‘Thunderbird’ Waves Goodbye to the Jimmy Stewart Airport in Indiana County

The P-51C Mustang previously owned by beloved actor and military aviator Jimmy Stewart recently finished up an eventful weekend at the Indiana County-Jimmy Stewart Airport (IDI) and is making its way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

After rising to fame, Jimmy Stewart enlisted in the US Air Force and became captain of a B-24 Liberator bomber. He flew more than 20 combat missions and earned the rank of Brigadier General during his 27 years of service.

Once World War II had ended, Stewart purchased a new P-51C Mustang and entered it in the Bendix trophy race. Sporting race number 90, Joe De Bona flew Thunderbird across the finish line with a record-setting speed of 470 miles per hour.

The plane spent several years being passed between Jimmy Stewart, Jacqueline Cochran, and Joe De Bona, earning several more records along the way. In 1955, it was sold to Texas pilot James Cook to use for hail suppression flights. Mere months later, Cook experienced a main gear failure and was forced to jump ship, leaving Thunderbird in extremely rough shape.

Warren Pietsch, a well-known warbird pilot from North Dakota, was on the hunt for Mustang parts in 1999 when he unknowingly came across some Thunderbird wreckage. He identified the components two years later and brought in the Aircorps Aviation restoration team to bring the P-51 back to life.

Pietsch recently flew the P-51C to Stewart’s hometown, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and proudly stood with it at the Jimmy Stewart Airport for a public showing on May 16-18. This was just one part of a whole weekend celebrating Stewart’s birthday and the 30th anniversary of the Jimmy Stewart Museum.

With the birthday festivities having come to a close, Pietsch and the Thunderbird are moving on. Their next stop is an airshow in Reading, then Washington, DC, to be a part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s annual “Innovations in Flight Outdoor Aviation Display” on June 14.

FMI: https://jimmy.org