Brendon Deere's P-51D Mustang NZ2423

[camtech]

Dec 2, 2023 20:05:53 GMT 12 McFly said:

"Ex-Royal New Zealand Air Force Mustang makes maiden post-restoration flight"...

A good write-up/article from 'Key Aero' here (link)..

Yes, but in the email advice they had the temerity to state "Aussie Mustang.."

[McFly]

Another good article on Brendon Deere and his exploits by 'Key Aero' here (link)..

"The nephew of a noted wartime ace took the plunge, defied the doubters and restored a Spitfire to airworthiness ‘in-house’ — and he’s now done the same with a Mustang..."

[Mustang51]

Had the great pleasure of interviewing Brendon as part of the commentary at Wings over Wairarapa. Sadly had to return to Oz before I could see the machine in person...

[Antonio]

Dec 4, 2023 7:41:48 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Had the great pleasure of interviewing Brendon as part of the commentary at Wings over Wairarapa. Sadly had to return to Oz before I could see the machine in person...

[Deleted]

Dec 3, 2023 20:13:37 GMT 12 camtech said:

Dec 2, 2023 20:05:53 GMT 12 McFly said:

A good write-up/article from 'Key Aero' here (link)..

Yes, but in the email advice they had the temerity to state "Aussie Mustang.."

Oh dear...

Back in the real world Brendon posted a Mustang update today, although something else managed to sneak in first (link)

SQNLDR Stu Anderson completed his third Spitfire flight this afternoon and SQNLDR Sean Perrett completed the seventh test flight for the Mustang as well. Both aircraft will be flying again tomorrow around 3pm.

ZK-SPI 20231207 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT 20231207 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Antonio]

I still pinch myself seeing these photos!!!! 

[planecrazy]

I notice in some of the earlier images in this thread the panel around the exhaust
is less polished, is this panel on the restoration left un-painted due to the exhaust
gases damaging the paint?

Nov 19, 2022 11:08:47 GMT 12 @zacyates said:

Mustang Update 221118 via Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickrhref="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zacyates/"]Zac Yates

[/url], on Flickr
Mustang Update 221118 via Brendon Deere 18 by Zac Yates, on Flickr[/quote]

[tbf2504]

The panels immediately behind the exhaust on the Mustang are made of stainless steel. This is required to reflect the heat coming out of the exhaust stubs. The ones on NZ2423 are nice and shiny but are showing some signs of exhaust "blueing"staining. I know this because I wiped some of it off at Ohakea yesterday. The reason for these panels not showing so much in those old photos would be due to weathering of the material being out in the open for some time.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2023 13:56:23 GMT 12 tbf2504 said:

I know this because I wiped some of it off at Ohakea yesterday.

Lucky for some!! How cool! Speaking of cool (link):

Checking the weather outside......

ZK-BHT 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr



Harvard, Mustang and Spitfire are all airborne together as I type this.

[JW]

Great to see NZ2423 back in the air again. Just wondering if there will be a book done on the restoration similar to the Spitfire PV270.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2023 19:43:23 GMT 12 JW said:

Just wondering if there will be a book done on the restoration similar to the Spitfire PV270.

I remember Brendon saying that was the plan. I hope it still is!!

Speaking of Brendon, he posted a couple of times on Facebook last night link

Busy apron this afternoon.......

ZK-SPI ZK-BHT ZK-ENA 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

link

Another view of the flight line today - thanks to 3 SQN and the A109 flight line for the use of their facilities.

ZK-SPI ZK-BHT ZK-ENA 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

It does my heart a lot of good to see the three of these finally together!

[ErrolC]

Thanks as always Zac.

While looking at Harvard NZ1052 at Ardmore today I was thinking about the presumed planned photo shoot with Wellington TAF stablemate NZ2423.

[planecrazy]

Dec 8, 2023 13:56:23 GMT 12 tbf2504 said:

The panels immediately behind the exhaust on the Mustang are made of stainless steel. This is required to reflect the heat coming out of the exhaust stubs. The ones on NZ2423 are nice and shiny but are showing some signs of exhaust "blueing"staining. I know this because I wiped some of it off at Ohakea yesterday. The reason for these panels not showing so much in those old photos would be due to weathering of the material being out in the open for some time.

Thank you..

[Deleted]

Here's another post from Brendon (link):

Just a few more photos from the ground of Friday's exercise. Thanks also to those on the fence who have posted photos of the aircraft in the air and also to Gavin Conroy for coming up to capture the Mustang and Spitfire in the air.

ZK-SPI ZK-BHT 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-SPI 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01x by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-SPI ZK-BHT 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01x by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 02x by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-ENA 20231208 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01x by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[teemack]

For anyone planning to model this aircraft, a new set of decals in all scales is coming on the market. See link below:
www.scalemates.com/kits/oldmodels-decals-omd1506-p51-d-mustang-new-zealand-warbird--1518172

[planecrazy]

Little 410mm span rc job using those decals, need to add the 511.

[Deleted]

(link)

P-51D-25NT Mustang NZ2423 over its home base of RNZAF Ohakea

ZK-BHT 20231208 inflight Gavin Conroy 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

The next Classic Wings issue should be a real cracker!

[Deleted]

From Brendon:

Classic Wings magazine is publishing a feature on NZ2423 in its upcoming issue - the article covers the history and rebuild of the aircraft and also showcases air to air images captured recently by Gavin Conroy. I understand this edition will likely be out by the end of the year.

Also she flew again on Monday:
ZK-BHT 20231219 Ohakea Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Brendon has shared a terrific wrap-up of the trust's activities in 2023 but, as there are more than 100 photos, I figured it'd be best just to link to it (my sincere apologies to anyone unable to view the post).

As we look back on 2023, we’ve managed to get quite a bit done, reflected a little in the selection of photos in this post. Harvard 37 had its freshly overhauled Pratt and Whitney R1340 fitted and has been performing well since then. Avenger 18’s new engine arrived into New Zealand with Air New Zealand just before Christmas and is now with Mainfreight in Palmerston North awaiting delivery to Ohakea.

Spitfire PV270 has flown well this year and new pilot Stu Anderson has completed his first few flights.

Major task this year has been the completion of Mustang 23 with its first post restoration flight on Remembrance Day, 11th November (and completed before the 11th hour).
A lot of people have helped us this year – too many to name this time around but we appreciate every one’s contribution to our operation.

A major effort now is the planning to take three aircraft to Warbirds over Wanaka at Easter – Mustang, Spitfire and Avenger. The focus with the Avenger will be fitting and testing the new engine and with the Mustang working through continuing preparation of the new aircraft.

I’d like to thank everyone who has followed our efforts on Facebook this year and offered encouragement on our journey – its all very much appreciated - every post and comment is read.

A Mustang post from Brendon this afternoon (link)

NZ2423's cockpit has remained as original as we could make it with virtually everything you see here from the original aircraft which John Smith looked after for all those years. The cockpit restoration was a major part of the project with numerous instruments, controls and systems requiring overhaul alongside all the associated plumbing and wiring.

ZK-BHT Ohakea 20230401 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
ZK-BHT Ohakea 20230401 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr