to view Warbird Digest's Article on this ... - Courtesy Aircraft

In late 1950, twenty-five P-51 Mustangs were delivered
<strong>to</strong> Uruguay. This delivery was the result of very thorough
planning on the part of the leaders of the Fuerza Aérea
Uruguaya (FAU). The FAU was originally slated <strong>to</strong> receive P-
47D Thunderbolts as early as 1946. These were <strong>to</strong> be supplied
under the American Republic Project, the predecessor of
the Military Assistance Program. They turned down these
essentially free fighters in favor of a future purchase of
Mustangs they would have <strong>to</strong> pay for. In 1948 the leaders
of the FAU with the assistance of U.S. military advisors
developed a plan <strong>to</strong> obtain Mustangs and B-25 Mitchells <strong>to</strong>
equip a fighter group and bomber group respectively.
In 1949 thirty-five pilots and technicians were sent <strong>to</strong> the United
States <strong>to</strong> form the core of the fighter group. When the deliveries
began in November 1950, the twenty-five aircraft were serialed
FAU 252 <strong>to</strong> FAU 274. Although Uruguay would operate the P-
51 until 1960, it would not be an al<strong>to</strong>gether pleasant experience.
There was a reason why the U.S. had offered P-47s <strong>to</strong> the vast
majority of Latin American countries. Most of those air arms
had previous experience maintaining aircraft with radial engines
and there was concern that the liquid systems in the Mustang
would cause serviceability issues. This, combined with the lack
of spare parts as the result of the Korean War, would at times
reduce the number of combat ready aircraft <strong>to</strong> as low as six. By
1960, the Mustangs were struck off charge by the FAU. Eight
of the best airframes were sold <strong>to</strong> Bolivia and the remaining
were scrapped, save two, FAU 265 and FAU 274 which were
saved for display. Both of those aircraft were returned <strong>to</strong> the
United States in 1984. That would have been the end of the
Uruguayan Mustang s<strong>to</strong>ry if not for Canadian Bob May.
Bob and Judy May with Bob Odegaard relax
after the <strong>Warbird</strong> Digest pho<strong>to</strong> mission.
May grew up on a farm in Mani<strong>to</strong>ba not far from Carberry,
where the Royal Canadian Air Force was s<strong>to</strong>ring their remaining
Mustang inven<strong>to</strong>ry. He stumbled across the airplanes while
WARBIRD DIGEST #6 WINTER 2005
49