"Weasel, I just shot you down man!"

[Weasel]

It all was a good day in the air. I was on the way back from a trip and was descending through about 2500ft direct to my back yard when my passenger said "hey right there is an airplane" I looked out his side to see a P51-D coming at us starboard side. I started a hard bank cause I knew he was trying to get us. When he was nearing gun range I cranked a hard bank to the right and made him overshoot the line-up behind us. As soon as he shot out on the port side I cranked into a left bank while he was still coming right so that got us free for a few seconds but by this time he had pulled up high and was swinging back at us from the starboard side again. This time he lined up pretty good with us and I knew we were had. We horsed around for a little while and then I be-lined for the closest local airport and switched to that frequency and self announced my position. Immediately a voice came on the radio "hey who is that"

I replied "Weasel"
The voice said "Weasel, I shot you down man!!!"
I just said "I know it"

He then said "hey man come to GTR and I will give you a ride"
I said "OK, I'm on the way"

A few seconds passed here and then he came on the radio again "Hey wanna race to GTR?"

I said "1-2-3-GO"

ok so here i am 12 nm from GTR and lined up with a P-51D racing I had to think of something quick!!!!!

All of a sudden a plan snapped into my head.

I said hey you want me to show you my place on the way up there. He said sure.

I pointed it out and he buzzed over to take a look then circled around and took a look at my dads place. by this time I Had passed him and had a good 4 mile lead on him with only several miles left to GTR.

He said. "hey man where are you now"

I said "I'm about 4 miles from GTR I think Im gonna beat you "

There was a muttering on the radio something about bringing the needle up out of the green on this thing.....

The wind was favoring 18 and I was strait in from the south. The tower told me to report a midfield left downwind for 18.

I replied. "any chance I could get a strait-in 36?"

tower said "clear to land 36"

I had to take on a 12-15 knot tail wind but with all the runway they have it was a non issue. I taxied up to his hangar and jumped out then waited the 20 sec. for him to taxi up.

We looked at the SNJ for a little.


I took some pics of the toys.


Then it was time for me to take a ride




When I stepped out the pilot said in a very serious tone. "Weasel, you are now part of a very small club of people"

All I can say is I feel privileged to be part of that club.

It was time to go home then........sigh.

[AX-O]

Dang! What are the chances something like that would happen? You may want to buy a lottery ticket.

[ccsmith51]

Very, very cool. I am filled with envy, and so glad that you shared this with us. Heck, I get shot down by my Dreamland buddies all the time, but they fly (now) RV's. YOU got shot down by a P-51!!!! I guess it don't get any better than that!!!

[ColoRv]

Great story!

I can not wait to engage my buddies, though most of them are F-4, 14 and 15 jocks who will make short work of me....perhaps they will toy with me a while before claiming lunch. Thanks for sharing.

[rvmills]

Originally Posted by Weasel

It all was a good day in the air.

<snip>

When I stepped out the pilot said in a very serious tone. "Weasel, you are now part of a very small club of people"

All I can say is I feel privileged to be part of that club.

Doesn't get any better 'n that! Great story!

Cheers,
Bob

[Tom Martin]

Wonderful experience, thanks for sharing! At the 2010 SARL rocket race I was slotted in to start after a P51. The SARL races always start with the fastest airplanes first.
I knew that I was not as fast as the P51 but I also knew that I would likely accelerate faster and my turns would be tighter. I was also pretty sure that the pilot would not want to push that valuable engine to its limit. This was the first race for the P51 and thus I was also hoping that that might give me a chance to at least see it for a while.
The race started, with a 20 second interval, and I was hot on this guys tail. I was actually gaining ground on him as I had climbed in the first short leg to pick up a bit of tail wind on leg 2. I picked up a bit in the first turn as expected and then a wonderful thing happened. The pilot of the 51 turned off course to the right, clearly, he was not sure of the location of the second turn point. By the time he got it figured out and made the correct turn at #2, there he was, right in front of me, in a perfect bank. He was in my sights, an amazing image that I will never forget. How many times does someone get to see a P51 turning right in front of them!
At that point in the race I had him beat. I did not need to pass him, I just needed to catch up to him to get a better time. But I made a big mistake. I let him see me. He knew that I was there and I could almost hear his thought process, " there is NO way a little tin can like that is going to beat this warbird!" I could see the aircraft accelerate and I knew that he had applied more power then he had originally planned on using. I did not see him again in the race but in the end, over 150nm, he only beat me by around 30mph. If only I had just tucked in behind him.....

[dealfair]

Oh this thread is a FUN read!!

[fixnflyguy]

My good friend and fellow RV-4 owner has a P-51, which I am blessed to have flown in, shot me down this weekend also...was an awesome feeling to fly side by side with such beautiful history, and spend the weekend at a small,local fly-in (KINT} with 2 Mustangs...Angels Playmate, and Obsession.

[ao.frog]

Great story! Made me both laugh and smile!

It brought back memories from the good old days in the AF (-70's + -80's) when air combat was all about a good oldfashioned turning visual fight to get into 6 o'clock.

Today, when it's all about throwing missiles at eachother at BVR (beyond Visual Range), the fun is gone.... at least in my book.... or it could be that I'm just gettin' old....

Thanks alot for sharing!

[WillyEyeBall]

Last year at Elba, Alabama fly-in, FF330 P-51 came in for a surprise visit. As a super Pitts (S1-11) was taking off, he jumped him too, but when he came around for the second, third, and fourth pass, the Pitts kept him from getting a good shot and locked on his tail until the P-51 could fly away and come back a try again. (Mustang 1, Pitts 3 by local consensus) You think he would give the Pitts driver a ride too? He was a really nice fellow.
Bill McLean
RV-4 slider
Alabama