The Hot Rod
Mustang Salley Forth Flies Again!
by Andrea McGilvray, IAC 440477
Jerry and I had talked often about flying, or shall we say that is what we talked about all the time. His “Salley Forth” , P51D SAL Mustang, had never been flown by anyone except him. I did get to sit in it and make engine sounds from time to time with the hangar door closed!
There are a few things he told me about the plane, my gift that I had no idea I was going to get, I would rather have him back than this gift but we all have an expiration date. Never know when mine will be! I had been given his beloved Replica P51D SAL Mustang with a Chevy 350 ZZ4 with a 4-barrel Holly carburetor, and 3-bladed variable pitch prop. The gear is also fully retractable.
This is one true Hot Rod in the sky. It has a wonderful growl. I had planned to fly Sunday but the winds were stupid and I did not need to have any extra hindrances from the winds. Late on February 12, 2024, getting ready to celebrate Valentine's early, Jerry and I had a big Valentine's party every year. I was hoping to find a window of opportunity to thank him for this gift. It has taken quite a bit of planning and trying to understand and work on my end to get the courage to fly this Hot Rod. Here is what I did know before I flew it.
1) It lands easier than the Pitts – Confirmed but not totally true
2) One cannot have enough right rudder –like the Pitts!
3) You need to keep power in on landing - Yes okay.
4) Keep the airspeed at 100 over the fence. – still an unknown.
Here is what I did not know.
1) The airspeed indicator was not working so I replaced it with another one and it also was not accurate. I did a test on it and did a calibration. When it read 80mph the test said it was going 112 mph. So, if I got it over 80, I should be good! RIGHT! Gear/flap speed is max 125mph.
2) The aircraft is nose heavy with me in it, so I added 70 lbs of lead to the back seat, as per the math, I was in CG. After the flight, I can see where I need more aft weight in the back! Yes, I have a back seat, and NO, I won’t be taking anyone for a ride any time soon.
So, the day came and I called friends, one set to be in a truck with emergency items, and another in a newly built Van’s RV-10 and his wife taking aerial photos. Since I still was not sure about the airspeed(s), I wanted some real numbers and a “inflight gear check” and keep an eye out for me. Also, a well-known photographer, Joe Fernandez loves airplanes (Okay, there are a few that follow me) but I did not want too many people at this event. I had contemplated not allowing my mom to come watch but I changed my mind and invited her. I was pretty confident nothing bad was going to happen.
Then the time came! The shotgun blasted, and we all went to our stations. I had a written plan that everyone had (including me) and I was not going to fly longer than 30 min. Andrew and his wife Marcy in their newly built Van’s RV-10, Chris and Jimmy in a truck with my mom, Joe somewhere on the airfield to get some photos, and I got fully dressed in appropriate clothing and helmet and parachute. I had 2 cameras, one each wing, one to see the main gear and one looking forward. BOTH, I forgot to turn on! BUT the one towards the main gear did allow me to turn it on in-flight via my phone and do a ”Preview” and I watched my gear go up and come down! YAY. BUT I did not get many recordings done on it and nothing on the other one.
Andrew took off first and as he started downwind, I took off since were going to join up (not too close) and do some “airspeed tests” at pattern altitude with gear down. That checked out well, so we both climbed to 5000 feet, I slowed down, Gear and flaps full down for my simulated approach tested the way it felt, and again with an airspeed test. Now my airspeed test was off again, and Andrew said I was going too slow for him and his stall horn was going off. The aircraft felt a bit squishy but totally controllable.
I did not intend to, nor would I do a stall or anything else on this flight except straight and level and slow flight. I was told that my tailwheel did NOT retract. That had me concerned since I did not know what its status was, but it would get rectified upon landing. Nothing I could do. So I focused on what I needed to do.
I confirmed that my landing configuration showing 85 mph was stable and that is what I would use on my 1st approach. So I pulled the gear back up, pulled the power, and started my Pitts approach. Not a typical 172 approach type for sure. I did go further downwind than normal and got slowed up, gear down: Check – one green – Ground confirmed my gear was down. From base to final, I was going to see what the look/feel was. I came to about 50 feet and did a planned go-around. It was super stable, so unless something was off, I was going to land on my second pass.
I again pulled up my gear and did a longer than my normal downwind and got back setup. Gear down on downwind, and then on base to final full flaps. I used power to keep my attitude where I wanted and kept it coming down. Unexpectedly Chris gave me some guidance on heights. He called 20, 10, and 3 feet. All looked good on my end and his, so I reduced more power and voila, the touchdown and initial rollout was a tail low, vs a wheel landing. I prefer a 3-point but in this case, I was doing about half how I wanted to do it and half what Jerry would have done.
On the last bit of the roll out, it tested my tailwheel foot dance. My feet are not long enough to have them both on the rudder and the breaks so I had my feet up off the floor board and high up with my heels on the rudder and my toes on the breaks. Hmm...not the best solution. As we wigged and wagged and threatened to ground loop, Salley and I had a short discussion on how this was going to end up. She decided my way was better and stopped being so fussy.
I exited the runway, stopped and took a very long breath with a great feeling that I had accomplished something that had made me super nervous. Thank you, Jerry, for this wonderful, growling/purring bundle of airplane. In the next few days we will do a post-inspection and see what we can do about her light tail and other items of concern! I look forward to flying it again very soon.
Here is a YouTube video https://youtu.be/GMK_zz812UA for those who would like to see the event. Some of the amazing photos Joe did are also part of this. I want to thank all those who believe in me and help me in this journey of aviation. It is truly my passion.
Photo (s) by Fernandez Imaging
