Old P-51 'attack' creates a buzz in Sandpoint

(Recently, I had a picture in the paper of a class from Sandpoint High School sitting on an old P-51.

I received several calls from people wanting to know more about the plane. I recalled talking to Don Johnson about the plane and I want to pass on to you what I learned from him. Don was a member of the class that took an aviation course back in 1946 and he remembers well the plane and the men that were involved in this class.

Here, in his own words, is Don's story of the P-51 that buzzed Sandpoint.)

“In the fall of 1946, when I was a junior, I signed up for a typing class at Sandpoint High. In about a week after school started, Mr. L.V. Hughes, who was superintendent of schools, had gotten together with O.B. Parker and they found an old P-51 fighter plane in Portland, Ore. The plane was surplus and was being sold for $500. There were five businessmen who put in $100 a piece for the plane: O.B. Parker, Superintendent Hughes, Clyde Fox, and the other two were possibly Cliff Patton and Jim Brown.

“Hughes was a licensed pilot and he got permission to get a surplus plane and he started an aviation class. I quit typing and jumped into that aviation class. Gene James was working for O.B. Parker as a parts man and he was a P-51 pilot during the war. Gene James went down to Portland and picked up the plane and flew it back to Sandpoint. The old plane was licensed for one flight only, for educational purposes. When James reached Sandpoint he flew the plane right down First Avenue. He buzzed Sandpoint and there was quite a stink over that.

“They parked the plane out at the airport and the aviation classes began. Gene James was not a certified teacher but he was qualified because he was a P-51 pilot. He taught aviation for one semester. We went out and we pulled the altimeter out of the plane and we took it back to the classroom. We used it to predict the weather and wind directions and he taught us about cloud formations and navigation. A mechanic out at the airport taught the second semester.”

“The school only had the plane for one year. After the classes, it was parked out at the airport where it s=at for years. The plane was sold to a couple of men from either Oregon or California to be used as a racer. No one is quite sure what happened to the plane but rumor has it that it crashed. The serial number of the plane can be seen and an attempt to trace the plane's history is being made.”

(Today's photo shows the 1946-1947 aviation class of Sandpoint High School. The members of the class, in the bottom row, from left, were John Spear, teacher and airport mechanic, Harold Kelley, Richard Morris, Gordon McNew, Don Johnson, John Telginer, Lyle Miller, and Bob Monroe. In the top row, from left, are John Cochran, Bob Tope, Ray Engblom, unidentified, Eddie Mozart, Max Mason and Bob Cox.)