Mechanic Bill Barker works on the air inlet for the radiator of the P-51 D Mustang at Martin Aviation Inc.(C. TODD SHERMANThe Vicksburg Post)

MOUND One of a legendary type of World War II fighter will soon be a like-new California “sportscar,” thanks to restoration by mechanics based here.

About 9,602 P-51Ds were built by North American Aviation from 1940-1945 as escorts for long-range Allied bombers in the war, fought in Europe. For about the past two years, one of them has been being restored here at Martin Aviation Inc., company owner Steve Martin said last week.

“It was in pieces,” Martin said of the plane’s arrival at his Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport shop. “There are approximately 150 (P-51Ds) flying, and about 50 are in museums and being restored.”

The plane, which has been flown for about 2,500 hours, is now days away from being restored with “zero-time” components, Martin said. All repair work except that on the plane’s Rolls Royce engine and its original propeller was done at Martin’s shop, he said.

“That’s a relatively high time for these planes,” Martin said. “Their expected service life was about 50 hours in combat.”

The planes’ potential for being shot down by the enemy was a factor in their short expected life, Martin said. Their “sturdy” construction was not a factor, however, Martin said, adding that they can last indefinitely if maintained.

The plane is freshly painted to look like the bare aluminum skin it would have flown with had it made it to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Martin said.

It was completed in 1945, the year the war ended, and did not see combat, he added.

The blue, black, red and yellow markings painted on it now, however, are meant to match those of then-Lt. James Brooks, an ace World War II fighter pilot and a California neighbor of the plane’s current owner, Martin said.

“He was credited with 13-and-a-half shot down,” Martin said of Brooks’ combat experience in Europe.

The same number of small crosses representing planes of Nazi Germany that were shot down is painted on the outside of the plane’s cockpit.

Among the reasons for the bold red-and-yellow stripes on the back of the plane was to allow friendly anti-aircraft gunners to identify the planes as being on their own side, mechanic Bill Barker said.

“They made it easier (for squadron members) to join back up with each other,” Martin said of another benefit of the markings.

As restored, at about 7,000 pounds, the plane will be just over half its maximum combat-flying weight, Martin said.

Had it been readied for combat, the plane’s six wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns and armor plating would have made up some of the weight difference, Martin said. It could also have had been carrying extra fuel tanks, bombs and rockets to give it its maximum combat weight of about 12,000 pounds.

“It’s just a real neat airplane,” Martin said. “It’s kind of like a sportscar. They’re really maneuverable and overpowered for what people use them for today.”

In restoring the plane, a passenger seat behind the pilot’s seat has been added.

“Most people like to be able to take somebody with them,” Martin said.

Up-to-date equipment has also been installed in the cockpit, to “make it user-friendly nowadays,” Barker said.

The plane was trucked to Tallulah after it was bought by an Oak Grove resident, who sent it to Martin to begin restoration before selling it to its current owner, Martin said.

In the possession of the Department of Defense until about 1955, the plane was stricken from U.S. military records and transferred to a Central American nation, possibly Guatemala or El Salvador, in the late 1960s, Martin said.

“About seven or eight of (the planes) were brought back to Texas about 1970,” Martin said, referring to the west Texas storage site where the plane remained for some years.