LOPE’S HOPE THE THIRD

A monument to a man, a time, and a machine

The “Lope” in the name refers to 1st Lt. Donald S. Lopez, and “Hope” is his desire to return from combat in China in one piece. And he did. Flying with the 14th Air Force, 23rd FG, 75th FS—the direct descendants of the Flying Tigers—he racked up five confirmed victories, then went on to fly in Korea, become a test pilot, and retire as a Lt. Colonel. He is most often remembered, however, as the gregarious and efficient deputy director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, a position he held for 36 years. He was an expert in all things aviation, but in his heart, he was still that young fighter pilot waging war, first in several P-40s and then a P-51C, all of them dubbed Lope’s Hope. He was a man worth remembering, and the Texas Flying Legends Museum, coupled with the restoration genius of AirCorps Aviation, found a way to do just that. The Texas Flying Legends Museum, based in Houston, counts more than a dozen aircraft in its stable of warbirds that, for all intents and purposes, are semi-homeless; for half of the year, they are on the road visiting airshows and aviation events far and wide. It is literally a mobile museum. The museum’s guiding dictum is “Honoring our Past—Inspiring our Future.” It brings historic aircraft to the people and, in so doing, helps us remember where our freedom comes from. In support of its mission, the museum is always in search of historic aircraft, and an early “B/C” model Mustang was on its bucket list. It found what was left of one, but it was in serious need of TLC, and it was shipped it to AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota, for restoration. The airplane, a P-51C-10NT, had never left the states and had been surplussed to a trade school in 1946. Although it had suffered the indignities of continually being assembled and disassembled in the trade school, it was more complete than many B/C Mustang airframes that had been recently restored.

LOPE’S HOPE

AirCorps Aviation worked with Odegaard Wings to build what is essentially a totally new airframe. AirCorps Aviation’s attention to detail is unsurpassed, so every aspect of the machine is as authentic as possible. This includes such small details as replicating the cloth-covered wire in the wiring and using nuts and bolts that are true to the period. Even the bulletproof laminated-glass panel in front of the pilot had to be custom made. The final result is masterful. If Don Lopez were to strap it on today, he would find every detail familiar. It’s a fitting monument to the man, the time, and the Mustang breed.

7. No fancy, lead-computing gunsights here! The pilot’s ability to estimate the lead required before firing was what separated a hit from a miss, an ace from a wannabee. 6. The ammunition feed chutes were modified in the field, when it was found that P-51B/C guns jammed in high-G conditions. 5. P-51B/C wings carried only two Browning .50s each, and they were oriented to the horizon rather than the wing’s dihedral, as in the later D models. The square silver units are heaters. 3. The control heads for the radios were difficult to find because they were obsolete almost as soon as they were installed. 2. The overwhelming detail in the wheel wells is obvious, but what may be overlooked is that the factory designation on the raw aluminum sheet is Pureclad 24S-T, which was redesignated Alclad 2024 after WW II. Nice touch! 1. The restoration work by AirCorps Aviation is as authentic as it can be and still be flown in today’s airspace. This explains the small radio, among other things, next to the gunsight. The flare pistol is original. 4. The radios atop the fuselage fuel tank were difficult to locate because they were specific to the ChinaBurma-India Theater.