 "The
Gunfighter"
By Ralph McCormick
Every pilot has, at one time or
another, dreamed of being Pilot In Command (PIC) of a P-51 Mustang. For
many of us, it will never happen. Besides the fact that the P-51 is a
scarce bird, they now cost over 1.5 million dollars. The other problem
is that it would take over two-hundred hours in a T-6 to get the
required {time require by the Commemorate Air Force (CAF)} experience to
drive the big bird. If those reasons weren’t enough the next question
might be, who could afford the insurance? There is one man who gets to
enjoy the pleasurable experience of flying PIC in a P-51. He is
Brigadier General Regis Urschler
(Retired) of Bellevue (NE). This is his story.
Regis’ parents emigrated from
Austria, settling in Pittsburg (PA). As a young man, he had a desire to
fly, but couldn’t afford flying lessons. As a teenager, his sole source
of income was from delivering beer in Pennsylvania, making a dollar an
hour. With the money he made, he took flying lessons. Regis did not
tell his parents about the lessons. As he would leave them going to
flying lessons, they would ask, "What are you going to do today, son?"
He would say, “Well, I am going to the pool to swim.” And then head off
to the airport to take flying lessons. “I paid a total of eleven bucks
an hour to take flying lessons in a J-3 cub, including fuel. Even back
in 1953, that was a lot of money. During the summer of that year, I was
able to earn, maybe, thirty dollars a week and that would buy me two and
a half hours of flying lessons,” he said.
“My sister was three years older
than me and was dating a Navy recruit. He went to basic training and
was offered the opportunity to go to Navcad. That was the Navy cadet
aviation training program. He refused the offer. I told him that he
was crazy not to take the opportunity. My interest was perked by that
opportunity, so I went down to the Navy recruiter and told him I wanted
to join the Navy and get into the Navcad program. He said that I
couldn’t do it unless I had two years of college. I explained the
missed opportunity of my sister’s friend and he had no college
background. The recruiter said it still wasn’t possible. I told him
thanks but no thanks and walked out of the door and into the door of the
Air Force Recruiter,” Regis explained with a smile. 
“The Air Force recruiter gave me
the same story, with one exception. He said that if I passed an
equivalency test, I could get in. I scored ninety-four and qualified.
I entered cadet aviation training the day after my nineteenth birthday
and the rest is history,” Regis said. “I received my wings and
commission. I then served thirty-two years in the air force. I flew
T-6’s and T-25’s in training. We still had civilian instructors while
in the military. I had a choice of T-Birds or B-25’s. My choice was
the B-25. I was then stationed at Enid (OK). I spent twenty-eight of
the thirty-two years with the Strategic Air Command (SAC),” explained
Regis.
During the cold war Regis flew
reconnaissance
missions in the RB-47 against
the Soviet Union, Red China
and North Korea. “I like to tell people who ask about
the danger of those missions that we had fighter escorts during the
mission. The only problem was they had the Soviet Red Star
or equivalent on
them. It was normal for them to come up and escort us,” Regis
explained. During that time, “It wasn’t uncommon that the United States
had planes shot down. We (U.S
Forces, Air Force, Navy and Army) had some two hundred
guys shot down. It was usually explained to the families that they were
lost on training missions. It was strictly on the QT,” he continued.
When asked if the U.S airplanes ever entered Soviet airspace?
"While it is common knowledge
the U-2, flown by Gary Powers, was shot down over the Soviet Union, the
missions I flew 'never entered their airspace'!”
was his response.
A question that intrigued me was,
“What was it like to land a RB-47?” Regis explained, “It was a lot like
landing a tail dragger. We always tried to place the aft main (tail
wheel) on the ground first. Then allow the wings to stall and the front
main would settle down and touch the ground. The tendency of the RB-47
to porpoise was not uncommon if the pilot landed on the front main
first. Landing was a bit tricky,” claimed Regis.
“The Gunfighter”, a P-51 Mustang,
has been touring the air show circuit as the ‘steed’ of Brig. Gen. Regis
Urschler since 1976. He flew the
Mustang mainly on weekends until he retired from the Air Force. In
2003, he and “The Gunfighter” flew in twenty-six air shows. He has a
Level One aerobatic card issued by the FAA. The Mustang can be flown as
a single performer or with “Toro, Toro, Toro” as the good guy shooting
them down. There are several ways “The Gunfighter” can present a
performance at an air show. It depends on the needs of those who put on
the air show.
