A-36 tour debut

Thanks Jim,

Lets just say that was how it was reported, and my recollection was from 20 odd years ago, possibly from the pages of Warbirds Worldwide.

I’m a bit more cynical when it comes to provenance; there have been very few ‘new’ discoveries in the UK and the USA in many years. Someone usually knows! That said, there is a tipping point when a collection of original parts can become an airframe, and I have no issue with that!!

Bruce

When I joined Collings in 2003 the A-36 was in the jig as 4 longerons and had a twisted horizontal…it was a monumental ground up restoration. The photo below was from 2005 after 2 years of steady work. There were no parts firewall forward, or from the tail production break aft.

As far as the Bee is concerned it has always been around despite a lack of documentation, I read the same book as a kid. There are many airframes that exist without “our” knowledge…or “expert” knowledge.

The A-36 was somewhat more than remnants ! A read of the late Paul Coggan’s ‘Mustang Survivors’ has a picture of the A-36 as a structurally intact fuselage at Oakland in 1982. A comment notes that the cowlings had been sold to Moon Spillers for use in his P-51A.
Interestingly there is no note of the P-51C ‘Boise Bee’ in the survivors listing back then.

There was never any intention to convert the A-36 to a B/C model. The Paul’s bought the B/C model airframe and the remnants of the A-36. There were parts from the A-36 that could be used on the B/C model restoration. This airframe is airworthy as well, painted as Duane Beeson’s “Boise Bee”.

Jim

Because when it was contemplated ‘B’ Mustangs were incredibly scarce and the only machine really around was Pete Regina’s example. The fighter Mustang was perceived to have a higher value than the A-36 which were viewed as an ‘oddball’ machine.

Luckily that conversion didnt happen.

“converted to a P51B”……:eek:

Ok, when I own a Mustang I can do what I want….. but why on earth would you do that?! I never understood the high back/low back changes people make in Spitfires (and yes, when I own a Spitfire I can also do what I like…) but an A-36 is a rare beauty in itself…… why on earth make it into something its not, and never will be !?

Ah – OK, this is the one that was going to be converted to a P51B, but fortunately wasnt!

Some may wonder about the obviously hand-painted part of the dive brake in photo #5. Having recently written about this airplane, I should pass on that when I talked to Rob Collings about it, he pointed out that they made great efforts to be entirely authentic in its color scheme: though he said it pained the restorers to have to do it, they hand-painted with a brush those parts of the airplane that would have been painted that way by techs in the field, like the red surround around the stars-and-bars, the large J on the fuselage and other items including, obviously, the left-wing dive brake where the national insignia impinged upon it.

I’m not sure about its early history but it was owned by Sid Smith in the 60’s and 70’s. It was purchased, along with a P-51C by John Paul during the late 70’s (somewhere in that time frame) from Jack Hardwick. The Collings Foundation aquired the airframe in the 80’s without a wing or cowlings. The restoration has been ongoing for around 10 years. It’s serial #42-83738, the wing was built up at Teeters shop and the rest was built up by American Aero in New Smyrna Beach. The airframe was fitted with a D model belly scoop at some point…in all it was a monumental project.

Jim

Nice – remind me; what’s the history on this one?

Bruce