18 July 2019

Unique Mustang honours fighter ace, funds trainee pilots programme

If you're a fan of Ford's iconic pony car, this is something pretty unique ... in fact, it's the only one that comes with official USAF decals, writes Brian Byrne.

Ford produced it to honour a WW2 P-51 Mustang fighter hero, now 97-year-old Bud Anderson, for a famous Wisconsin Air Show.

Anderson flew 116 missions in his aircraft, nicknamed Old Crow. They included air support for Allied troops on D-Day.

Ford got specialist Roush Performance to detail the car. In addition to special grille, badges and the very distinctive decals, they boosted the 5.0 V8 to 700hp. For comparison, the Packard V-1650-1 engine used in the WW2 fighter place developed over 1,200hp.

An annual charity auction at the air show benefits from the car next week. Ford has been building special vehicles for the auction since 2008, which has raised $3.5m to support a trainee pilots scheme.