Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gathering of P-51 Mustangs swoops into AirVenture

About 150 classic planes are still flying in US

- Meg Jones

OSHKOSH - They were nicknamed after a fast horse and in a way, that’s exactly what the P-51 Mustangs were.

Designed to escort bombers in the skies over Europe, Mustangs and their daredevil pilots helped win World War II.

“I felt like me and that Mustang could take on anything Germany had,” said Clarence “Bud” Anderson, 97, this week at EAA AirVenture.

Not many P-51 Mustang pilots are still around, and even fewer aces are alive. The number of living triple aces — aviators who shot down 15 or more enemy planes — is even smaller.

Anderson notched 161⁄4 aerial victories during two tours of combat against the German Luftwaffe in Europe. His plane “Old Crow” — nicknamed after the whiskey — carried the Oakland, California, native through 116 missions without getting hit by enemy aircraft or ground fire.

When asked during a forum at AirVenture about the best and worst features of the P-51 Mustang, Anderson said the fuel tank in the back of the plane made it a bit unstable, but the plane also “got me back after 480 hours” in combat.

175 Mustangs still flying

This year AirVenture is saluting military fighter planes including the P-51 Mustang at a weeklong event that draws the largest number of warbirds in the world. During Thursday’s afternoon air show as many as 25 P-51s will fly in formation to commemorat­e Anderson and other Mustang pilots.

There are only around 175 Mustangs still flying, with roughly 150 of those in the U.S. About 100 other Mustangs are on display in museums.

More than 15,000 rolled off North American Aviation assembly lines in California and Texas during World War II. The “P” stood for pursuit. It was the first long-range fighter escort, thanks to external fuel tanks, for bombers traveling from England to drop ordnance over Germany.

It also was used in China and the Pacific, though late in the war. Famous P-51 pilots included Chuck Yeager, who later broke the sound barrier, and the Tuskegee Airmen.

After World War II, they were used during the Korean War and by Air National Guard units throughout the 1950s. But by 1957 they were replaced by jet fighters, and the military sold off all its remaining Mustangs for $755 each. Now P-51s sell for prices ranging from $1.2 million to $3.5 million depending on the model, condition, authentici­ty and restoratio­n requiremen­ts, said Bill Fischer, executive director of EAA Warbirds of America.

“It was America’s first long-range fighter that could protect bombers into the heart of Europe,” Fischer said Wednesday at AirVenture. “The P-51 Mustang is the most iconic of World War II fighters.”

Tony Buechler of Waukesha has brought his P-51 each year to AirVenture since buying it 34 years ago. When he bought it, his Mustang was painted in the scheme of Lt. Col. John Meyer, commander of the 487th Fighter Squadron and a World War II ace who died in 1975. He kept the painting as an homage to Meyer and other Mustang pilots like Anderson, whom Buechler has gotten to know over the years.

“My first plane ride was in the back seat of a P-51 owned by a friend” in the late 1970s, said Buechler. “I always wanted to own one. That flight sparked an interest in me to fly.”

Buechler spends roughly seven hours maintainin­g his Mustang for each hour it flies, including engine overhauls.

Paul Draper of Livonia, Michigan, flies a P-51 painted in the colors of Anderson’s plane featuring “Old Crow” painted next to a red and yellow checkerboa­rd pattern on the plane’s nose next to the propeller. The plane is owned by Jack Roush, the owner of NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing.

Draper, like many of the current P-51 pilots, took a 12-hour training course in Mustangs in Florida in addition to his pilot’s training. Draper is at the controls of “Old Crow” during air shows this week at AirVenture.

Noted for its maneuverab­ility, Mustangs can reach speeds of more than 400 mph. When he’s up in the air, Draper thinks about what it was like

for the men who flew Mustangs against an enemy intent on shooting them down.

“There’s a lot of thinking about the guys who flew them, the aces, and being able to fly them before the public. The sights, the smells, the sounds, it keeps history alive,” said Draper.

Anderson, who is appearing at AirVenture this week to sign copies of his book “To Fly & Fight — Memoirs of a Triple Ace,” recalled the nervousnes­s he felt when he first went into combat. Those feelings of anxiety lessened as he spent more hours in the air.

After his first combat tour with the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group, he was sent to a military psychiatri­st who told Anderson he did not have to return to war.

“I said ‘Yeah, I know. But I want to go,’” Anderson said while sitting between two P-51s painted as “Old Crow” with tiny swastika flags on the fusecountr­y, lage signifying the number of planes he shot down.

“I could tell you I was doing it for my but it was the camaraderi­e, the guys you know in training,” Anderson said.

 ?? MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Tony Buechler of Waukesha stands next to the P-51 Mustang he has owned for 34 years. Buechler is flying his Mustang during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Tony Buechler of Waukesha stands next to the P-51 Mustang he has owned for 34 years. Buechler is flying his Mustang during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
 ?? MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? Clarence “Bud” Anderson, 97, signs copies of his book at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Clarence “Bud” Anderson, 97, signs copies of his book at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
 ?? MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ?? World War II re-enactors Kevin Wisniewski of Milwaukee, left, and Steve Zahareas of Schaumburg, Illinois, find shade under a P-51 Mustang painted in the color scheme of World War II triple ace Bud Anderson, as they listen to Anderson speak during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
MEG JONES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL World War II re-enactors Kevin Wisniewski of Milwaukee, left, and Steve Zahareas of Schaumburg, Illinois, find shade under a P-51 Mustang painted in the color scheme of World War II triple ace Bud Anderson, as they listen to Anderson speak during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.

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