In the middle of the museum field of planes – there is a non-descript building which houses a special project. This building is referred to as ‘Area 51′ – and is where the museum’s craftsmen are building their own P-51 Mustang.
Now – they don’t ever expect this plane to fly, so the strength of the wings and the fuselage are one of the areas that they are cutting back on. But otherwise – they are working from original blueprints and where possible (budget & availability) using original parts.
The whole reason for this project is that the P-51 was an iconic American warbird representing World War 2. But the museum does not currently have one in its collection. While thousands were produced – when the war ended lots of them ended up in private hands, and are seen quite frequently at the air races (pre-Red Bull Air Racing). When a P-51 does come up for sale – the price is in the millions – which puts it out of reach of a non-profit museum like Pima.
There is only one person working on the Mustang full time right now. There is one other person – the Restoration Manager – who has less than 50% of his time on it right now. It is already a couple man-years worth of work – but it sounded like it could be on display by the end of the year.
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