Brendon Deere's P-51D Mustang NZ2423

[McFly]

P-51 'Engine Failure After Take Off' (EFATO) and a great save (26 March 2023)..! "Superbly rapid spot of decision-making and airmanship and what good training and experience looks like."

[Mustang51]

That guy and Sully................mongoose reactions.

[ZacYates]

Apr 15, 2023 12:25:55 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Busting to see more shots........

Well, since you mentioned it...(FB link posted 15/04/2023)

Quite an important week in our journey restoring P51D Mustang NZ2423. With the wiring of the fuel pumps completed and the tanks installed, the stress panels covering the fuel tanks under the wing could be fitted. These are essential to provide full wing strength. We have reused the original wooden packing pieces around the tanks and inside the stress panels.

The main wheels have now been fitted and the undercarriage legs pressurized although the weight is still being taken by the jacks. On Monday we will lower the aircraft on its wheels and take it outside in the sunshine for some photos.

20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 16 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 17 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 18 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 19 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 20 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 21 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 22 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 23 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 24 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 25 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 26 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 27 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 28 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 29 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 30 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230415 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 31 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Mustang51]

Wow............and thanks !

[Antonio]

Decals look a tad small

[johnnyfalcon]

"...sunshine" now there's optimism!

I never knew so much plywood was flying around in dangerous skies

Seriously though, NZ2423 is looking fantastic!

[ZacYates]

Apr 17, 2023 12:37:55 GMT 12 johnnyfalcon said:

"...sunshine" now there's optimism!

Posted by Brendon on Facebook about an hour ago (link):

A few years apart........

20230417p PV270 Feilding Brendon Deere by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230417 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Mustang51]

Bloody Marvellous !!!

17 April huge day for Brendon's Mustang and SpaceX Starship (this one hopefully)

[ZacYates]

Fb link

The team that makes it all happen - from left: Joe Deere, Sean Perrett, Brian Harris and Pete Burgess - absent Jim Garner and David Thayer

20230417 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Antonio]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

[tbf2504]

A big step forward, well done the team!!!

[ZacYates]

Here's Friday update from Brendon (link):

Quite an interesting week for our project. On Monday we pushed NZ2423 outside into the sunshine - down on its own wheels for the first time since we started the restoration and likely the first time as a substantially complete aircraft since 1958. A couple of hours outside and it was back inside and onto the jacks to allow work to continue.

The intake ducting assembly has now been fitted and this in turn allows the fitting of the cowling fastening sections. The process of rigging the undercarriage uplock position has started and today we filled the hydraulic system with fluid for the first time.

20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230421 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 16 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Mustang51]

Simply amazing. Best in the world

[Antonio]

Apr 23, 2023 18:59:56 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Simply amazing. Best in the world

The Golden TOOLBOX Award....
Love the Ohakea green too

[ZacYates]

"On the road again..." (FB link)

Once again, a few years apart........................

20230429 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230429 NZ2423 update Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

FB link

Not for the faint hearted...............

20230429 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

(FB link)

Great work today by the team from Central House Movers and our Biggin Hill team for the move from our hangar to the paint shop at Ohakea. The 1km journey was somewhat shorter than the 21kms the Spitfire travelled 14 years ago on the same rig.

20230429 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[ZacYates]

Today's update (FB link) is a look back almost three years and a trip back to The Shed:

I thought it would be timely to look back at where our project started. In late June 2020, Brian Harris and I travelled down to Mapua out of Nelson at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, to look at John Smith’s ex RNZAF P51D Mustang he had kept in his shed since the early 1960’s. I had first sighted the P51 probably in the 1980s but as time went on and the shed became fuller and fuller, it was harder to view it.

It is often referred to as a “barn find” but in fact many people knew what was in John’s shed and had seen the aircraft at different times, especially locals and a few lucky “outsiders”. A great achievement for any visitor to his property at Mapua was the invitation to sit in the Mosquito, an absolute time capsule of this famous aircraft (and now beautifully statically restored and on display in the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka alongside another of his treasures, the P40 “Gloria Lyons”)

By the time we arrived Bill Reid, John Saunders and Mike Nichols had led the way with the hard yards in clearing a lot of aircraft stuff out of the shed. The two P40s were gone as were the Harvard and Tiger Moth, so it was much easier to get around and inspect the Mustang and the associated spares and scrap items (he had the remnants of several other RNZAF Mustangs).

Brian examined the aircraft for most of that day assessing the condition and any damage to the aircraft. Obvious corrosion was where you would expect it in extrusions and some of highly visible holes in the fuselage were just that and the damage didn’t extend beyond the skin. The most obviously serious damage was the wings having been gas axed off just outboard of the undercarriage to facilitate the moving of the scrapped Mustangs to Nelson from Woodbourne back in 1958. A set of intact outer wings (from NZ2417) were located in the shed and these have now been incorporated into the rebuilt wings.

By the end of the day we had determined most of the aircraft was present in different parts of the shed. Even the Harrison radiator was hiding behind the outer wing panels in the shed. Essentially it was the same aircraft that had been disposed of in 1958 with just 260 flying hours plus sixty plus years of storage after rescue from the scrappers, although it needed a bit of work to “fix it up”.

202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 16 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 17 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 18 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 19 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 20 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 21 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
202006 NZ2423 Mapua Brendon Deere 22 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[1969read]

Things are only original once

[ZacYates]

My apologies for the delay, offline issues have interrupted my activities. Here is Brendon's latest Mustag Two Three post, shared 12/05/2023 (link):

Our ex RNZAF P51D Mustang has begun its metamorphosis back in time to carry its original 2 TAF Squadron markings from RNZAF Ohakea in the 1950's. NZ2423 was based at Ohakea for its entire (if brief) RNZAF operational career with first 2 TAF (Territorial Air Force) Squadron and then 42 Squadron.

Although 2 SQN is no longer an active RNZAF Squadron since the retirement of the Skyhawks in 2001, 42 SQN is still active at Ohakea flying the Beechcraft King Air 350.

NZ2423's time with 42 Squadron was spent towing targets for the Vampire pilots to practice on (Grumman Avengers were used for the same purpose at Ohakea as well). In 1954, another Mustang NZ2408, was hit by cannon fire from a Vampire pilot who missed the drogue target. A cannon shell struck the Mustang at the starboard wing root and pierced the main spar. The Mustang returned safely to Ohakea but was grounded and never flew again.

20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
20230512 NZ2423 Ohakea Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[tbf2504]

Hi Zac,
I have prepared a long article on the rebuild of NZ2423 after visiting Brendon and the team at Ohakea in March. It is to be published in KIWIFLYER following Gavin's series on the mosquito at Omaka. Hopefully it will appear
in one of the next issues. Will have to update it now with these latest photos

[ZacYates]

That’s excellent news! I’ll have to hunt around and see where in Whanganui I can find a copy once it’s out (aviation magazine stockists have become thin on the ground here in recent years).