Nineteen Years in Montana
by David Swingle

The following is some further information on the P-51C Mustang that was restored by the Southern Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. I am a curator of history at the Museum of the Rockies and have 18 years of first-hand knowledge of this aircraft before it was acquired by the CAF.

The Mustang was purchased (for a reported $1 fee) by the Aeronautics Department of Montana State College (now Montana State University) in 1946 or early 1947. It was flown from a surplus depot near Salt Lake City, probably Hill AFB, and landed in a field near the campus then towed to a permanent tie-down near the Ryon Laboratory Engineering Building.

It languished at that location until suddenly sold for $350 in June 1965 to two obviously unskilled civilian owners whom I personally witnessed saw off the wings outboard of the landing gear (after attempting to get the wings off by destroying the wing/fuselage fairings).

The new owners lashed the Mustang's tail to the bed of a pickup, placed a pipe brace between the wheel struts and headed down the highway from Bozeman to Billings - a distance of 140 miles. The aircraft was then abandoned at that location. I visited the Mustangs several times, noting that the tires were virtually worn bare from the highway trip but there was no other damage than that inflicted by the new owners.

top of page

This Mustang was of personal interest to me and began my interest in history. As a child, I often played on the aircraft and an adjoining B-17G which was also part of the campus airplane inventory (it was eventually bought and became a cargo plan in South America and has also been recovered and restored).

During its tenure at Montana State, the Mustang was outside but fairly well cared for by the maintenance department. After vandalism to the canopy, sheet metal workers completely encased the cockpit. Just before the plane was attacked by its new incompetent owners, the sheet metal was removed and I again sat in the cockpit and noted that most flight instruments were intact, controls still worked, most glass, including the armored windscreen was intact, and the fold-over section of the canopy frame was good but the Plexiglas was missing.

The fuselage tank was intact and still smelled of av gas. One night, when I was about nine, there was a terrible roar in the neighborhood when some alcohol-fueled ex-airman fired up the Merlin and taxied the Mustang around the campus. Thereafter, it was firmly staked to two concrete pads with rebar looped around each axle.

As a teen and young pilot, I was aware that the engine might seize even in our dry climate so several of us would pull the prop over a full turn every month or so and manipulate the flight controls as much as possible. The reduction housing and engine very slowly leaked oil, so we topped it up with #30 non-detergent every few years. We wanted to buy it as did several other local fliers, but the campus administration abruptly decided to get it out of the way of an engineering building expansion and simply sold it to the two previously mentioned men for $350. No bids, no advertising, nothing.

top of page

Over the years, we tried to locate the Mustang - hoping it had not been completely destroyed. I heard rumors that a wing had been found for it in Israel some years ago, but not much else could be determined. Last Spring, just before the opening of our very large exhibit titled "Weapons that Changed the West," we learned that the plane was in Minnesota and nearly complete. We would love to have had it hear for our large Veterans' Parade but could not make contact.

David Swingle
Museum of the Rockies
Montana State University
Bozeman MT