Before Noble Peterson became a pilot, he was a rancher and horseback rider from southwestern North Dakota. His friends used to joke that he started out on mustangs and stayed on Mustangs, because he flew a P51D Mustang aircraft in the World War II. During that time, Noble flew on 106 missions and logged over 600 hours in Mustangs. He acted as a key reconnaissance pilot, meaning he observed enemy activities, locations, and resources. On one particularly dangerous mission to obtain photos of a bombed oil refinery, Noble’s wingmen were suddenly flanked by two German jets. “Everybody scatter,” he commanded his wingmen, “You got jets coming!” Confident in his own speed, Noble pulled in behind the jets. Recalling his experiences shooting pheasants and other birds back home in North Dakota, he took aim, fired…and missed! “I couldn’t believe [it]” Noble later said. The jets were flying much faster than he had anticipated. Most importantly, however, he and his crew survived.

The plane you see before you was named in honor of Noble’s origins, named “Dakota Kid 2” after the first “Dakota Kid” was shot down.