Brendon Deere's P-51D Mustang NZ2423

[Deleted]

Lovely shot!!

[Deleted]

Who's ready for a Friday Mustang Two Three update with a surprise guest? (FB link)

A bit of a truncated week with the team having Thursday and Friday off. We still managed to cover off three key tasks. Monday saw the weighing of the Mustang to establish CofG and ballast necessary to bring it into landing range. 46 lbs will be added to the ballast position on the front of the fin spar on NZ2423 to bring it within range.

On Tuesday we completed the compass swing of the aircraft on the compass pad at Ohakea. As mentioned previously this was the first time the aircraft had been out on the airfield since 1957. In the cockpit for the compass adjustment was Tony “Chips” Chippendale a former RNZAF engineer with 42 Squadron (the last Squadron to operate NZ2423). Chips currently looks after 42 Squadron’s Beechcraft Kingairs with Jet Aviation at Ohakea.

Wednesday saw NZ2423 refueled once again (the small amount of fuel put in for fuel system leak checks had been removed prior to weighing) ready for ground running. The tail of the aircraft was lifted into flying position again to check the indications on the mechanical fuel gauges – which under read when the tail is on the ground.

We also had a visit this week from Air Commodore Nick Osborne RAAF (escorted by SQNLDR Rod Fortune RNZAF). Air Commodore Osborne is a former RNZAF Skyhawk pilot and was the Commanding Officer of 75 SQN at Ohakea when the Air Combat Wing was shut down by the Clark government in 2001. He joined the RAAF in 2002 and went on to fly the F18 Hornet.

Next week will see the start of the ground running of the engine on our apron and checking of all the engine based systems. Hopefully no noise complaints!

NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 16 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 17 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 18 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231006 Brendon Deere 19 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

It’s alive - ALIVE!!!

[Dave Homewood]

So great to see the engine running. Congratulations Brendon and the team!

[Deleted]

[JW]

What an incredible achievement. Well done to everyone involved.

[baz62]

Great to see just as I go to bed......perchance to dream of Mustangs! Well done Team Biggin Hill!

[Mustang51]

I can hear her on this side of the Ditch

[Deleted]

It's Friday, and if you're in this thread you know what that means...(FB link):

Quite a significant week for us on our P51 restoration journey. On Monday we ran the engine for the first and second times. We ran it three more times on Wednesday and the engine is running smoothly. We are leaving the high power runs until next week as a paperwork issue was identified with the prop governor which is being replaced and the new unit is expected to be with us on Tuesday and will be installed on arrival.

A lot of the effort this week has happened out of sight as we ready all of the paperwork associated with the aircraft and its rebuild. There is an old saying that the aircraft is ready to fly once the paperwork equals the weight of the aircraft. All the same it is all necessary to satisfy the regulator that everything has been done correctly. We will have an ARA (Annual Review of Airworthiness) conducted on Monday which is essentially an audit of the paperwork to ensure everything is in place.

The next step will be an inspection by CAA but we don’t as yet have a date set for that as its an issue of their availability and fitting us into their work schedule. If they come and are satisfied after their inspection, they will issue us an Experimental Certificate of Airworthiness which allows us to commence our test flying program at Ohakea.

NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 13 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 14 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 15 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 16 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 17 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 20231013 Brendon Deere 18 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[johnnyfalcon]

Ohh...be still, my beating heart 💓

[baz62]

Awesome to see her coming to life again. I had a visit from Anthony Galbraith tonight and we were discussing the canopy on her. There were 5 different canopys on the P51D/K and this one is the correct -25 variant. I noticed the canopy looked different and looked at images of Zk-TAF/NZ2415 and you can see she has a different canopy. It's subtle but noticeable when you compare the same views.
This article is interesting about the canopy styles: Click Here
Reading it you can see 23 has the "Dallas" style canopy installed possibly the "Late Dallas".

[Deleted]

Evening all! Here's Brendon's end-of-week update (FB link here):

Brief update this week which has been very much focused on engine ground running. This included low power runs to check for leaks etc and then higher power runs to check the operation of the CSU and generator which have proved satisfactory. To date we have completed ten engine runs at different power settings including operation at take off rpm (set to 2,950 rpm). So far, no noise complaints.

A few other tasks have happened in the background including fitting the ballast weight and putting squadron markings on the side engine cowls. NZ2423 carried a 2 SQN crest on the left side throughout its flying but to give a nod to its full history we have added a 42 SQN crest on the right side cowl.

A team from CAA will be visiting us next Wednesday 25th October to assess the aircraft for certification.

ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 11 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231020 Brendon Deere 12 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Antonio]

Impressed with the 42 Sqn touch.

[Deleted]

Me too, very cool!

[Dave Homewood]

It's so, so good to see the news that NZ2423 is now ZK-BHT with a Certificate of Airworthiness! Massive congratulations to Brendon Deere and the team at Ohakea!

[Deleted]

As Dave posted, Wednesday was a big day for the team! (FB link)

The focus of our week has been the certification inspection by a team from CAA on Wednesday which culminated in the issue of a Certificate of Airworthiness, Special Category - Experimental, which allows us to plan now for our test flying program. A couple more stages in our ground based test plan and then we'll move into the test flying phase.

Photo includes (left to right): Brian Harris, Joe Deere, Gary Leach (CAA), Andrew Haworth (CAA) and David Gill (CAA).

We have also received approval for our Identifiable Paint Scheme which allows the aircraft to operate in its original RNZAF markings without civil markings. It also now has a unique call sign for Air Traffic Control of "Mustang Two Three" and will appear on ADSB based flight tracking apps as "MUST23".

ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231025 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231025 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231025 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231025 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

I'm very sorry for the delay, I've been in bed since Friday with the flu and totally forgot my obligations. Here's Brendon's Friday post.

The two most common questions over the last few weeks have been (a) When is the first flight and (b) Can I come on base and watch. The answer to (a) is "Soon" and the answer to (b) is unfortunately "No".

We are working on a secure military base where all visitors have to be escorted at all times and we simply don't have the personnel to do our job during the first flight phase and also escort people. The preparation will largely take place out of sight on the runway run up areas away from the Biggin Hill facility. We have, however, organized a professional videographer to film the event out on the airfield (with assistance from Ohakea Airfield Management). Once we move into our flight test program there will be a little more certainty around flight times for the "fence watchers" and we will try and detail them here when we can.

We want to ensure that every conceivable issue is dealt with on the ground for an aircraft that hasn't flown since 1957.

ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20231103 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Antonio]

Has any thought been given to inscribing John Smith's name on the aircraft?
Say the canopy frame?
Just seems appropriate to me.

[Mustang51]

Thinking first flight this Saturday would be appropriate

[emron]

Any significance to the new rego? Or does this one sum up our sentiments:

Brendon’s--- Hot(as)‘ell---‘Tang (Oohh!!).