Vintage shots from days gone by!

I love the pics very much but the person who made the crack about Lazy and Intelligence needs to pull their head out and look around.Veach

 

North American Aviation started full serial production of the Mustang when the Royal Air Force placed an order for 320 Mustang Mk. I's on 29 May 1940. The first production Mustang was accepted April 1941. This order was further increased to a total of 620 airframes. The RAF started to recieve their Mustangs in time for their first operational sortie by RAF No. 2 Sqn. on 10 May 1942.

A second order for Mustangs equipped with 20mm cannon, designated "Mustang Mk IA", and placed in production in 1941. Most of these (all but 93) were commendeered by the USAAF and designated "P-51" with 41-Prefixed Serial Numbers as that is when they rolled off the line. Almost none of these saw actual combat use with the USAAF.

Here is a picture of Mustang Mk. I (RAF Number AL968) on an acceptance test flight in October 1941...


...so yes, Mustangs were in production at North American in 1941 just like the earlier poster may have recollected. They just weren't American P-51's...

 

Last time I did that was in High School in shop class. We were not at our desks when the siren went off. So Mr. Kern's laughingly told us to bend over and but our heads between our legs and Kiss our Ass good bye.

 

What is the car over this guys right shoulder?

 

Milwaukee











Glasgow KY

 

Jarrau LA

Pittsburgh PA

 

Anyone know where this was? Look at all those crates of brand new bikes!

 

Looks like Henry Fonda.

 

From The Grapes of Wrath

 

Try M. Carter Plumbing Boston -
*notice sign on far right of photo-
Something like I.M. Carter Plumbing & Heating -
Perhaps Cape Cod or Boston- my guess - By the way...
Those new crated HD Motorcycles are are still there
awaiting you to just uncover them !

 

one of the most depressing movies ever made.....

 

The other most depressing one was "Sometimes a Great Notion"

 

These pictures were scanned from a book called "Air News Yearbook" I used too look through it very enthusiastically as a young boy. It's the 1942 edition that my dad purchased while waiting to be inducted into the Navy in Feb 1942. Although it list the American version as an "Apache" the RAF version was called a "Mustang" and both are listed as P-51.





This is text from another book from 1973 titled "Fighter". I know it is old technology before the internet but I don't think books are all wrong.

 

Ah yes! the Model "G" Allis Chalmers. We still have one of these alive and well out on the ranch in Terra Bella.

 

I think you will find that the book's designation of those pics as P-51B's is incorrect. I've never seen a "B" that didn't have an intake under the prop. As the Brits were so much more intuitive at aircraft nicknaming than the American's, the terms "Apache" and "Mustang" were used concurrently depending largely on which side of the pond one was from at that time. I think you'll find that those are A-36 Apache's (likely all in the dive bomber configuration, but I could be mistaken about that) and are Allison engined, rather than Merlins. An you mention one of the publications reviewed as being published in 1942, the A-36 first went into full production in the latter half of precisely that year. The term "Mustang" was undoubtedly being thrown around then, but P-51B's or later were not, sadly, serving in the ETO at that time. If they had been, there would have been a lot fewer B-17's lost the following year.

I know not all books are wrong, but not infrequently they are. This also goes for museums as well. They generally are not receptive to having errors brought to their attention, either, including such noteworthy institutions as the Imperial War Museum (not referring to aircraft in that example).

There is also the phenomenon of "Frankenstein" displays, which refers to static displays of planes, tanks, etc. that are composed of bits from different variants of the example to make a "complete" display.

 

The difference between an "Apache" and a "Mustang" was fundamentally divebrakes and armament. The Apache (A-36) had 20mm Cannon and dive-brakes, and the Mustang (P-51) had .50 and .30 Caliber guns without dive brakes. Here's a great pic of an A-36...


The pic that I posted on the last page and the ones posted by mctim are clearly of early-production Mustangs, not A-36's

 

I wish I could have a mustache like my Great-Grandpa Ott's.

 

What car is behind my oldest cousin, Dixie?

 

Two of my cousins with my Grandpa. Check out the charm bracelets. They were both Elvis fans (not my Grandpa, but my cousins) and would wear Elvis charms. This pic was in 1957. Both of these young ladies were at my Dad's funeral and hurried home to go back to work getting the wheat harvest in.

 

Looks like a 1939 ford deluxe.

 

That may be but the movie and the book should be required viewing and reading so that the realities of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression can be appreciated. The movie is in B and W and crystal clear.

 

"What car is behind my cousin........"

^^^^^^^ Looks like a '39 Ford.......