the Korean War, on 16 November 1950, the Mustang was assigned to the United States Air Force’s 136th Fighter Group of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) that was based at Langley AFB, Virginia. On 15 November 1951 the aircraft was reassigned to the USAF’s 131st Fighter Group, 186th Fighter Squadron (Montana) of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at George AFB, California. (This unit was later assigned to TAC.) “Starting on 26 August 1952 and extending to 1 September 1952”, 44-72844 was one of, “thirty-seven F-51D’s flown by pilots of the federalized 192nd Fighter Squadron (Nevada) from George AFB, California, to Keflavik, Iceland – not an easy mission for single-engine fighters.” “The Mustangs staged via Tinker AFB, Oklahoma: Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Otis AFB, Massachusetts; Presque Isle Maine, and Goose Bay, Labrador. Some of the pilots and maintenance personnel from the 192nd were retained and assigned to the newly created 434th Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Group. (However, the 192nd remained officially based at George until federal inactivation.) The F-51D’s of the 434th FBS operated from their base at Keflavik between 1 December 52 and 27 March 53.” On 24 May 1953 the F-51D 44-72844 was assigned to the Minnesota Air National Guard’s, 109th Fighter Squadron that was based at Minneapolis-St. Paul. While assigned to the 109th, the airplane participated in, “The Very Last Mustang Roundup”, that was held at Volk Field, Wisconsin, between 18 August and 1 September 1956. On 12 December 1956, the Mustang was flown to McClellan AFB, California for storage. On 17 February 1958, the aircraft was acquired as a result of a successful bid, by the Charlotte Aircraft Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina, for the amount of $1307.57 and registered as N5076K. Soon thereafter, the airplane was transferred to the American Aircraft Sales, Inc., of Hayward, California, that was acting as a purchasing agent for Trans-Florida Aviation, Inc. of Sarasota, Florida. Subsequently, on 6 June 1958 the Mustang was officially sold to Trans-Florida Aviation. On 9 July 1958, through the auspices of TFA, the P-51D became a “Cavalier Special” and registered as N156C. The “Special” was one of two versions of the Executive Mustang initially marketed by the Florida based firm. The following is a list of modifications made to N156C to convert it into a “Cavalier Special“: A. 44-72844 N156C 9 July 1959 1. Removed metal wing tips and installed fiberglass wing tips housing Omni antenna. 2. Stripped ammunition and gun compartments and lined with fiberglass to form baggage compartments. 3. Removed gun port section of wing leading edge and replaced with pre-formed smooth skin section. 4. Replaced left aileron and landing flap with standard factory parts. 5. Removed I.F.F. lights. 6. Flush patched all unused holes in wings. 7. Removed all unused wires in both wings. 8. Installed speed control detector unit right wing as per manufacturers instructions. 9. Installed speed control flap potentiometer connected to inboard end of right flap. 10. Installed Gyrosyn Flux Valve in place of remote compass left wing. 11. Installed marker beacon on bottom surface of left wing. 12. Installed glide slope antenna on bottom forward section of scoop. 13. Installed Dare Antenna bottom rear section of engine compartment. 14. Installed A.D.F. loop on camelback station 277 top of fuselage. 15. Installed recording our meter forward section of left wheel well. 16. Installed outside air temp bulb aft of wheel well left wing. 17. Removed fuselage fuel tank and blanked off fuselage tank position on selector valve. 18. Replaced main tank fuel boost pumps with overhauled units. 19. Installed Aeroquip fuel lines, tanks to selector valve. 20. Installed overhauled oil and coolant radiators. 21. Installed new coolant, oil lines and hose connections throughout ship. 22. Installed new brake assemblies, wheels and tires. 23. Installed new hydraulic tank. 24. Completely insulated cockpit area using reflective type aluminum tape and polyethylene foam. 25. Installed new floor in section aft of and under pilot’s seat. 26. Removed instrument panel and installed customized instrument panel. 27. Installed two electrical consoles to right of pilot containing all fuses and circuit breakers in one panel and all switches in other panel, except starter, fuel boost primer and magneto switch and they are located on lower left side of instrument panel. 28. Renewed all electrical wiring. 29. Installed speed control indicator upper left side of instrument panel shield. 30. Installed improved cockpit air control system (hot and cold). 31. Installed passenger seat aft of pilot’s seat with safety belt and mounting brackets for shoulder harness. 32. Installed radio units at station 224 with remote controls. 33. Installed zero time engine with overhauled propeller and engine accessories. 34. Cockpit seat conversion and radio installation same as in N550D. After the modification of the P-51D N156C was completed, “Trans-Florida sold the aircraft back and forth to a few owners. While these back-and-forth sales were going on, the airplane also went through some n-number changes: N5076K to N156C, to N764C and finally, to N7406 (a registration number of a Vickers Viscount owned by the Cavalier Aircraft Corporation of Sarasota, Florida.)” Eventually, the Mustang was one of a total of at least ten civilian P-51D’s that were absorbed into the Cavalier Aircraft Corporation's large parts inventory. Most likely, under the authority of the United States Fovernment’s Military Assistance Program’s "Project Peace Condor”, the P-51D 44-72844 formed the basis for one of nine Cavalier F-51D/TF-51D Mustangs remanufactured for the Bolivian government. Subsequently, during 1967, the aircraft was delivered to the Fuerza Aerea Boliviana (FAB). During 1978, the airplane may have been one of four Cavalier F-51D’s acquired by Canadian citizens in exchange for an equal number of Lockheed T-33A-N’s. Last of the Wild Horses: North American P-51 Type Aircraft on the Civil Registries of the World 1946 to 2024. Copyright 2002 through 2024 by John L. Dienst. Initial design and major textual contributions and financial support by Leif Hellstrom. All rights reserved. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, by photography or xerography or by any other means, by broadcast or transmission, by translation into any kind of language, nor by recording electronically or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in critical articles or reviews.