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Dutch's Progeny
by Jim "Twitch" TittleArticle Type: History
Article Date: March 19th, 2001
Cavalier 2000
In 1940 the British Air Purchasing Commission requested licensed production of the Curtiss P-40 at the North American Aviation plant. James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger upped the anti saying his team could design and build a better plane in the same time it would take to tool up for the P-40.
117 days later the prototype plane that was to be known throughout the world as the Mustang was ready for flight tests. 320 were initially ordered and the rest is well known combat history.
After the war guys like Paul Mantz purchased surplus WWII aircraft for almost nothing. A $500 B-17 or a $350 P-51 was hard to resist if you had the funds. Mantz once owned 500 WWII surplus planes. His original idea was to get some cheap, heavy metal for the 2,000 mile Bendix Trophy Races for the unlimited class.
In 1946-47-48 his bright red, modified P-51B, "Blaze At Noon," took first place with Mustangs filling the other top spots as well. In 1946 he averaged 460 mph over the 2,000 miles.
In 1957 the last active-duty Mustang was delivered to the Air Force museum. Jets were the "in thing."
A Civilian Pony
About that time ex-WWII artillery officer, David Lindsay, formed Trans-Florida Aviation, later re-named Cavalier Aircraft Corporation, with 100 surplus P-51s and tons of spare parts. His idea was fast, two-seat transportation for businessmen and sportsmen. He called the remanufactured Mustang the Cavalier 2000.
In 1961 it was selling for $32,000 base price and $48,500 with full navigational equipment, radios, and other avionics. (Wow, my 1996 auto had a $46,000 list price new!) I was in grammar school then and saw a flight test in Flying magazine. After having read about air combat in WWII this was a retro blast.
Comfy Rear Seat
Looks Familiar
The Cavalier was a completely remanufactured not just repainted. A reshaped canopy provided headroom for the back-seater in the luxuriously upholstered cockpit. Modern radios and nav equipment replaced armament controls on the instrument dash and permanent, wingtip tanks each held 110 gallons. Of course all the armor and any military equipment and armament was stripped off. The package was topped off with a tasteful civilian paint scheme.
The Merlin
The heart of the P-51D and Cavalier remained the Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 liquid-cooled V1650-7 rated for 1,595hp at 15,000 feet on 100/130 octane av fuel. This is 100hp less than the original "D." it was probably a slight detune for increased engine longevity.
It had a red line speed of 490 mph at 25,000 feet with the turbo-supercharger engaged. It cruised at 316 mph economy and 424 mph METO (maximum except take-off) at 30,000 feet. At the higher cruise the Merlin gulped 94 gallons per hour.
The "HIGH" position of the supercharger of the Cavalier 2000 was engaged manually at 25,000 feet. This differed from the war-time Mustang.
Clint Burdick, ace with the 356th F.G., told me how his P-51D, "Dodo," flew. "The supercharger cut in at about 14-15,000 feet automatically. As you climbed you almost winced waiting for it cause when it did it felt as if the engine was ripping itself lose as it twisted in the mounts. Coming down it switched to low with only a little thump."
The Cavalier handled in all respects like the war-horse did. It's docile manners, gentile stall and excellent slow-speed control surprised the Flying magazine tester.
Trans-Florida sales manager, Mason Armstrong noted, "It has always had the same stall." The 2000 buffeted the stick lightly at 105 mph and stalled at 101 with a quick left break and gentile roll. Recovery was immediate with the stick forward and corrective rudder. With gear and flaps down it demonstrated the same smooth characteristics at 86 mph
It must be remembered that at the time the a fast twin could make 275-300 mph tops.
Renewed Interest
1964 brought renewed interest in big-bore pylon racing still demonstrated yearly at Reno Nevada. Some Cavaliers were purchased by racers. The yellow F-51D "N2251D" was built and sold to North American and flown by Bob Hoover in aerobatics demonstrations at air shows all over. No problem since the Cavalier 2000 was rated for 9Gs. He used it to pace the start of the Reno races and call the race over the airwaves for many years.
As late as 1968 the U.S. Army maintained an F-51D as a chase plane at Edwards AFB. The National Aeronautics Association has one that tours the air shows. Both Mustangs were Cavaliers.
By 1967 the wingtip tanks were gone and a military model was produced under the Military Assistance Program for use in Central America. It had the tall vertical stabilizer of the "H" model, as did the civilian craft now, but it had two 110 gallon drop tanks that could swap out for 1,000 lb. bombs and two more hardpoints were installed for rockets. The six .50s were back too.
Back In Warp-paint
A Mustang II counterinsurgency aircraft evolved with the wingtip tanks back on and a 1,760 hp Merlin. It has a seven and a half hour loiter time.
Soon thereafter came a stunner—the Mustang III. The slimmer nose now had a Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engine good for a dash speed of 540 mph The internal, wing-mounted six .50s were retained but the III could tote six minigun pods beneath the wings also. It is not know how or where these ponies were used.
My Dad—James Tittle
Fun With Horsepower
In late 1945 my Father was stuck on Pacific island waiting to be rotated home after arriving from the ETO at the time of Hiroshima. Pilots, the crew chiefs and maintenance personnel were bored silly. There were no real missions to fly and no combat maintenance to perform any more.
There got to be a wager going whether the P-51D could top 500 mph without its combat equipment and special tuning. As a twenty-year-old, honest Arkansas country boy my Dad was picked to fly a stripped Mustang to see if a TAS (True Air Speed) of 500 mph could be achieved in level flight. It would be his word only to settle the bet.
Guns, armor, extra oxygen bottles, radios and even secondary tanks were peeled off. Only the half full main fuselage tank remained.
He climbed to 25,500 feet and firewalled the throttle. By the time the Merlin wound up and showed almost 75" manifold pressure he'd touched the airspeed indicator's redline of 505 mph.
A major who'd gotten wind of the escapade dressed down most of the involved group demanding they put the Mustang back to "U.S. military specs damned fast!"
The Mustang had quite an evolution since the days of Dutch Kindelberger, though he would still recognize it. About 100 Mustangs still fly today in air races and in the stables of the likes of the Confederate Air Force. Most are cosmetically restored to WWII configuration and mechanically even better since the many decades of use have taught aero mechanics and engineers to implement new techniques of tuning and strengthening.
The golf clubs and skis? They stowed in the former Browning fifty caliber's gun bays!
Bibliography
Bach, Richard
"Pilot Report Cavalier 2000"
Flying April 1961
Cooke, David
Racing Planes That Made History
G.P. Putnam's Sons, N.Y. 1960
Green, William
"Fighters Vol. 4"
Doubleday & Co. Inc. N.Y. 1960
Hess, William
Fighting Mustang: The Chronicles of the P-51
Doubleday & Co. I
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