In early July 1945, P-51D USAAF 44-15651 was purchased by Steve Beville and Bruce Raymond, with plans to race the aircraft at the 1946 rebirth of the Thompson Trophy air race at Cleveland. The aircraft was given the experimental registration NX79111.

Due to time limitations, relatively little was done to the Mustang in preparation for the 1946 race, except for the removal of all nonessential and military equipment. However, much time was spent on carefully smoothing and polishing the wings, to achieve the best possible performance from the laminar airfoil. According to Beville, "...the wing was slick. A wipe cloth dropped on the upper surface near the cockpit would slide down to the ground."

After the wings were smoothed as much as possible, they were painted a light gray, while the rest of the airframe was buffed to shine up the natural aluminum skin. Both Raymond and Beville were fans of football star Red Grange, and so they named the Mustang The Galloping Ghost (with Grange's permission, of course!). The two were also successful in acquiring the race number 77, the same number as that on Grange's football jersey.

After a coin toss to decide who would pilot the Ghost, Bruce Raymond flew the aircraft to a fourth-place finish in the 1946 Thompson - not bad for an essentially stock airframe! After some further modification (including the installation of a water injection system) the Ghost went on to have a quite successful career, with Beville piloting it to a win in the 1947 Kendall race. The aircraft also finished in the top five in the 1947 Thompson (Beville, 4th); 1948 Tinnerman, Sohio, and Thompson (Raymond; 1st, 4th, and 2nd, respectively); and the 1949 Sohio and Thompson (Beville, 4th in both). This gave the Ghost the enviable distinction of not only completing every race it was entered in, but also of finishing "in the money" in every one.

In 1952, N79111 (the registration number had been altered slightly between 1949 and 1952, dropping the "X") was exported to Israel, where its history becomes rather murky, as quite literally nothing is known about its time with the Israeli Air Force...
Continued in Part II

This build represents the Ghost at the time of its 1946 Thompson race, the first of many for this legendary aircraft. The Mustang wore these markings from 1946 to 1952.

Also check out:
1979-1982 as Race 69 Jeannie, pilot Skip Holm
2005-2011 as Race 177 The Galloping Ghost, pilot Jimmy Leeward

Controls

AG 1: Canopy
AG 3: Wing lights
VTOL: Flaps

All other controls are standard.

Credits

Jundroo (base P-51-D)

Numerous modifications were made to the Mustang, such as the addition of a nose anti-glare panel. However, since my goal was not to completely rebuild it, most major details are the same as the original, and the entire aircraft has simply been "cleaned up" a bit.