Bill Whisner’s Ponies
Tamiya P-51B to do 352nd FG ace Bill Whisner's "Princess Elizabeth," a name he put on to celebrate the visit to the group by Princess Eilzabeth, later Elizabeth II. That fall, he traded up to a P-51D-10 he named "Moonbeam McSwine" after an Al Capp character in the comic strip "L'il Abner," which was very popular at the time. Eduard kit for this. Superscale decals for both.
Pete Regina's P-51B "restoration" (a P-51B wing mated to a highly modified P-51D fuselage) has now flown as "Princess Elizabeth" for several years. There's also a warbird flying as "Moonbeam McSwine."
I filled the panel lines of the wing for "Princess Elizabeth," but for the effort involved I don't think it was all that great when completed.
9 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Spiros Pendedekas said on March 5, 2021
Nice result, @tcinla!
John vd Biggelaar said on March 5, 2021
Great build, Tom @tcinla
I love that blue nose of 352nd
Jay Mitchell said on March 5, 2021
Those are beautiful models of beautiful airplanes ! Great work, Tom @tcinla
Bob Bailey said on March 5, 2021
All great, Tom.
John Krukowski said on March 5, 2021
Love your Mustangs Tom, they just keep getting better and better.
Haslam Yeoman said on March 5, 2021
Really like these especially the B.
Robert Royes said on March 5, 2021
A great pair of Ponys!
Amari Luu said on March 6, 2021
Nice looking Mustangs.
Yann Bertholet said on March 6, 2021
A piece of art as usual. Attached 2 pictures I took in Duxford back in 97 of the 'Princess Elisabeth'. I believe it was one of her first flight in Europe after being purchased by Stephen Grey.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Tom Cleaver said on March 6, 2021
Nice. I don't know where in the states she lives now. Last time I saw her at Chino was around 2009-2011 or thereabouts.
Tom Rodgers said on March 6, 2021
Great job as usual, Tom. I always loved the wartime photos of Whisner. I was stationed at England AFB, LA in 1989 when he died and I saw his obit in the local paper.. He was living in Pineville, La (right next door to Alexandria) at the time. He was stung by a yellow jacket wasp while working in his yard and died of anaphylactic shock. A damn wasp...after WWII and Korea...
Tom Cleaver said on March 6, 2021
It's always ironic about the guys who survive a war or two out on the sharp end and end up buying it for some really dumb thing. Kurt Welter survived the whole war, flew Me-262s at night, and in 1946 he was driving (too fast to stop) down a country lane when a farmer in the side field pulled out with his horse drawn hay wagon, which Welter crashed into and broke his neck impacting the steering and instrument panel.
I know of three guys who became aces in WW2 and got put into training command when they finished their tour, where they died in a crash only months later with a ham-handed student in a trainer.
Greg Fabian said on March 8, 2021
Really nice job on the Mustangs. I had contemplated building what ultimately became my version of the “Shangri-La “ as an NMF B Mustang named the “Berlin Express,” but the decals were unavailable.
Greg Kittinger said on March 8, 2021
Two nice Mustangs! Great work.