WIX Archives

Scat VII Questions

Posted by Rob Mears on Mon Feb 24, 2003 03:03:26 PM

I wasn't aware that this plane was flown by a quadruple ace, and had four kills to its name. Seeing extremely significant airframes like this destroyed is one of the few times I really begin to question the logic of using such priceless touchstones as public consumables.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a died-in-the-wool "Keep 'em Flying" kind of guy. But with over 200 Mustangs alive and well in the skies, how valiant is it to find oneself doing low level sport aerobatics in an aircraft that many people might consider worthy of Smithsonian status? Was this plane in fact THE Scat VII, or was it simply painted to represent this historic aircraft? Was it a data plate restoration or an airframe with little or no damage history since it's wartime stint over Europe? I'm hoping the person who wrote the article below was mistaken about the plane's true identity.

I would never wish for a world devoid of the rumble of Merlins and Pratt & Whitneys, nor would I ever want to be denied the vicereal impact of vintage metal executing low speed passes and aerial displays, but if Ira Kepford's infamous "#29" Corsair was still around, I believe I'd rather see that particular airframe maintained in as safe an environment as possible. A hundred years from now an airframe of that caliber would be an international superstar.

I could almost kick myself for posting a thread with such an apparent "Liberal" slant to it, but I now feel a much the poorer for not recognizing Scat VII for what she was, and finding an opportunity to visit that particular airframe first hand before it was reduced to a pile of scrap :(



"Plane had glorious wartime history:

The single-engine fighter plane involved in a fatal crash in Wabash Thursday evening traces its origin to World War II, where it was piloted by a an ?ace? credited with four Kills? over Europe.

The P-51D Mustang, named Scat VII, was the final plane flown by American ace Brigadier Gen. Robin Olds, USAF-Ret., during World War II as he ran escort for bombers over Germany.

The plane, owned by Jim Shuttleworth, who died in the crash, had been on display for several years in the Wings of Freedom museum at the Huntington Municipal Airport. According to the museum?s Web site, Olds had four kills in the Scat VII and had a total of 24 kills with the 434th Fighter Squadron, 479th Fight Group with the 8th Air Force in Wittisham, England, from 1944-45.

Shuttleworth had the aircraft restored in the early 1970s after purchasing it from John Dilley of Fort Wayne Air Service."

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