CAF Living History Day Features Legendary P-51 Mustang

Stowers’ Mustang rolled off the production line at North American Aviation’s Inglewood, California factory during October, 1944. She remained stateside with the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII, transferring to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1945. Declared surplus after RCAF retirement in 1957, the Mustang soon found herself in civilian hands, alongside many others from the Canadian fleet. The fighter passed through a dozen or so owners in the intervening years, before winding up with Wes Stowers in 2010. While Stower’s Mustang led a relatively peaceful service life, she now represents one of so many which fought tooth-and-nail to help defend the nation. The aircraft is currently painted in the colors of Ain’t Misbehavin’, a Mustang which Captain Jesse Frey of Indianapolis, Indiana flew as a flight leader with the 362nd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group from Leiston, England  during 1944/45. Capt. Frey never aborted a combat mission and downed two enemy aircraft, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, during his WWII service. He credited his crew chief, SSgt Pat Buzzeo of New York, New York, for Ain’t Misbehavin’s exceptional reliability….

Attendees of Wes Stowers’ Living Aviation History Days presentation this Saturday are bound to learn a great deal more about the Mustang, and Captain Frey’s experiences in Ain’t Misbehavin’, so why not come along to the Dixie Wing and hear what he has to say… and get up close and personal to this magnificent machine!