Brendon Deere's P-51D Mustang NZ2423

[Deleted]

Some photos from Brendon posted on Facebook on 22/10/2020:

A few snaps from today as we take a closer look at the fin and wings and continue to work through sorting out the multitude of spares that came with the aircraft.

NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 221020 Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Another couple of updates today on FB from Brendon:

Another step forward today as the engine mount was separated from the fuselage.

NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

And the tail section is removed as well making for a very short aircraft

NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 281020 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Brendon has shared a new batch of detail photos of Mustang Two Three on Facebook, credit to him:

For those who like a bit of detail - this is inside the tail section. The tailwheel has already been removed but retracted manually without any problem before removal. You can't help but be impressed with the design details of the Mustang and compare it to the Spitfire. Everything about the P51 is aimed at making it easy to manufacture in volume whereas the Spitfire was alway a "hand built" aeroplane design with all that entails. Volume manufacture of the Spitfire was solved by applying lots of workers to the task. The P51 Mustang is a relatively simple aeroplane by comparison.
Its easier to see now how North American's factory in Grand Prairie was able to roll out Mustangs at a great rate alongside AT6 Texans (Harvards) and B24 Liberators. In one 30 day period, 728 aircraft were produced, a mark never bettered in the US aviation industry. The Grand Prairie (Dallas) factory at its peak employed 38,500 staff working three 8 hour shifts every day. The structure of NZ2423 is covered in the stamps of individual operators at the plant who completed each section.

NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 291020 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

A very welcome update from Brendon Deere via Facebook confirming the paint scheme the restored aircraft will wear:

Its good to look forward to NZ2423's restoration colour scheme through the artwork Malcolm Laird has done for us.

NZ2423 profile Malcolm Laird by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Mathew Lee
Bare polished metal or painted silver?
Brendon Deere
We will paint it for long term preservation

[Mustang51]

Very nice indeed..........and Black and Yellow - my Pittsburgh Steelers colours.....

[Deleted]

I'm a bit behind: the remaining fuselage section was removed from the fuselage on 16 November.

And some other detail photos from Brendon, these were shared on Wednesday:

One of the interesting challenges of this P51D restoration is recording all of the very numerous stencils and placards that have survived on this very original aircraft.

NZ2423 Ohakea 251120 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 251120 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 251120 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 251120 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 251120 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

And these on Friday:

As another week draws to a close, our focus has been on two main tasks - building up the main fuselage jig and preparing the items heading off overseas for rebuild or overhaul.
As we start with a factory built airframe, the jig is built up around the key alignment points on the fuselage and checked against the specifications. A separate jig will be built for the rear fuselage. The main fuselage jig will allow accurate replacement of the main fuselage longerons and skin repairs and replacement as required.
The engine, propellor and wing group are all heading to the US in mid December for rebuild which will allow our in-house focus in 2021 to be on the fuselage, systems and tail feathers until everything starts to come together back at Biggin Hill.
Early days in the journey but some good steps taken so far.

NZ2423 Ohakea 271120 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 271120 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Mustang51]

Wonderful............love to see it in person during the rebuild some time

[Deleted]

Nov 30, 2020 8:26:17 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Wonderful............love to see it in person during the rebuild some time

in the meantime, at least, that'll mean more than just the trans-Tasman flights. From Brendon on the BHHAC Facebook page yesterday:

A couple of milestones today. Our wings and propellor have left for repair/overhaul in US by Odegaard Wings in North Dakota and the propellor to Maxwell Aviation Service in Minneapolis. The completion of the main fuselage jig has allowed a start on removing the fuselage skins and preparing for replacement of the main fuselage longerons in the New Year when they arrive.

NZ2423 Ohakea 081220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 081220 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 081220 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

And lunchtime today:

A closer look at the exposed main fuselage structure. The main enemy of the aircraft has been the generations of rats that made a home in the aircraft over the last 60 plus years. Some of this damage is evident in the frame section behind the main fuselage tank. In general the airframe is in exceptionally good condition.

NZ2423 Ohakea 091220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 091220 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 091220 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 091220 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Mustang51]

Wonderful !!!

[kiwi285]

Going to be great being along for the ride on this restoration.

[Deleted]

I'm glad these posts are of interest - it may just be me but the P-51 and P-40s don't seem to be getting anywhere near the public attention of the Mosquito.

A new Facebook post from Brendon a few minutes ago:

One of the confronting parts of any restoration is watching the aircraft disappear before your eyes. Every component in the fuselage is being removed, bead blasted, inspected and will be reprimed before going back into the jig. At this stage we anticipate a very original aircraft with everything possible being returned to the aircraft.
We have also made a start on the side project of recovering some of the multitude of parts from other RNZAF Mustangs that John Smith had diligently collected. We keep being reminded how much we owe to that man's foresight. We have about 17 undercarriage blocks to recover as a starter and a damaged one was used to develop the recovery process. These may well help other Mustangs to get or keep flying in the future.
The vast array of other spare items will be tackled at some stage in the future and we intend to part out the other airframe items that John had collected from the scrapping site in Moutere as they contain many useful forgings, fittings and other fixtures.
The rear section of the fuselage has started having its jig built around it. This multipurpose jig frame will be used for the tailplane, elevators and rudder as well.

NZ2423 Ohakea 111220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 111220 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 111220 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 111220 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Dave Homewood]

Good to see the eye and ear protection, something I keep noticing as missing in so many restorations and builds I am following online.

[Deleted]

Brendon posted some more photos last night, hopefully they're of interest:

Another Sunday look around. With one of the longerons out of the airframe, its easier to see the corrosion caused by our friendly Mapua rats.

NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 04 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 05 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 06 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 07 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 08 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 09 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
NZ2423 Ohakea 211220 Brendon Deere 10 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Another pic last night, involving bits going back in! Kinda. And a Pete Burgess photobomb.

New longerons for the Mustang rear fuselage being trial fitted in the jig today.

NZ2423 Ohakea 221220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[markrogers]

Awesome! Thanks for the updates!

[teemack]

Dec 23, 2020 10:58:30 GMT 12 @zacyates said:

Another pic last night, involving bits going back in! Kinda. And a Pete Burgess photobomb.

New longerons for the Mustang rear fuselage being trial fitted in the jig today.

NZ2423 Ohakea 221220 Brendon Deere 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[teemack]

Hi there. I'm new to this forum and registered out of interest in the restoration of the P-51D. The work-in-progress pics are incredibly helpful for my own 1/32 scale Mustang build. I'm curious whether the work has stopped since Christmas?

[skyhawkdon]

If you are on Facebook they post weekly updates there. www.facebook.com/groups/119982544710555

They are making amazing progress.

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2021 1:06:21 GMT 12 teemack said:

I'm curious whether the work has stopped since Christmas?

As Don said work hasn't stopped, I've just dropped off re-posting Brendon's photos here as I wasn't sure if many people were seeing them.

[Mustang51]

Keep them coming