Mustang: F-51, A-36, F-82, Cavalier, and Piper PA-48 Enforcer

[nev]

OK, as I finally wrote my review of the Revell P-51B, I thought I'd start a thread discussing WI options...

Kinda hard cos sooooo many 'stangs were built and used by so many nations...Toad, a while back did a drawing of a Sea Mustang (RCN, if I remember right).

I thought about taking advantage of the P-51s long, long range by doing a Coatal Command version.  Extra dark sea grey/slate grey/sky camo, drop tanks, used on long range, high speed maritime patrol, perhaps up and down the Norweigan coast, it could certainly defend itself from FW-190s.

[Slim]

-- How about SEAC markings ? -- In reality a couple of Mustangs were tried out, in India I believe. Wouldn´t a Mustang look cool in dk green / dk earth / msg camouflage?

[Martin H]

yeah, cool plane, Martin ! Don't tell anyone I said so...but sometimes planes look okay with that red dot in the center of the roundel...sort of.

What kit is it ?

It was the crapy old Matchbox kit.
Chopping it up is about the best thing to do with it. I have a few in stock to provide spare bits for my small but growing pending pile of High planes reno raceing stangs.

And yes that red dot is rather fetching isnt it?  So much better than that leaf thing you Canadians keep insisting on :TT

[nev]

Coastal Command Mustangs - have one on the go.

What colour scheme are you planning on hank?  I know I said sky undersides, but I really meant white.  I really love the old CC scheme of EDSG/SG/white.  What fit are you planning on?

The only problem with the Merlin engined version is that it didn't start arriving till late '43 and didn't enter effective, operational service till spring '44.  And as far as CC goes, the U-boat war was long over by then and there were loads of escort carriers as well.  I still like the idea of a squadron being based in the azores tho!

[lancer]

Ok, this might just be taken as heresy, but how about carrier based mustangs to replace the Seafire? Up gun the mustang to take 4 20mm cannon and, possibly, an attachment point for a torpedo. Good wide track undercart, long range excellent manuverability, would make a good carrier based aircraft.

Lancer....

[Radish]

:G Had the war continued into 1946/7, the two other versions of the P-51 you mention would have been produced.
The P-51L was the same as a P-51H but powered by a 1,500hp Packhard-Merlin V-1650-11 engine. 1,500 were ordered but cancelled after VJ day.
The M (built in Dallas) had a V-1650-9A engine, but otherwise similar to a P-51H. One P-51M-1-NT was built (45-11743) before the axe fell. All 1,628 were cancelled.
:t

[Radish]

Irish Air Corps RF-51D in Korea. The swirly insignia super-imposed over the USAF one (like the South Korean one).
I've done a Commie Chinese one, and also a rumoured North Korean one in all black (5th US Intelligence reconed the North had ex-Chinese P-51s!!!....silly people).
How about if the Soviets had copied a P-51D (like they did the B-29) and produced it.
In Eastern European service....
Yugoslavia,
Poland,
Czechslovakia,
Hungary??
How about ex-Israeli examples in Burmese service?
How about some Latin American users that didn't actually have Mustangs?
Mexico, Argentina, chile?
I like the Griffon engined idea, as well as the turbo-prop developments.
There's lots of possibilities with the latter in COIN duties with small countries?
I've just done a REAL (sad, I know) F-51D of the El Salvador AF during the Football War of 1969.
:TT  :TT  :TT  :TT  :TT

[Matt Wiser]

How about these:

Seahorse-the USN Mustang. Would have gotten the FJ-1 designation instead of the actual jet fighter that North American turned into the F-86.

Additional customers or combat use:

Lend-Lease to USSR-Sovs did request Mustangs via Lend-Lease but were turned down-USAAF and RAF had priority.

P/F-51s could have been used by French in Indochina-later passed on to VNAF like the F8F Bearcats.

Korea: Other users besides USAF, ROKAF, SAAF, and RAAF:
How about an RCAF or RAF squadron in Korea? Try Taiwan against the PRC in the early '50s-both sides had Mustangs-PRC's were captured Nationalist a/c.

Cuba: Bay of Pigs force needed fighter cover if they were to survive-surplus Mustangs would have been good against the Cuban AF's Sea Furies.

Or WW III in the late 1940's-USAF, RAF, French AF, even a (gasp!) reactivated Luftwaffe against the Soviets and the East Bloc.

[joesus]

Plus, the air racer versions. I participated in a club \"Reno 1999\" group build, long enough ago so that was a few years off in the future. Two of mine were P-51 based: a p-51H with forward swept wings, new tail, and some area ruling, and an F-82 with a single cockpit.

[Sisko]

I saw on Hyperscale  that someone had modified a P-51 into the piper enforcer and I got to thinking.

What would happen if the same updates were done to a Fw 190 D9 or a Ta-152. In the Luft 46 universe it could be supplied by the Greater Reich to be used by puppet regimes as a cheap strike aircraft against partisans and other enemies of the state.

Fitted out with a turboprop, wingtip tanks and multiple underwing hard points the cool factor would have to be high!

B)  B)

Hmmmmmm I have a Tamiya 1/48th D9.  

[Jschmus]

The F-82 did have a slightly longer fuselage, and I believe the outer wing sections were longer, as well.  A single-fuselage design based on this would relate to a Mustang the way the Ta 152 did to the Fw 190, maybe?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Here's my two penn'arth.

Post War British Auxilliary AF with really bright 'county' sidebars.

Post War Czech/Polish AF in a mid grey, pretend the Russains didn't insist that all equipment that didn't originate in the USSR was scrapped.

Post War French AF, in a desert scheme - Algeria loadout.

USAF Korea, use the decals from any F-51D sheet, I'm sure that they'll fit.

Any Latin American AF.... just pick one, decals from one of those B/A-26 sheets and paint any combination of greens and tans.

How about a Mercenary one. Pick a scheme that lights your candle and patch-up your own markings out of the spares box....

Go nutz, Jon.

HTH

I H-G

[Damian2]

Hi guys!

Did the North American Co. or anyone else for that matter ever mount the Griphon engine found in late model Spitfires into the P-51?

If I were to do this in 1/48 how much longer do you think the nose would be?

Thanx for looking!

Damian

[jcf]

Hi guys!

Did the North American Co. or anyone else for that matter ever mount the Griphon engine found in late model Spitfires into the P-51?

If I were to do this in 1/48 how much longer do you think the nose would be?

Thanx for looking!

Damian

Griffons have been mounted in various Unlimited Class racers, and length isn't the issue...rather  it is engine height and weight.

Griffons varied in length from between 71 to 82 inches, were 30.3 inches wide, 46 inches in height and weighed 1,980 lbs...the two-speed two-stage supercharged Merlins, such as the V-1650-7 most commonly mounted in the P-51, were 88.7 inches long, 30.7 inches wide, 40 inches in height and weighed in the area of 1,650 lbs.

When the Griffon was designed great pains were taken to keep it within the mounting envelope of the current aircraft...the greatest attention was paid to keeping the length down.

Data from Alec Lumsden's "British Piston Aero Engines and Their Aircraft".

Cheers, Jon

[gooberliberation]

North American never did finish putting a Griffon on a mustang. They figured that stuffing one into a P-51 would need an all-new fuselage with a mid-engined layout. Using just flying surfaces from old Mustang mk Is, they got pretty far before giving up in favor of focusing on jets.(I know theres at least a couple mid-engined mustangs on this site)


And then postwar, turned out they didnt need THAT much modification.