Mustang Replica Draws Curious Crowd In Casper

It sure did draw a crowd.

Folks were walking around it taking pictures.

A few asked if it was real.

It's not a real P-51 Mustang from WWII. The real thing is a lot bigger than what was on this trailer, parked in front of the Harbor Freight store in Casper, Wyoming.

This plane is smaller and mostly covered in fabric, rather than the aluminum of the real Mustang.

It also has the word "experimental" written on the side.

The owner was inside Harbor Freight, picking up something he needed for his trip to wherever he was taking this plane.

I waited for him and struck up a conversation when he arrived back at his truck and trailer.

Airplane owners love talking about their planes as much as classic car owners love talking about their cars.

He had purchased it in Utah and was driving it cross-country to Michigan.

This bird had been sitting in a hanger for a number of years, and he thought that restoring it and flying it might be a fun project.

I'm 6ft 1inch tall. He was a bit taller than me and a bit heavier. How the heck was he going to fit into that thing? He admitted that he had not even tried getting into what looked like a really small cockpit. He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

It's a light experiment. Nowhere near as fast as a real Mustang. But, so what? It's still going to be fun to fly if he can put her all back together again.

The stickers below the cockpit show two confirmed Nazi kills. But that's all part of the fantasy of owning this thing.

The engine is good. There are a few items along the body that need some work. He'll have to inspect the avionics and landing gear to make sure that's all working.

As we spoke more people showed up taking photos and asking questions.

My big question about driving it cross country was about how hard it was to keep the trailer straight in Wyoming wind with that big airplane tail sticking up. That was a challenge, he admitted.