Brendon Deere's P-51D Mustang NZ2423

[Dave Homewood]

Now a part of Brendon Deere's collection, the Mustang formerly with the late John Smith's collection arrived at Ohakea today. Brendon has kindly sent through some exclusive photos of NZ2423's arrival for WONZ that have not been published elsewhere, to kick off this new thread.

[Deleted]

Thanks you Brendon and Dave. I thought Mustang51's idea of a dedicated thread for this airframe was a great idea. It's so wonderful to see Mustang Two Three back at Ohakea, and safe in its new home.

[Damon]

Great to see its reached Ohakea. Any and all close up pictures appreciated !

[Deleted]

Here are the photos and comments Brendon shared to the Spitfire PV270 and Biggin Hill Hangar, RNZAF Ohakea Facebook page this afternoon:

Now to lift it off

NZ2423 Ohakea 210820 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Good day and avoided the weather

NZ2423 Ohakea 210820 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 210820 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[ozfuryfan]

Great pics, looking forward to seeing the rebuild progressing on this page!

[planecrazy]

So good to see, I confess to knowing nothing about rebuilding something like
this so my question is purely out of interest.

Is the Mustangs wing built in one piece like a Kittyhawk or is it like a Spitfire
two wings which are attached?

So exciting seeing what is happening with the John Smith aeroplanes and
more importantly that they are staying in New Zealand, well done and thank
you to all concerned.

Mr Google answers my question one piece wing, so I'm guessing this rebuild
will require a whole new spar?

[l29]

The easiest option would be a new build wing from the States, or even just a wing kit.

[davidd]

These views tend to show up well the lamina flow section of the wing.
David D

[Deleted]

Brendon has today posted some cockpit photos on Facebook (link) - steel yourself, Ando!

A look at the time capsule nature of the cockpit of NZ2423. We wound and set the time on the clock at the top of the instrument panel yesterday and its still keeping good time today. First chance also to open the container doors and pleased to find everything had travelled well.
Inside the container are the belly scoop assembly ("dogbox"), propeller, outer wings, tail fin, rudder, tailpane and elevators, ailerons and flaps and a multitude of everything else.

NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 220820 Brendon Deere via Facebook 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

The seat cushion looks nearly new.

[baz62]

Aug 22, 2020 16:19:53 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

The seat cushion looks nearly new.

I was round at Anthony Galbraith's this afternoon and he said they found several of them all still in their paper wrappings. One went with NZ1068. Original North American I understand.

[johnnyfalcon]

I was born 20 years too late...!!

[baz62]

Aug 22, 2020 13:19:58 GMT 12 planecrazy said:

So good to see, I confess to knowing nothing about rebuilding something like
this so my question is purely out of interest.

Is the Mustangs wing built in one piece like a Kittyhawk or is it like a Spitfire
two wings which are attached?

Well they are two wings but instead of being joined with a separate central spar pickup like on a Spitfire, or a centre section like on a Harvard or Hurricane, both the Mustang and the Kittyhawk/Warhawk join together in the centre of the fuselage. So if you lift the fuselage off, the wings are still joined together. I would say new spars for sure but they may be able to use some of the ribs if they are servicable and new skins, leading edges.

[tbf25o4]

I am amazed of the completeness of the instrumentation in the P51. Do we know if that was as it was sold, or did John recover and refit instruments at a later date.
The radio gear has obviously been removed, but hopefully some originals can be found and refitted (even if unservicable to make the aircraft look authentic to its era

[baz62]

Aug 23, 2020 9:50:03 GMT 12 tbf25o4 said:

The radio gear has obviously been removed, but hopefully some originals can be found and refitted (even if unservicable to make the aircraft look authentic to its era

There is one radio at the back so it's just missing one by the looks of it.

[Damon]

Cracker pictures aren't they ! Quiet a time capsule. I do hope the team restoring it take and share lots of images before they dissemble and paint strip. Its only once like this .

[McFly]

Aug 22, 2020 14:04:24 GMT 12 l29 said:

The easiest option would be a new build wing from the States, or even just a wing kit.

These guys can whip up a new P-51 wing set - 'Odegaard Wings' - Link

[Richard Wesley]

Thanks to everyone posting photos of NZ2423. She certainly is a wonderful time capsule reference aircraft.

I'm interested in the cockpit photos. It's certainly more of the basic military fit-out as I would have expected for these aircraft. The RNZAF Museum example (being ex Indonesian) is a step up again, and I believe that ZK-TAF is really another leap again with more of a civilian cockpit fit-out, though I'm going by memory from a long time ago?

Photo of the RNZAF Mustang for interest:

MUS130192 copy by Richard Wesley, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Brendon has posted a bit more on the Biggin Hill Historic Aircraft Centre Facebook page, this time focusing on the engine (emphasis is mine):

Opportunity today to look under the hood at the engine unit on NZ2423. Still with its factory fitted engine. Still research to do but its total airframe/engine hours are around 400 or so. A pleasant surprise was that the engine had been blanked off all those years ago with plugs in place of the spark plugs and the exhaust outlets blanked off behind the exhaust stubs.

NZ2423 Ohakea 240820 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 240820 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 240820 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 240820 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[agile]

Aug 23, 2020 12:18:00 GMT 12 baz62 said:

There is one radio at the back so it's just missing one by the looks of it.

The rear one is the (super rare) IFF transponder. At the front is the skellington of (I think) an SCR522 VHF radio. I think Mike is still looking for one of these for one of the P40s too.