Maxthelion wrote:From those Facebook photos it looks like he may have been trying to stretch the glide to avoid the near boundary of the field he was aiming for. This would have been the right thing to do when you consider that it's likely that there is a ditch there that could have turned him over had he landed before it. There is a lot of up elevator shown as he crosses the fence, at a height that seems too high to be flaring. Presumably the 'substantial damage' sustained by the aircraft was as a result of the gear legs being punched through the wing as the aeroplane dropped on from a height after stalling. Something I've done myself, though without quite as much damage. 
The glide speed of a P51 operating around 9000Lbs is 130mph clean, full flap 120mph, these do not account for a windmilling prop which will produce enormous amounts of drag giving a glide path angle approaching that of a lead balloon, although with the damage to the prop tips it may have still been producing some power at touch down.
I can imagine a few reasons for trying to raise the gear whilst still having a functional hydraulic pump from the windmilling prop or an engine producing some power.
1. To try and increase the glide range.
2. To reduce the stall speed which would be around 85mph depending on the final aircraft configuration,
3. Probably most important is to avoid nosing over and getting trapped after landing in a rough field.
The stall characteristics of most P51's in all configurations except with fuel in the fuselage tank, are a slight tail buffet 3-4 mph above the stall at which point the right wing drops gently, that may explain the damage to the right wing tip if the pilot touched down just above the stall.
If fuel was carried in the fuselage tank which
I very much doubt as it was displaying and that tank is for long rang ferrying then the stall characteristics change dramatically. There would be no buffeting approaching a stall but a series of stick reversals and the right wing would drop sharply necessitating immediate recovery action as a spin may develop.
Regardless of all of the above
the pilot did an exceptional job avoiding the local school, hospital, puppy farms and getting the aircraft down safely whilst walking away uninjured which is all that matters.
"Meaxthelion"
Presumably the 'substantial damage' sustained by the aircraft was as a result of the gear legs being punched through the wing as the aeroplane dropped on from a height after stalling. Something I've done myself, though without quite as much damage.
Looking at this recovery video around 4:20 there is no damage to the upper wing surfaces from the u/c coming through after impact, so a successful gear retraction for belly landing in a rough field.
FLYER Club Member
