Once Upon A Time in Ottawood, our skies above the capital were abuzz with the sound of Rolls Royce Merlin engines, purring from the fuselages of the graceful and iconic WW2 fighter, the P-51 Mustang. After the war, Canada purchased a total of 150 Mustang P-51Ds from the United States for use by the RCAF and at No. 416 “Lynx” Squadron based at the RCAF Uplands Air Base south of Ottawa. This is where the MacDonald-Cartier International Airport is today. Operational for only a few short years between 1950-52, the Mustangs were declared obsolete in 1956 when they were replaced by the Canadair Sabre, and were later sold off to private buyers.
Do any of these remarkable Ottawa Mustangs still exist? I researched some serial numbers of these now sought after Mustangs to see if I could track any of these Ottawa Mustangs down. Selling for around $2-3million dollars nowadays, these once surplus planes would have been sold off for as little as $150 as surplus scrap in the 1950s.
Let’s push the throttle on these Ottawa warbirds and see where they may be located today using their old registration numbers…HERE THEY ARE:
Mustang 9273
Sold to James H. Defuria on 27 February 1959, later registered as N1070Z. Acquired minus its engine. Later sold to Robert J. Pond/Planes Of Fame East, Spring Park, MN, June 1980. Registered as N151BP. To Bob Pond/Palm Springs Air Museum, Palm Springs, CA, December 1997. Flown in USAAF clours, coded “E2-S”, named “Button…circa 2002.
Mustang 9271
Ex USAF P-51D-25-NA serial number 44-73843. Registered to American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum of Texas on 6 September 1991. Moved to CAF/Commemorative Air Force/Dixie Wing, Peachtree City, GA , 2002.
Mustang 9265
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74829. Used at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. Now in New Zealand at the P-51 Syndicate, Ardmore, NZ… Named “Rudolph”. Still airworthy circa 2002.
Mustang 9260
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74836. Used at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. Acquired as wreck by Walter Soplata Collection, Newbury, OH, 1979. To Brian O’Farrell/Johnson Aviation, Miami, FL, 1986.
Mustang 9259
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74878. Used at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. Last registration, still as N6306T, to T. Wood on 21 May 1993. In Texas, then sold to someone in Indianapolis. Flown marked as 44-74878, coded “HI-G” on RH side and “G-HD” on LH side (or codes changed at some time?). Damaged in wheels up landing, June 2003.
Mustang 9258
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74865. Used at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. Restored to airworthy, Idaho Falls, ID, 1998. Flew as Mormon Mustang. To Mallette Family LLC, Provo, UT on 1 August 2001 as N8677E. Flown as My Sweet Mary Lou since 2001 in Utah.
Mustang 9251
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74843. With No. 416 (F) Squadron at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario in 1951/1952. Sold to James H. Defuria (dba Intercontinental Airways of Canastota, NY). To US register as N6314T.
Mustang 9257
Ex USAF P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74859. Used at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario. Crashed at Carleton Place, near Uplands, on 9 November 1951. Reported delivered to Israel with other damaged RCAF P-51Ds. Reported delivered to IDFAF, their serial 39. To Sterling Aircraft Supply, 1964. To Pioneer Aero Service, Burbank/Chino, CA on 2 December 1964. Registered as N7079V. Restored as TF-51D, Chino, CA, 1988-1990. To Doug Arnold/Warbirds of Great Britain, Biggin Hill/Bournemouth, UK, 1990. Remains of 44-74859 reported stored, North Weald, UK.
Mustang 9243
Ex USAF P-51D-25-NA serial number 44-74012. With No. 416 (F) Squadron at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario in 1951/1952. Crashed during forced landing due to engine failure at Hudson, WI on 4 August 1974. Wreckage sold to Gordon W. Plaskett, King City, CA on 30 September 1975. Used wing in restoration of 44-73458/N4151D. To Robert H. Jens/Executive Air Craft Ltd, Vancouver, BC on 27 September 1976. Registered as C-GPSI. Rebuild started but not completed. To Duane Williams, Kellogg, ID in February 1984. Registered as N6519D. Rebuild continued. To James E. Smith/Crystal Lakes Resort, Fortine, MT on 28 September 1987. Now operated in RCAF colours marked 9577, coded “PV*577”. Still airworthy circa 2002.
Mustang 9249
Ex USAF P-51D-25-NA serial number 44-73864. With No. 416 (F) Squadron at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario in 1951/1952. To US registry as N6316T, and N1451D. Badly damaged at Rosenburg, Oregon on 15 June 1964. Being rebuilt, registration N90338 allocated on 23 July 2004 to S.R. Loeffler of Italy.
Mustang 9246
Ex USAF P-51D-25-NA serial number 44-73979. With No. 416 (F) Squadron at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario in 1951. On display, first at College Militaire Royale, St. Jean, Quebec from 10 May 1955. To RCAF St. Jean, Quebec by 1960. To Imperial War Museum, Duxford, UK in 1968. Restored for static display, completed in October 1973. To Imperial War Museum, London, UK in 1989. Displayed marked as 472258 coded “WZ-I”, named “Big Beautiful Doll”. Still there…
Mustang 9245
Ex USAF P-51D-25-NA serial number 44-73871. With No. 416 (F) Squadron at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario in 1951/1952. Later at RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario. Ice Strike Corp, Dover, DE on 22 February 1996. Reregistered as N7098V. To Mustang Air Inc, Wilmington, DE on 5 September 1996. Flown as “Stephanie”, later “Miss Stephanie”. Based in Florida, still airworthy!
Andrew King, January 2020
SOURCES
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p51registry/p51registry.html
OTTAWA REWIND 
Nice, we keep our fighters till they can be sold to museums….still doing it today.
Several of the BW P-51 flying images are taken by my father and someone has removed our name and water mark. Eric Dumigan http://www.airic.ca
After cross checking to confirm, all of those photos that are connected to your father’s photos have been removed.
Thanks so much for posting this. Uplands is a 5 minute walk from my home. I knew there were Sabres there but I didn’t know about the mustangs. Very good information to have. I might do some “local” planes someday.
Andrew – is it ok for me to reblog this on ModelAirplaneMaker?
Of course! Thanks for asking, but this site is to share and be shared! Appreciate the support! Cheers!
Hello Andrew I used to live in Ottawa, and return to visit once in a while, I was able to tour the Diefenbunker in 1998 before it was opened to the public and again in 2017…it was much spookier before. I enjoy reading your posts and have ordered your book.
Reblogged this on Model Airplane Maker and commented:
An excellent article about the P-51 Mustangs that once flew over my home town. Actually, just down the road from my home. I am going to look into getting some of these markings in order to do a “local” post-war Mustang.