Back in the middle 1990's Bob Powell spoke to our modelers club. He brought with him a partially burnt cowling panel from one of his P-51s called "The West (By Gawd) Virginian". Bob talked about how that P-51 crashed on takeoff due to engine failure. Bob escaped from the Mustang when it caught fire and ran back to base. Somehow in all the confusion men who came from the base and Powell missed each other and when he wasn't found, the rescuers assumed that Powell had burned with the plane. When Bob walked into the base people thought they were seeing a ghost!