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Question on early NG & ANG aircraft tail numbers


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I am doing some research on Oklahoma National Guard and Air National Guard P-51 (or F-51) Mustangs and I have run into a problem with tail numbers. I attach two photos of Oklahoma City and Tulsa NG (or ANG) Mustangs.

The tail number on the OKC Mustangs (at Norman) follows the normal convention. They read 511368 and 511639 meaning the serial numbers are 45-11368 and 45-11639. If you look up those numbers on Joe Baughar's web page those are both P-51D Mustangs. OK, no problem there.

But the tail number on the Tulsa Mustang is 44393, so the serial number should be 44-4393. But if you look up that number on Joe Baughar's web page it says it belongs to a Bell P-63C-5-BE Kingcobra. Obviously the Tulsa plane is not a Kingcobra.

So what gives?

Paul

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post-2319-0-06059600-1530294603_thumb.jpg

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When you look at Baughar's list look at the production number blocks as listed to see if 44-4393 falls into a block of P-51's or P-63's. What Baughar has compiled is complicated and has taken decades to compile. Errors due happen. Send your photo to him for clarification. .

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P-63LongBeach

P-63C (RP-63C) serial 44-4393, NX62822 survived a string of owners and spent most of its career with an all-red paint scheme, chromed spinner and clipped wingtips, and a large race number "28" on her aft fuselage. By 1990 she was flying with Stephen Grey's collection in a pseudo-Soviet paint scheme when she was written off in a fatal accident 4 June in France.

So, Baughar's list is correct. The issue now is what is up with Ok ANG?

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I have run that tail number as 45-44393, 44-44393, 43-44393, 42-44393, 54-3939...nothing. How OK ANG came up with that number is beyond me. Ask Baughar.

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P-59A;

 

If no one can figure the problem out on this page I will contact Joe Baughar to see if he can shed any light on the problem with the Tulsa ANG Mustang tail number.

 

Paul

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Paul, I have been wreck hunting crash sites for 20 years. I have used Baughar's list as a touch stone the whole time. The list is good, It may have flaws in details, but nothing major. I have been to a few P/F-51 crash sites and have some other books I can dig up, but I ran the numbers as I would in a primary search of a tail number. They came back as T-6, B-25, B-24 P-63 and B-29. Nothing in the block above or below was a P-51. I even looked for any conversions that may have been done in the 50's...Nothing. I am sure he has an answer for your problem, go straight to the horses mouth.

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  • 2 years later...

I am still working on this problem. When I emailed Joe Baugher in July, 2018 I got this reply: "Might be 44-14393, but I am only guessing.  Joe Baugher". That is a North American P-51D-10-NA Mustang, but that numbering system seems weird.

 

I also contacted the OKNG Air Base Public Affairs in Tulsa and after an initial reply  my next email from them said: "Nothing yet, still working resources. Hopefully someday :)" I have not heard back.

 

Anybody got any new ideas?
 

Paul

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

FINALLY : THE SOLUTION

 

I consulted Jeff Wilkinson who worked with the OK ANG wing historian many years ago to piece together a history of the aircraft the OK ANG had operated.  They had several Mustangs with the "44-7xxxx" serial numbers that flew between 1947 and 1949, until replaced with the photo-recon version.

 

The tail marking they used for the 44-7xxxx aircraft was the last digit of the year (4) then the last 4 digits of the serial number (4393). In the picture above, the number on the tail is 44393. But that made the entire serial number 44-74393. If you look that up in Baugher's list it is a North American P-51D-30-NA Mustang.

 

I would never have figured out the number without Jeff's input.

 

Paul

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