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Telemania P-51 Telephone

Started by TelePlay, January 01, 2017, 01:47:08 PM

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TelePlay

I've seen a lot of novelty phones but this is a first for me.

Seller states it's a P-51 Mustang but looks more like a P-51 on steroids or too many calories in its fuel. The P-51 was a sleek fighting platform. This one looks more like a Grumman TBM. Anyway, nice price for a airplane nut not compromised with total accuracy.

Matilo Telephones

It could be sleeker, with regards to accuracy.

But please note you posted a picture of the D-version of the P-51. That has the bubble conopy.

The telephone however is the B or C version, with the bird cage cockpit.

See picture attached
Groeten,

Arwin

Check out my telephone website: http://www.matilo.eu/?lang=en

And I am on facebook too: www.facebook.com/matilosvintagetelephones

TelePlay

You're right. Was the B or C ever made as a two seater for training or other reasons? It looks a bid wider than the D so maybe the phone isn't that far off.

We have a P-51D in a hangar at our local airport so get to hear the sweet purr of 300+ MPH a few times each summer. Nice planes that sold in working condition for $100,000 in the 80s and now run about a million for a "parts" machine.

RotarDad

#3
There were a few 2-seat mustang, but they were tandem (2nd seat behind the pilot).  One dual control example is flying today by the Collings Foundation, and is flown with a few WWII bombers around the country each year.  You can take a 30-minute training flight for $2200 - maybe college ain't so expensive after all.......;)


https://www.collingsfoundation.org/flight-experiences/

I'm with you John - we used to have a guy who would circle our neighborhood about one a month in his P-51D.  I'd hear the Merlin engine and drop whatever I was doing to run outside and admire.....
Paul

WEBellSystemChristian

#4
I believe the P-51 was typcially a single-seater, except for the Twin Mustang, but each individual fuselage was still single-seat.

RotorDad:

I saw that very P-51 and was on board that very B-24 during the Summer. I believe Witchcraft is one of only two or three B-24s still flying. I thought I was at Wings over Waukesha that day, but it was just a stopover at the Waukesha airport! :-[

Also, thanks for the info about the dual-control Mustang. I didn't know that!!

Here was the topic I created about that day...with pictures! :)

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=16565.0
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Dan/Panther

We had the Confederate Airforce out of Corona practice regularly over our valley. Haven't seen any of them in 5, 6 years, maybe longer.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Slal

#6
Cool.  Didn't know we had aviation enthusiasts here.

My Dad flew P-51's in WW-II & "F-51's" in Korea.  He'd have probably accepted the novelty phone in the spirit intended, then stashed it in a closet.  ; )

Agree, poor airplane phone looks like 'Pappa' was a P-47 and 'Momma' was... Miss P-41?

Or the P-51 is a rare super armor plated version that's also in need of some serious PT.

On a more personal note, a preservation group actually found one of the planes my Dad flew & restored it!  Very moving experience.  My sister actually sweet talked the owner into allowing her to sit in the cockpit for a photo.  Big sisters...  ::)

First photo is from a set of publicity photos flown over Cambridge England in July 1944 to promote war bonds.

Second photo is obviously the restored airplane.  Perhaps the RAF had an improved 'bubble' cockpit versus the 'flat top' version?

--Bruce Bocquin

 




RotarDad

#7
Bruce - Very cool that your dad flew these planes.  You are correct that a British company designed that replacement bubble center section for the canopy to improve visibility.  It was called a "Malcolm hood".  The visibility issue was addressed with the new "D" version Mustang which had the full plexiglass bubble.  The "D" also had a small extension added to the vertical fin to add stability lost when the fuselage was lowered aft of the new canopy.  Interesting that your "restored" pic shows a "B" with the extension.  I wonder if that plane was a "D" restored to "B" config, or if some "B" models were retrofitted?
Paul

WEBellSystemChristian

#8
I noticed this in an episode of Frasier today on Netflix. What are the odds?!? Why a snobby silent auction would have a novelty bloated P51 phone, we will never know... ;D

I would have posted this in the Movies and TV section, but it seemed more fitting to put it here.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

TelePlay

Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on January 13, 2017, 12:28:53 AM
I noticed this in an episode of Frasier today on Netflix. What are the odds?!? Why a snobby silent auction would have a novelty bloated P51 phone, we will never know... ;D

It's called a very small part of the show (the cast is the most important part of anything on stage or in front of a camera, or so they think) so I'm sure when setting props the person responsible for that told a lowly prop puller to put a variety of different things, not to large or small, on the table and they just happened to have one in the parts basement bin. It wasn't requested or required, just a coincidence.

You have a really good eye. Spotting that as this phone in a few seconds on screen is quite a feat. Slightly different paint job which is what, for the "cordless" version they put on set?   ::)

WEBellSystemChristian

It's funny, because usually the show is very careful with props and sets. This is probably the closest prop to the camera, and it's probably the laziest prop I've seen on a pretty high-budget show.

Nice pictures Bruce! I just noticed the name of your Dad's Mustang... :o

The phone looks a little bit like a Corsair, if you flattened the wings!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Slal

Quote from: RotarDad on January 12, 2017, 10:17:07 PM
Bruce - Very cool that your dad flew these planes.  You are correct that a British company designed that replacement bubble center section for the canopy to improve visibility.  It was called a "Malcolm hood".  The visibility issue was addressed with the new "D" version Mustang which had the full plexiglass bubble.  The "D" also had a small extension added to the vertical fin to add stability lost when the fuselage was lowered aft of the new canopy.  Interesting that your "restored" pic shows a "B" with the extension.  I wonder if that plane was a "D" restored to "B" config, or if some "B" models were retrofitted?

