Fresh rebuild from Midwest Aero Restorations set to head for Britain
North American P-51D Mustang 44-84952/N210D flew again on 9 October at Vermilion Regional Airport in Danville, Illinois with aerobatic display pilot David Martin at the controls, following a seven-year restoration by Midwest Aero Restorations. After test-flying is completed the Mustang will be crated up for transportation to the UK for owner David Nock, although it hasn’t yet been announced where the fighter will be based.
The Mustang has been painted up as Lt Frank H. Bouldin Jr’s Raydon, Essex-based 352nd Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group machine Dallas Doll, named after his girlfriend, Christine Crisp from Dallas, Texas. Bouldin, who hailed from Temple, Texas, scored three aerial victories against the Luftwaffe: a Messerschmitt Bf 110 on 8 August 1944 while flying a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and, after converting to the Mustang during October, a Bf 109 G on 27 November and a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on 5 December. Mike Vadeboncoeur, owner/president of Midwest Aero Restorations says, “We will also be adding red to the lettering of the Dallas Doll nose art, having recently come across some additional data to confirm that change.”
Among previous Midwest Aero Restorations Mustang projects was Bruce Winter’s P-51D, 44-74452, which won the Grand Champion WW2 award at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture show in 2008 and the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trophy at the National Aviation Heritage Invitational at Reno that October, wearing the markings of 7.5-kill ace Maj Jack Ilfrey’s P-51D Happy Jack’s Go Buggy.
