Rebuilding A Legend Rivet by Rivet
Robyn Feld

In the tiny town of Wahpeton, North Dakota, the rebuild of a very special WWII-era P-51 Mustang fighter is proceeding slowly but steadily.  Teams of volunteers from the upper Midwest make regular trips to work on her and report their progress on the Red Tail Project’s website: www.redtail.org.

When a plane is as badly broken as “The Tuskegee Airmen” was in the 2004 crash that claimed the life of her pilot, Don Hinz, it’s understood that the work to put her together again will be painstaking. Pieces need to be sorted through and new pieces fabricated to replace original components that were too imperfect to be reused. 

The work is hard but the focus is always on the end result: an airplane that is the focal point for telling the history of the Tuskegee Airmen - African American men who fought racial discrimination to be allowed to fight the Axis powers in the second World War.

The Tuskegee Airmen flew many types of aircraft but were well-known for flying Mustangs with distinctive red tails.  They flew hundreds of missions and never lost a bomber under their protection – an amazing record.  They accomplished this by working together and focusing on the matter at hand.  No one pilot ever left the group to engage in an individual dogfight with the enemy.  They stayed true to their purpose and saved countless American lives through their dedication.

When the airplane is airworthy again, she will appear at air shows and other venues, a piece of living history.  The Red Tail Project also plans to have a traveling museum accompany the plane so that people can get a complete picture of what the Tuskegee Airmen faced and overcame.

The Red Tail Project is part of the Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (www.cafsmw.org).  For more information or to donate to the airplane’s reconstruction, contact LaVone Weer at 877.522.2988 or log on to www.redtail.org.

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