Very observant and you seem pretty knowledgeable!  Always nice to chat about planes.   :)

A/C # 2106638 was a "B" whose engine caught fire & pilot, FO Wade C. Ross, pulled up to gain altitude & bail out.  That was in June 1945.  Sat buried until excavation in November 2003.  Think it took restoration experts years to rebuild the plane.  Test flights were in 2008-- 63 years after it crashed!   Unless mistaken, it's the only working P-51B in the country.  How cool is that!   :)

As for wartime question-- I'm fairly certain at least some "B" models when fitted with "Malcolm" hood also got the extension.  If taken out of service they might also have been re-designated.  For example A/C # 2106638  was "E9-R" and then "E9-B"  -- "Impatient Virgin & then renamed "Eva."

Photos might be easier or more interesting for those who aren't just "plane-nuts" like me...  ; )

P-51B with hood and extension, late 1944?

P-51D September 1944

PS:  Are you a pilot or something?  Not that many might notice details like that.  Just curious what got you interested in old war birds.   :)

----
Legal:
The first attachment courtesy of http://www.americanairmuseum.com/terms-conditions
Image retrieved from http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/24749

References:
http://361fg.com/



Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on January 13, 2017, 08:53:33 AM
Nice pictures Bruce! I just noticed the name of your Dad's Mustang... :o

The phone looks a little bit like a Corsair, if you flattened the wings!

Heh.  The name is a long story.  Probably never know its exact origins.  One reasonable sounding explanation though is...

Being an older model,  A/C # 2106638 was usually given to the 'new guy' who was eager to have a go at the enemy but inexperienced .i.e. an "Impatient Virgin."

Once the rookie flew a few sorties, he got to name a 'preferred mount' (my Dad's named his "Germicide") but it gets confusing because pilots shared aircraft while resting, or the aircraft in for maintenance, etc.

Anyway that's quite a screen capture from TV show.  F-4U eh?  And not an F-4C?   Hah!  I could go on & on about planes, but better steer back to topic.

Wonder if they still make this silly but lovable phone.  Be a nice gag gift for my sister.  : )

cheers,

--Bruce

RotarDad

Bruce - Thanks for the details.  No, I'm not a pilot, but have always loved planes, especially WWII vintage.  I was probably 9 or 10 when my dad and grandfather took me to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH.  I never got over that......
Paul

TelePlay

Quote from: RotarDad on January 14, 2017, 12:49:43 AM
Bruce - Thanks for the details.  No, I'm not a pilot, but have always loved planes, especially WWII vintage.  I was probably 9 or 10 when my dad and grandfather took me to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH.  I never got over that......

That is the best place in the world. Has every thing that has ever flown and it is said that while they don't fly anymore, each and ever airplane is flight ready (well, with a few checks, changes, etc.)

Was there one day for 3 hours, should have been 3 days, and as I'm walking through the stuff on the floor and some of it hanging, I looked up and saw this white needle like probe, had to walk around another hanging plane to see it was connected to a nose cone and that to a fuselage, it was the one and only North American XB-70 Valkyrie bomber. They had it hung from the ceiling, right up to the ceiling of this large museum hangar. Two were built but they put them both up for a photo op and IIRC, they or one collided with something, burned and crashed. Quite the plane to see in person.

I always wanted to get to the Confederate Air Force (what ever the government forced them to change their name to lately) but Oshkosh is but an hour away so have seen whatever they flew up here for the EAA air show many time. FiFi with old, leaky engines and after a 4 year 4 million dollar retrofit, FiFi with new engines ($9,000 an hour to fly that airplane - the last flying B-29 in the US).

Back in the 80s their used to be a lot more war birds at Oshkosh. At least 10 Corsairs and probably close to 50 P-51s. Over the years, some crashed beyond repair and they just got real expensive to maintain and fly. The P-38F Lightning names Glacier Girl showed up as found, in pieces one year at Oshkosh, and several years later it flew into Oshkosh and flew in the air show (this was the P-38F that with other planes being ferried to England in 1942 made a forced landing on an ice flow in Greenland and found under 280 feet of cakes snow (ice) in 1983, was brought to the surface piece by piece and restoration began in 1993).

Even though the heyday for the EAA in Oshkosh, for war birds especially, was the 70s and 80s, there still are quite a few that show up each year and the event is worth attending if you like airplanes and get a chance. Every year they always bring in the current, modern military craft and other stuff.

Anyway, here's an image of the XB-70


RotarDad

John - Great stuff!  You are right about needing days to really take everything in at that museum.  The massive scale, and majestic lines of many of the aircraft is a real treat.  I like to read all the placards with the exhibits.....  which can drive others with me nuts.. ;)

I have not been to Osh Kosh, but have heard about it.  There are some great videos about the Glacier Girl online.  As you know, there are several more P-38s, and a B-17 still buried there under the ice.  I think the Fortress was found to be crushed, and the Lightnings are not cost-effective recoveries, unfortunately.  Glacier Girl was crazy expensive, IIRC.  I just love the aviation archeology stories!

Paul
Paul