P-59A Posted March 2, 2019 Share #1 Posted March 2, 2019 I got this from a guy who was restoring a P-51 C. He found the proper seat and lit this one go. It was a little rough and missing a number of bolts and lock nuts. I found period correct ones at an aircraft salvage place. I had the paint mixed using a T-6 seat for a color match. The seat belt is an early post war nylon belt with the box X stitching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-59A Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share #2 Posted March 2, 2019 Note the seat is the later production type as indicated by the riveted seat back. The early seats were welded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Government Issue Posted March 2, 2019 Share #3 Posted March 2, 2019 Beautiful piece! As far as padding for the seat is concerned, was that role filled by the pilot's parachute? I've noticed quite a few pilots seats are the bucket type and wondered if that was done so a seat parachute could fill the space? The only thing that makes me think that wasn't the case was the fact that many mustang pilots used the B8 parachute from the images I've seen. Is the P-51C still in the restoration process? The B and C stangs did the majority of the legwork up and through D-Day as the D models didn't get their in sufficient numbers until later. I love the razorbacks more and apparently they had a bit better flight handling and performance from what I've heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-59A Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share #4 Posted March 2, 2019 Beautiful piece! As far as padding for the seat is concerned, was that role filled by the pilot's parachute? I've noticed quite a few pilots seats are the bucket type and wondered if that was done so a seat parachute could fill the space? The only thing that makes me think that wasn't the case was the fact that many mustang pilots used the B8 parachute from the images I've seen. Is the P-51C still in the restoration process? The B and C stangs did the majority of the legwork up and through D-Day as the D models didn't get their in sufficient numbers until later. I love the razorbacks more and apparently they had a bit better flight handling and performance from what I've heard. Gov, The seat pad depends, normally you sat on your parachute and between you and the parachute was a pad that was a tied to the pack and that is conected to the risers that are a part of the harness. When over open water a raft was also snapped on. When The B-8 parachute came out you would still have the harness pad and sit on the raft over open water. The guy doing the P-51 C lives in central Calif and he sent me pics of the project. It will be some time before it's up and flying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-59A Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share #5 Posted March 2, 2019 This is another seat I have for my display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted March 3, 2019 Share #6 Posted March 3, 2019 Is that the Mike Coutches P51C project? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-59A Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share #7 Posted March 3, 2019 Is that the Mike Coutches P51C project? You got it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now