Figures that relate to flying a
P-51 have been calculated to run close to $2,575.00 per hour. “Our
operating costs run less than that since we have many volunteers who
help keep the plane in top-notch condition. We believe our cost of
operation per hour of flight around $1,500 to $2,000. We recently put a
new engine in “The Gunfighter”… cost $90,000.00. The engine can get six
hundred hours, if you’re lucky. It could get sixty hours, one never
knows. We take extremely good care of the engine. Oil is changed every
twenty-five hours,” Regis explained.
Regis purchased the P-51 and
subsequently donated it to the Confederate Air Force (now known as the
Commemorative Air Force). A misconception Regis says is that people
believe the CAF supplies all the gas and parts. “That is not true,”
Regis said. “If they have parts for the plane we have to buy them and
we pay for all gas,” he explained. 
“The opportunity to own and fly
“The Gunfighter” is a privilege considering I come from emigrant parents
who came to America. It is a tribute to my father whose earliest lesson
to me was, ‘You were given your freedom. You didn’t have to work for
it,’” Regis said quoting his father. “You don’t know what freedom is
until you lose it. Don’t ever forget that. You’re the luckiest person
to be born in this country. You don’t know what freedom is,” Regis
continued to quote his father. “That was my father’s gift to me,” he
proudly said.
When asked if the P-51 was fun to
fly, Regis responded, “I have been asked that question many times and I
have answered it in many different ways. What it boils down to is, if
you feel it here (pointing to his heart) you can understand. If you
don’t feel it in your heart, there is no way I can describe it to you.
I asked a passenger after a P-51 ride the same question. His response
was that it was the most fun he had ever had with his clothes on.
Perhaps that says it all,” Regis said with a smile.
I ask Regis if he had picked his
replacement pilot for “The Gunfighter”? The job is taken by a friend of
his who is also a retired Air Force pilot now living in Omaha (NE). I
had hoped that I might apply for the position. Regis is sixty-nine
this year… and he knows that his flights are numbered. He knows “The
Gunfighter” will carry on the tradition should anything happen to him.
That is Regis’ desire… keep it flying.
P-51 History
The P-51
was designed by The North American Aviation Company in 1940, from
specifications provided by the British Government. The first P-51 models
(the A-36, the P-51 and the P-51A) were powered by Allison,
non-supercharged engines. The subsequent models; the B, C, D, H and K,
were powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, or variants of that engine.
The Packard Motor Car Company was licensed to build the Merlin engine in
the United States to provide sufficient numbers of the engine as
production of the P-51 increased.
A
combined total of over 15,000 Mustangs were produced, including all
models. The Mustang was produced by North American in Inglewood,
California and in Dallas,
Texas.
The
Mustang's top speed is 505 MPH, with a top cruising speed of 437 MPH (at
25,000 feet). The average fuel consumption is 60 gallons per hour at
economy cruise. During WWII combat conditions, pilots confirmed speeds
of 600 MPH in a vertical dive in pursuit of enemy aircraft and both the
pilot and aircraft survived to fly and fight in future air battles.
All
armor plate and armament have been removed from “Gunfighter” and the
average gross weight is approximately 7,500 lbs. The current maximum
fuel capacity is 184 gallons. The engine is a twelve cylinder in a 'V'
configuration, rated at 1,490 HP and has a displacement of 1650 cubic
inches. It is equipped with a supercharger which allows for a service
ceiling of 41,000 feet.
Gunfighter Assignments
March, 1945 - Accepted By the USAAF
July, 1945 - Returned to the US
September, 1945 - 4108th Base Unit, Newark,
N.J.
December, 1946 - 4412 Base Unit, Olmstead
Field, PA.
March, 1947 - 187th Fighter Squadron, Wyoming
ANG, Cheyenne, WY
January, 1952 - 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing, TAC,
Clovis AFB, NM
April, 1953 - 187th Fighter-Bomber Squadron,
Wyoming ANG, Cheyenne, WY
September, 1953 - 108th Fighter-Bomber
Squadron, Illinois ANG, O'Hare Field
February, 1955 - 165th
Fighter-Bomber/Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, Kentucky ANG, Sandiford
Field.
October, 1956 - Sacramento AMA with
assignment code RS, recommended for reclamation
September, 1957 - Authorized for reclamation
and dropped from USAF inventory
Gunfighter
website
|
