Aeroplane – June 2018

TOP:

Marcel Peerlkamp

manoeuvres the

Mustang for the

camera, with the

Rampspol bridge

over the river IJssel

in the background.

ABOVE:

Airborne over the

eastern part of the

Ketelmeer, not far

from the P-51’s

Lelystad base.

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 53

and-a-half kills including a Me 262.

This was the scheme selected.

Initial expectations that the

restoration would take a period of six

months or so proved over-ambitious.

The aircraft did make a maiden test

flight on 13 March 2012, but it was

aborted shortly after take-off when

technical problems were encountered.

Means of resolving these included

the purchase of a new propeller.

In parallel a number of other

circumstances caused a long period

to pass before the Mustang could

take to the air again. On 4 July 2016

Trusty Rusty, registered PH-JAT after

‘Jat’ van Mesdag, finally got airborne

again when FAST Aero pilot Marcel

Peerlkamp successfully completed a

couple of test flights. He had received

his Mustang type and instructor

ratings with Stallion 51 in Florida and

flew Belgian-based TF-51D Scat VII

as an instructor and display pilot.

Final check flights were conducted

on 18 July 2016. The honour of the

first back-seat ride was awarded to

Ben Boddeman, who led the team

of volunteers working on the aircraft

for so many years with the support of

Luuk van Hooijdonk from Wings over

Holland. Trusty Rusty’s airshow debut

took place at Breda on 2 September

2017, flying in formation with the

Spitfire IX of the Royal Netherlands

Air Force Historical Flight.

Sadly, Jaap van Mesdag was unable

to witness the successful completion

of his Mustang project. He passed

away on 23 October 2015 after a

long illness, during which he still

managed to give ample attention

to the people and activities of the

Early Birds. A book about Jaap was

recently published in Dutch with

the title Doen, which translates

as a determined ‘Do it!’ — a very

appropriate description of what he

was like as a person, and the revival of

PH-JAT. The first copy was handed

to his brother Rob during a ceremony

at Lelystad on 21 October last year.

Rob van Mesdag will be a guest at

Duxford during Flying Legends

2018 to witness one of the finest

results of Jaap’s vision and

determination.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to

all at the Early Birds and Wings over

Holland, and to Hans Hollink of the

Dutch Thunder Yaks team for flying

the camera aircraft.

50-53_AM_P-51 Trusty Rusty_July18_cc C.indd 53 04/06/2018 11:00