WIX Archives

Combat Veterans ....

Posted by Dave on Thu May 15, 2003 04:40:40 AM

Just got my latest issue of Flypast and was interested to see the article on P-51D 44-14985 owned by William Weimann . This
is an ex Dominican AF aircraft and apparently research has shown it is one of Maj.Ed Gillers' aircraft .. the famous 'Millie G' .
Wow I thought , what an historic aircraft . I read a little further and was a bit dismayed to find out that 'restoration has seen
around 75% new metal fitted to the aircraft .... but several original parts are incorporated ' . [ not entirely sure what they mean by that - are they meaning skins or total metal work ? ]
So has a historic combat veteran effectively been destroyed ?
Was there ever a thought .... and should there be ... of contacting somewhere like the USAFM or NASM and saying ' Hey I
have got a historically significant aircraft ... would you be up for a trade with the P-51 that you have on display [ I believe
neither P-51s at those museums saw combat ] ??? . Perhaps an aircraft with such a heritage would warrant something more
than just a straight swap. What sort of response do you think a private owner would get from such a suggestion ..... any
museum directors in the WIX community ..... ??
I had the pleasure of speaking to the now General Miller regarding one of his aircraft that is on display in the Dominican
Republic late last year .... but that is another story.
Interested to hear your thoughts .

regards
Dave

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