SLEEPY EYE – Over a nine-year period, Sleepy Eye Airport Manager Larry Lund has labored to build a 3/4-scale replica of a P-51 Mustang in an airport hangar.

The P-51 Mustang, often described as the best all-around fighter plane developed during World War II, had a major impact in the European air war, helping clear the skies of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), permitting the bombing and invasion of the German mainland and defeat of Germany.

One aviator described a full-scale P-51 as “a sculpture of aerodynamic eroticism that stirs a pilots heart.”

American aviators described it as very fast in level flight and in a dive, excellent at high and low altitudes, competing well in dogfights with German fighters, and allowing the Allied forces to regain air superiority. They had the range to accompany Allied bombers on long range missions into Germany, protecting them and bringing them home safely.

Lund has flown many aircraft over the past few decades and has seen many types of aircraft at AirVenture in Oshkosh and other places.

After nine years of work building a Titan 3/4 scale P-51 inside an airport hangar, Lund recently flew his new plane to the AirVenture and back. His was among more than 10,000 aircraft flown in to the week-long event attended by more than 500,000 people from more than 60 countries.

Lund said he built the 3/4 scale plane because a full-size replica costs $2 million or more.

Powered by a 250 horsepower, 3.5 liter Honda six-cylinder engine, Lund described his plane as “quick and very fast to respond to stick input. Roll rate is fast but not terrible. It gets with the program right now during take off. It’s like a little sports car with wings and no cop behind you.”

“Lots of guys start projects like this but don’t finish them,” Lund said. “Either they don’t have the time or expertise, don’t do proper maintenance or lose interest.”

Kits for Lund’s Titan P-51 Mustang that seats two with a range of more than 700 miles and 150 mph minimum cruising speed, cost more than $60,000. A finished product could cost up to $90,000, according to a supplier.

“About the only thing I didn’t make myself on the plane was the leading edge of the (aluminum) wing.” Lund named his P-51 “Obsession.”

“I did most of the work on it during the winter months, when it wasn’t so difficult to stay indoors,” Lund said.

Lund learned to fly at the Hector airport in the early 1960s. “Flying was cheap then,” Lund said. A radio operator, he attended radio repair and electronics school during his six years in the Minnesota National Guard. “I preferred radio operation and electronics repair to the artillery,” he said.

Charles Moldaschel of Sleepy Eye managed the Sleepy Eye airport for decades before turning over the duties to Lund. Moldaschel and his “Teenie” experimental plane can still be found at the New Ulm Lions Club Fly-In Breakfast set for 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 13 at the New Ulm Airport. The year’s fly-in features “Miss Mitchell,” a WWII B-25 bomber presented by the Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

Lund talked about the rigors of building his own airplane and of being a pilot. Airplane-builders have to request a tail number from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He has to pass a test and aircraft inspection that he said the difficulty of which depends greatly on who gives it. On top of that, he must pass a physical examination every two years.