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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 14, 2019 10:35:06 GMT 12
New Zealand only please.
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Post by agalbraith on Mar 16, 2019 10:10:34 GMT 12
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Post by Mustang51 on Mar 16, 2019 19:27:45 GMT 12
Those pics are absolute gold. Wish I had them when I did the Mustang book......Just imaging that they would have been on active service had the war in the Pacific extended
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 16, 2019 20:18:14 GMT 12
They sure would have been. The Corsair squadrons were about to start conversion to type when the war ended.
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Post by agalbraith on Mar 17, 2019 18:38:10 GMT 12
Glad you like them so far chaps!  NZ2413, notice the Hamilton Std cuffed prop   RNZAF Official |
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Post by fwx on Aug 13, 2019 12:26:46 GMT 12
Three very nice shots from the "Mac" Baigent collection, courtesy of his daughter Jan.    The reverse stamp dates them as 1951. In discussion with Dave, we think they were taken at Taieri (where Mac was based in 1951) after the TAF Mustangs had been allocated to the squadrons but before the "provincial" Otago colour scheme had been applied. Cheers, Chris |
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Post by davidd on Aug 13, 2019 13:31:33 GMT 12
Some lovely shots there chaps! And yes, it took about 2 years before the famous "checker-board" squadron markings made their appearance. The Taieri squadron was the only one to operate P-51s for about the first year, with Whenuapai, Ohakea and Wigram getting theirs in 1952. The original factory colour scheme was bare metal for fuselage and fixed tail surfaces (plus main u/c doors), and "silver" (special aluminium finish) on wings and moveable control surfaces. Wings were of course carefully "profiled" with a type of putty to remove all imperfections, then sprayed with the finishing paint. The Vampires also received very similar factory treatment. At one point somebody suggested that it might be a good idea to finish the RNZAF Vampires in bare mental to save on re-finishing costs and manpower, but an officer "in the know" pointed out the aerodynamic problems which would be encountered with such a change. About this time it was noted that the special "profile" boards supplied with the Vampires in 1951 for assisting in re-profiling the wings could not be found! However I think they eventually came to light. Will have to look up the appropriate files if any further details required.
David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 13, 2019 15:37:30 GMT 12
I had heard that before that P-51 wings had to be painted because if left as bare metal they were un-aerodynamic and had all sorts of trouble flying. But I was not sure whether to believe that till now.
I recall Bill Fitzharding Jones saying that he was asked by the Auckland TAF Squadron C.O. to paint a whole aircraft silver, so he did, and the pilot said the smoothness of the paint added nearly 30 mph to the aircraft, and he had the rest of the fleet painted after that. I'm sure he will have told you that story too, David?
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Post by noooby on Aug 14, 2019 7:12:51 GMT 12
Somewhere on here there is the painting guide for the wings which shows where they must be filled and painted. I didn't think any wings left the factory bare, it was standard to fair and paint them before delivery.
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Post by fwx on Aug 17, 2019 15:54:42 GMT 12
Coincidentally, came across this yesterday:  |
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Post by Mustang51 on Aug 17, 2019 18:52:23 GMT 12
Dave and Noooby, The wings were filled and sanded smooth to ensure the laminar flow profile. The silver was there to protect the filler. All those Oshkosh/Sun and Fun machines with polished wings would fail a real judges test. Same with polished fuselages. Except for Tuskegee and a few other examples they were just natural metal
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Post by Antonio on Mar 17, 2022 9:41:11 GMT 12
Thanks to the Hi-res of the RNZAF photos I have been able to nail this mustang to 45-11498 the future NZ2408 
 MUS1300412 by Antonio McDonald, on Flickr |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2022 9:09:23 GMT 12
Amazing!
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Post by camtech on Mar 20, 2022 11:53:29 GMT 12
Well done Antonio. I guess some of the other photos of Mustangs may be able to be identified in the same way.
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Post by Antonio on Mar 20, 2022 12:20:03 GMT 12
Well done Antonio. I guess some of the other photos of Mustangs may be able to be identified in the same way. Yeah, I have sent an email to Mathew O'Sullivan asking what other prints there are in that series. Satisfying to have a hyperlink with 45-11498 in my data-base  |
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Post by camtech on Mar 20, 2022 13:26:44 GMT 12
Well done Antonio. I guess some of the other photos of Mustangs may be able to be identified in the same way. Yeah, I have sent an email to Mathew O'Sullivan asking what other prints there are in that series. Satisfying to have a hyperlink with 45-11498 in my data-base I did see some on Photobucket group a number of other photos of the Mustangs on barges, but couldn't zoom in. |
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Post by Antonio on Mar 30, 2022 22:02:44 GMT 12
The latest from the AFM: Identified another one. 
MUS9809512
Flight Lieutenant NH Meyers (left) and Squadron Leader FW Thornton standing beside a Mustang on a barge in the Wairoa River, near Clevedon, after they arrived from RNZAF Station Hobsonville.
Middle aircraft is 45-11518, later NZ2427.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 30, 2022 22:35:41 GMT 12
The one of the left in that photo is 45-11494 or NZ2405, I believe.
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Post by Antonio on Jun 17, 2023 22:03:53 GMT 12
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2023 9:48:09 GMT 12
How cool! Great find Antonio!
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