Space/click Instead of saying "we repainted a bunch of our p-51s," imma just call this a canon change. I decreased the amount of P-51Ds the WAM owns from 11 to 7. My personal P-51D replaces the first blue nose P-51D the WAM owns. Lore: 83815 is a P-51D-30 built in Inglewood, California, in August 1st, 1945, delivered to the 8th Air Force's 352nd Fighter Group. It did not see any combat, and was only in service for a month before being stored in Chino, California. It was bought by a private owner in 1956, and registered to N62240 before being sold a year later to another owner. It was bought by the WAM in 1970 and named "The Stallion!" in 1971. 83815's actual squadron code is RX-Z, but was changed to HO-Z in 1994 as a tribute to the men who fought in D-Day. 83815 still flies today, and is the longest owned P-51 by the WAM. 44-16521 "Think Faster, Chucklenuts!" This P-51 replaces the horribly named "Unluckily Lucky." Lore: 16521 is a P-51D-20 built in Inglewood, California in May of 1944, also delivered to the 352nd of the 8th AF, designated HO-B. Unlike 583815, 16521 is a combat veteran. It participated in the air raid of D-Day, escorting C-47s. It shot down one FW-190 on that day, and shot down two more escorting B-17s in January of 1945. During this time, it was named "Think Faster, Chucklenuts!" by its pilot. 16521 was stored after the war, and was sold for parts. The WAM found its fuselage in the Mojave Boneyard in 2011, and it fortunately still had all of its markings. It then sat in a WAM Boneyard until 2020, when restoration began. It was given a spare Merlin engine (which actually ran) owned by the WAM for display. Restoration was completed in 2022, and 16521 was registered to N16521. Today, 16521 is a flying tribute for WWII veterans around the world. 44-72547 "Tallahassee Lassie" No changes 72547 was bought in 1980 by the WAM. SILVER P-51S 45-24811 24811 was built in September of 1945 in Dallas, Texas, and was stored. It went through several owners before being bought by the WAM. 45-72116 72116 was built in July of 1945 in Dallas, Texas, and was stored. It was purchased by a small museum in Texas, and stayed there until it was purchased by a private owner in 1971 who restored it to flight, and was owned by them until 1988 when bought by the WAM, being re-registered to N116WM. 45-28314 28314 was built in October of 1945, stored, and sold to various owners, being registered N551W until being purchased by the WAM. 24811 and 28314 were both purchased in April of 1991 by the WAM, meant as part donors for the other 4 P-51s already owned by the WAM, and 24811 was moved to the Chino museum via truck. 28314 was still airworthy, so it was flown to Chino. Because of 28314's airworthy condition, it was given more maintenance for continuous flying, and joined the other 4 airworthy P-51's in the WAM's airworthy collection. 24811 would remain as a part donor until 2016, when more parts entered the market, through other scrapped P-51s, and through manufacturing new parts. In 2017, the WAM decided to restore 24811 to flight, and was registered as N811WM. N51RW N51RW is a P-51D-15, with an unknown history. The only thing known about N51RW is that it served with the Red Tails. It is unknown where it was built, however we suspect it was built in California, like other Red Tail P-51Ds.
use with credit
