July 25, 2023 That's One Fast Bird

The Liberty Gazette

July 25, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

A couple of weeks ago we alluded to an interesting exchange of ownership of a certain P51C “Thunderbird.” 

Jimmy Stewart, who acted in nearly a hundred movies and TV shows between 1935 and 1991, interrupted playtime when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He was a bomber pilot during WWII, eventually reaching the rank of Brigadier General, the highest rank of any celeb. He was a rare bird, decorated with several military medals.

A couple of years after his fabulous performance in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Stewart went in halfsies with another pilot, Joe De Bona, to buy this P51C. They gussied it up, allegedly with 48 coats of primer and cobalt blue paint, which allegedly made it fly faster, and entered it in the Bendix Trophy Race (1949), which went from Burbank, California to Cleveland, Ohio. De Bona won the race in just over four hours and sixteen minutes, an average speed of 470 mph and a new record. He beat second-place Stan Reaver by eleven minutes.

Two months later, they sold the plane to Jackie Cochran for “$1 and other considerations.” It was her third P51. She wanted it for setting two international records and a U.S. National record. Soon as she checked that off the list, she sold it right back to the Stewart-De Bona team for “$1 and other considerations” just in time for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. No, the queen didn’t go air racing, but her image sure did.

The coronation was the biggest news of June 2, 1953. The ceremony and celebrations were broadcast live in the UK, but the technology at the time made it expensive to televise live in the U.S. They’d need a copy of the film, and you know how competitive the networks are. CBS hired Joe De Bona in the record-breaking P51C. NBC hired second-place-Stan in another P51. Rivals for rivals!

Each plane was loaded with a copy of the film at the Royal Air Force Canberra in Goose Bay, Canada.

The race was on from there to Boston. They left Goose Bay around 2:00 p.m. When it became apparent that ice was slowing Stan’s flight, before 4:00 p.m., an executive with NBC called someone at ABC and made some kind of deal that resulted in access to the coverage provided by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which would mean they wouldn’t have to wait for Stan to land. But after all the trouble they went to, the Canadian broadcaster was showing Canadian celebrations, not the ones in London. De Bona landed at 4:13 p.m., and CBS rushed to broadcast. But just then, the Canadian broadcaster switched over to London coverage at 4:19, giving NBC a four-minute lead over CBS, even while their own film was still in the air. Second-Place-Stan landed at 4:37 p.m.

The next year, De Bona flew the Thunderbird from Los Angeles to New York in four hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds. The record, just over 561 mph, still stands for west-to-east prop-driven aircraft.

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