Red Bull have added another warbird to their collection in Salzburg, Austria with the arrival of a P-51D Mustang wearing the livery of ‘Nooky Booky IV’.
Nooky-Booky IV was the forth P-51 flown by Major Leonard “Kit” Carson. He was the Top scorer of the 357th Fighter Group during World War 2, with 18.5 victories and an additional 3.5 more by strafing. Most of his victories were in the last six months of the war flying Nooky Booky IV.
While the Mustang delivered to Red Bull does not have a wartime heritage, it has a unique history of its own. Following military service with the Royal Canadian Air Force, it was owned by aviation legend Bob Hoover who displayed it for the North American Rockwell company, even flying it as the pace plane to open the first air race at Reno in 1964.
Having left Hoover’s stewardship in the ’70s, the aircraft eventually made its way to France. In March, it took off from an airfield near Paris for a two and a half hour delivery flight to Salzburg with George Perez at the controls.
The Mustang was shepherded into Austrian airspace by a pair of Red Bull’s own warbirds. Over Lake Chiemsee their F4U-4 Corsair and the P38 Lightning joined up and escorted it to its new home base.