FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES | FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES | FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES | FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES | FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES | FRIDAY NIGHT
EARLY WARBIRD AIRCRAFT WELL BEFORE TODAY’S MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR RESTORATIONS AND
PAINSTAKINGLY ACCURATE COLOR SCHEMESFRIDAY NIGHT
OLDIES
BY DOUG FISHER66 AIR CLASSICS/August 2022
For Warbirds, the 1970s comprised a very strange decade that marked the transition between one-of-a-kind civilian paint schemes
and attempts, usually wildly inaccurate, to put the aircraft back into military markings. Sometimes the two philosophies were blended
together on a single aircraft and one could not find a better example than P-51D 44-74756. This Mustang started out its civil life at a
McClellan AFB auction where it became N5443V and by 1966 it was registered N2112, the plane going through several civil schemes
in the process. In 1973, the Mustang was purchased by drug dealer Ken Burnstine and registered N69QF. Described by one federal
prosecutor as a “low-life criminal,” Burnstine set up a drug smuggling operation in Florida utilizing multiple Lockheed Lodestars
since the planes were available, fast, could carry a large load, and were cheap. At least three Lodestars crashed during drug flights
that could be traced to Burnstine. He also obtained another P-51D that he had heavily modified as a Reno racer. In December 1974,
he was arrested on multiple drug-related charges but, and typical of his type, he was soon frantically attempting to work a deal as an
informant that would see his prison time reduced. He was facing a seven-year term for conspiracy in creating a $50 million per year
cocaine smuggling ring while operating out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. One of the individuals the feds were after was politician State