Coutches was selling licensed, ready-to-fly P-51Ds for $3,995 at the time, but his interest was in the P-51H. “Mustang Mike” Coutches of American Aircraft Sales in Hayward, California, was on the hunt for P-51H parts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mustang in a Garage: P-51D (F-6D) Lil’ Margaret Sounds like tall tales, each and every one of them. Navy patrol bomber, a type that saw combat in World War II, sitting on a grass strip sunk up to its axels in mud? All you have to do is fl y it out before the land used as a runway becomes houses. Or the story of a B-17 four-engine bomber in a forest? Possible, but highly unlikely as well. There’s always been the story of the biplane or the Cub in a barn, but a hidden warbird like a P-51D Mustang in a guy’s garage? Not likely. Thus not every story about a crashed or abandoned warbird is factual. Yes, people did go into the foothills and mountains to recover metal from crash sites, but after having hiked to the Leech Lake B-17F, there’s no way anyone made that trek and certainly not to haul in all of the equipment needed to reduce a bomber tomolten metal. Many people told stories of how “hippies” had gone into the site in the 1960s and scrapped out the bomber for its metal content. Even the guns were located, but they were buried on the site. For example, there is a B-17F near Leech Lake in Northern California that yielded a number of rare parts used to restore other Flying Fortresses. Although he was devastated after the loss of the P-38 that had been such a big part of his life, Pruitt acquired a Bell P-63 project to occupy his interest in World War II aircraft restoration.įor every story that’s told, some people, probably not intentionally, spread misinformation. Unfortunately, Pruitt’s P-38 was destroyed in a crash on June 6, 1997, near Tillamook, Oregon. Warbird hunters hounded him until he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse-both aircraft would be rebuilt to flying condition, and the restorers would keep one in exchange for their work and investment in making the planes fly. It was Pruitt’s intention to rebuild them as a retirement project and he had spent the better part of twenty years gathering as many P-38 spare parts as possible. Rumors of the P-38 in a barn gained traction as the warbird movement picked up momentum in the mid-1980s.Īfter the fiftieth anniversary of the P-38s first flight in 1989, there was a huge push to track down these airplanes.
He dismantled the twin engine fighters and hauled them to his parents’ barn outside of Sacramento, California, for storage. The company put all four of its P-38s up for sale in 1967, and electrical engineer Bruce Pruitt bought two of them. That P-38 in the barn story many heard was actually true, except it was two P-38s, not one! P-38L 44-26969 and 44-27083 had been operated by Mark Hurd Aerial Surveys in Santa Barbara, California. One has to wonder if the P-38 in the barn story is not actually two BT-13s sitting side-by-side? The question is, how far from the original source are you? Stories have a way of changing with each retelling. Once a hidden warbird story is told, it certainly bears repeating.
The inability to separate fact from fiction can, at the very least, be a big waste of time, and on the other end can endanger one’s wallet or at the extreme one’s life and limb. One needs to be able to separate fact from fiction and do so quickly. Then there’s being in the right place at the right time, being willing to take a chance, and being ready, and knowing when, to act.Īnd then there’s the ability to read people, especially the storytellers. Those who believe they can influence their luck know that this superpower is made up of five components: Many believe it’s all in who you know. Some people don’t believe in luck, while others think that luck is what you make of it. Home » Military History » Hidden Warbirds: Rare Warbirds in Unusual Places Hidden Warbirds: Rare Warbirds in Unusual Places Posted on JBy: Nicholas A.
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