Among the Allied single-seat fighters of the Second World War, very few are more famous than the North American P-51 Mustang. This long-range fighter bomber served the United States Air Force throughout the conflict and also during the Korean War, in addition to entering service with a number of other air forces.

Over 15,000 P-51 Mustangs rolled off American assembly lines in the 1940s, first entering military service in January 1942 with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft remained in military arsenals for decades, with the final operator, the Dominican Air Force, not retiring the plane until the 1980s.

With so many P-51s produced, an impressive number of planes still around today are extremely well-preserved, most of which are on display in air museums across the globe. However, there are a few P-51s that maintain the unique designation of still being airworthy. In this article, we will look deeper at 5 P-51 Mustangs that can still fly today.

1 Betty Jane

Location: The Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts

The Collings Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educational purposes, focuses on maintaining a collection of transportation-related exhibitions. One of the most noteworthy pieces of the group’s collection is an intact airworthy P-51C Mustang which has been named Betty Jane.

This aircraft was no ordinary P-51 Mustang, as it was built as a unique dual-control fighter variant dubbed the TP-51C, of which only 5 units were built, according to the Collings Foundation. The most popular variants of the P-51 were single-seat fighters, with the P-51D being the most widely built variant, as over 8,200 came out of North American’s factories.

The TP-51C was a rare field modification, which included a second seat that did not just include weapons system controls but also advanced instrumentation, allowing for full control during training flights. Over the course of the war, 5 TP-51Cs entered the skies as both trainers and VIP transport aircraft.

2 Tuskegee Airmen

Location: Commemorative Air Force squadron in South St. Paul, Minnesota

The Tuskegee Airmen were an elite squadron of African American fighter pilots who became distinguished for impressive achievements throughout the Second World War. Today, the Commemorative Air Force maintains a fully intact operational P-51C Mustang that it uses to celebrate the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, still operating the plane in its original livery.

After the Second World War, the plane was on display at Montana State College for many decades until the Commemorative Air Force took possession in the 1980s and refurbished it to airworthy condition in 2001, according to the organization’s website. This aircraft saw operational service as a trainer shortly after being completed in 1945 but would later leave the skies after the war’s conclusion, having been declared a surplus unit by the United States Air Force.

3 Dolly

Location: Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California

The Planes of Fame Air Museum maintains one of the best surviving airworthy examples of the P-51D, the most popular production variant of the Mustang. According to the Museum, the aircraft was the 40th of 200 P-51D airframes put together at North American’s Dallas factory and quickly went into service on 26 July 1945.

The plane eventually went into storage at Kelly Field in San Antonio and was assigned to the 31st Fighter Group at Turner Air Force Base in 1947. The aircraft went on to serve with the Strategic Air Command until that unit replaced its Mustangs with more advanced jet fighters.

Before being delivered to the museum, the plane served with Air National Guard units in Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia until its retirement at the end of 1956. The museum finally acquired the plane in November 1957, making it the P-51D that has been held the longest by a single private owner.

4 American Beauty

Location: Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia, Washington

An exceptionally well-preserved P-51D is located at the Olympic Flight Museum in Washington. According to the museum, this aircraft entered service first with the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1951.

This aircraft was among the last to enter service, despite the P-51 as a whole being one of the quickest aircraft to be developed. The plane was impressively designed and put into serial production in just 117 days, a number amazing by today’s standards, in which fighter jet development programs take years, if not decades.

5 Kiss Me Kate

Location: Los Angeles, California

In the movie Top Gun: Maverick, actor Tom Cruise flew a now-famous P-51 Mustang, an aircraft that remains airworthy today. The plane was purchased by Cruise in 2001 for an estimated $4 million, according to AviaTech.

The aircraft was acquired via Valhalla Aviation and remains under the actor’s ownership. Much like the actor he plays, Tom Cruise is a skilled fighter pilot and is widely known to take his aircraft to the skies on a regular basis.