22 | Pilot April 2015 http://www.pilotweb.aeroPHOTO: PAUL BOWEN
US company Stallion 51 offers paying customers
the chance to convert onto the P-51 Mustang.
A flight in the great US WWII fighter should
be on every pilot’s bucket listBy Bob Davy
Beyond the PPL:
Mustang Conversion
up to 55 inches as we surge ahead. At
the same time the tail comes up with
progressive pressure on the stick and a
firmer push on the right rudder pedal.
Despite six degrees of preset right
rudder trim, everything is stacked
up to send me off the left side
of the runway: the
crosswind from the
left; the ‘P effect’
of the prop biting
more air on the
down stroke; the
torque of the engine
pushing the left tyre into
the ground; and the
twisting force
of gyroscopic precession as the propeller
disc is tilted to the vertical. This lastI
’m sitting eight feet
up in the air, on
Runway 33 at
Kissimmee
airport in
Florida. Ahead of me
is twelve feet or so of
aircraft nose−it looks
and feels like I’m sitting
atop a very big shark. Except
that this one has wings, and in front of
me is a great four-blade propeller
turning at 750 rpm−about half the
engine speed. I’m mesmerised by this
thing, but the growling, blatting and
popping of the Rolls-Royce Merlin
between it and me brings me back from
my reverie−knowing that the 27 litre
V12 can generate 25 cubic metres persecond of toxic
exhaust gas, I crank the
canopy shut using the
rotary handle to my right.
I’ve got to man-up now, as I open
the throttle to 2,300rpm against the toe
brakes and take a last look at Ts and Ps,
and manifold pressure. All is well but
the noise is incredible. Now I release the
brakes and we charge forward−this is
only the beginning. I push the ‘loud
lever’ further forward, the Merlin is
snarling as we reach forty inches (plus
ten inches boost for the Spitfire pilots
out there−standard atmospheric
pressure being 29.92 inches, if you think
about it). But we’re in a Mustang, and as
the ASI sweeps past fifty knots I’m going
even harder on the throttle, all the way