P-51

The museum displays nicely-restored P-51D, Ferocious Frankie (tail number 413704).

I'm not certain whether this is the original Ferocious Frankie, or whether it was simply painted in that livery as a tribute. There's a flying P-51D in England (warning: link will play the sound of a Mustang fly-over at a loud volume) which also claims to be Ferocious Frankie.

The plane is displayed in a relatively small gallery with spot lighting, making photography difficult.

Part of the display highlights a little-known experiment: A number of combat aircraft were tested with skis replacing their landing gear, to allow operation from unprepared airfields with unpredictable weather conditions. The skis were apparently never used operationally.

Six years later I spoke with a maintenance crew from the museum while at Chanute Air Museum (which was closing and in the process of having its aircraft transferred to other museums), who told me that various fuselage parts on this Mustang were actually fiberglass reproductions. That crew was in the process of preparing Chanute's P-51H for transport to the Museum of Aviation.

The crew did not tell me the intended disposition of this Mustang, so I don't know if the museum will display both planes or whether this Mustang will be transferred to another museum.