This photo is of some of the aircraft maintenance crew of the 49th Fighter Squadron during the Korean War. My dad is the guy kneeling down with the bottom left point of the star on the aircraft side just behind his hat. The aircraft is, of course, a P-51 Mustang. I know, I know, by the time the Korean War began the Army Air Corps had become the US Air Force and the Mustang was given the new designation of "F-51". Picky, picky. I however, like the old, World War II designation of "P-51" because the model airplane I built at age eleven was a P-51 Mustang that came in a box with an illustration of the sleek American fighter shooting down a German ME-109. So that's where the name comes from: an homage to my father and his favorite airplane, and to an eleven-year-old boy who may have been somewhat high from model glue fumes.
  
Back to Top