History of North American Aviation P-51 D-25NA
Constructed at North American Aviation, Inglewood, CA. 12/12/1944
Accepted for delivery 2/18/1945
Flown to Newark, NJ. 2/24/1945
Shipped to Italy 3/8/1945
Assigned to the 15th Air Force, 52nd Fighter Group, 5th Fighter Squadron at Piagilolino
Airfield Italy 4/1945
Assigned to Major Ralph “Doc” Watson, deputy Wing commander 15th Air Force
overseeing the 31st FG, 52nd FG, 325th FG and 332nd FG. Two known kills in this
airframe including his fifth making him an Ace.
Returned to the USA and placed into storage with the 4003rd Base Unit Newark, NJ. 8/
15/1945
Assigned to Air Material Command, 4112th Base Unit Olmstead, PA. 9/23/1946
Assigned to Air National Guard, under Air Defense Command 3/21/1947
Assigned to 125th Fighter Squadron, Oklahoma Air National Guard, Tulsa, OK. 5/8/1948
Assigned to 152nd Fighter Squadron, Rhode Island Air National Guard, Warwick, RI. 7/
15/1950
Assigned to 194th Fighter Squadron, California Air National Guard, Hayward, CA. 10/3/
1951
Assigned to Air Material Command and flown to Burbank, CA. for overhaul for
shipment to Korea 4/1952
Assigned to 109th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Minnesota Air National Guard, St. Paul,
MN. 9/25/1952
Assigned to Air Material Command McClellan AFB, Sacramento, CA. 12/10/1956
Sold surplus to Cavalier Aircraft, Sarasota, FL. for $1,250.00 8/28/1959 and stored.
Airframe rebuilt for military export and sold to Indonesian Air Force and shipped to
Surabaya in 1967. Assigned TNI-AU serial number F-344 and based at Malang AFB,
Java form 1967-1978.
Sold to Stephen Johnson of VANPAC Carriers, Oakland, CA. in 1979 along with the
remaining cache of P-51’s and spare parts from the Indonesian Air Force.
Sold to Al Letcher, Mojave, CA. Aircraft reassembled and flown at Mojave 4/22/1981
and registered N8064V. Painted in Pacific Theatre markings of the 72nd FS, 21st FG,
given the name Singapore Sally after his wife.
Sold to Steve Seghetti, Vacaville, CA. 4/1984. Aircraft completely disassembled and
restored over a 3 year period. Resumed flying 4/1987. Flown for 2 years in NAA factory
delivery colors. Painted in markings carried when flown by Major Watson 4/1989.
Named Sparky for the National Championship Air Raced 9/1994. Put in Jelly Belly livery
in 9/2004 as a sponsorship for the Air Races. Jelly Belly continues to support the aircraft
through sponsorship at airshows and racing.