Worry Bird: Fighting Warbird, Lying on Illinois Ground for Half a Century

Built in 1944, the North American P-51D-25-NA Mustang (serial no. 44-73287) went to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in 1945. During World War II, Worry Bird accompanied Allied bombers on long-range flights over Germany. It later served in the Korean War, circulated among various private collectors, and underwent restoration by Mike George in the 1990s. Now, it resides at its current location, the Air Combat Museum in Springfield, Illinois, where it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1999. Among the over 8,000 P-51 Mustangs that served the U.S. in World War II, Worry Bird was one of 166 still airworthy when it was listed (not 104).

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons