Mustang - (Mostly) One careful lady owner.

[JDK]

Yesterday, we had the RAAF Museum's Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Mk.23 Mustang on show, flown by Flt Lt Peter Clements, RAAF Reserve.

The one lady owner? A few Mustangs have interesting or unusual histories. This one was built at CAC Fishermen's Bend (in sight of its current base, RAAF Point Cook, Victoria, Australia) and delivered to the RAAF in 1950. With various moves in between, this is believed to be the only active, airworthy Mustang with continuous military and current air force ownership; the owner being the RAAF, headed by Queen Elizabeth the Second. (To be totally honest, Guv, EIIR was the second owner, her father having responsibility for the first few years...)

Despite being a peacetime Australian-built CA-18 Mk.23, it is painted in the colours of the only RAAF Mustang to bear the shark's teeth, a North American built example, the markings being those of the wing commander in charge of the squadron in the Japanese Occupation Force in the 1950s.

Thought some folks would like to see our pride of the fleet, so here are the pics:

Peter gets ready to fly, helped by one of the senior technical staff. Another, the main man responsible for the maintenance of the Mustang has shot-through to the USA at the moment, for something to do with more Mustangs...



This example is fitted with a pre-oiling system (IIRC) and the team also pull through a few blades before flight. Not normal air force procedure, but we aim to be able to show this aircraft to the great great grandkids...



Grrrr....



I don't have a super-whizzy drainpipe fitted camera, but even the small zoom was challenged by the heat-haze of this warm Spring day.



We had a nice aerobatic display; loop, rolls, barrel and aileron, and a number of passes.





The Mustang wasn't the only thing airborne locally, and this Crow did a good demonstration of soaring in a light breeze with a remarkable selection of slats and variable geometry. Smarter than some aircrew too, and just as fond of chips.









The strange shape shimmering in the background is either a ship or perhaps a rig in Port Philip Bay.



The building in the background, just fitted with a new roof, is the Seaplane Shed, one of the oldest buildings on the site, many of which date back to the Great War era. This shed was used for Seagull III and V as well as Southampton hangarage. Finding a Supermarine Southampton in there now would be nice... I must check sometime...









I'm sorry to have to report our pilot arrived on an American orthodontist-wagon. I knew there were few corners on the roads near the base, but I didn't realise the roads were that easy to navigate. Of course we shouldn't be surprised by a Mustang driver wanting people to know he's coming by the loud noise emitted, would we? But I don't think being a 'soft-tail' is something a Mustang would be proud of, and 'eighty cubic inches' were amply out-sized today.



The aircraft was flown as part of the RAAF Museum's 'Interactive' flying displays. The Museum puts up an aircraft at 1pm Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, either from its airworthy fleet, or a guest aircraft, flown by a Museum friend. The Mustang is the max-puissance flying machine in the collection, which also includes a Tiger Moth, Sopwith Pup replica, CT-4 and Winjeel. The others we regularly have on show are a Birddog, Harvard and SNJ, as well as some others and the RAAF aerobatic team the Roulettes.



http://www.defence.gov.au/RAAF/raafmuse ... isplay.htm

And it's free. All you've got to do is get to the greatest city in the universe, Melbourne. ~hem hem~ See you there!

Cheers,

[mrhenniger]

Well done James. Thanks for the mini-article.

Mike

[oz rb fan]

it's nice to see her where she belongs after the temporey grounding a couple of years back .
i still think it's the best looking mustang out there,did peter bring his tool kit for the harley(a pickup and a spare bike )
paul

[JägerMarty]

Nice pics there, when is the next airshow there?

[JDK]

Nice pics there, when is the next airshow there?

Thank you. The RAAFM Friend's magazine, 'Aerogram' gives a date of the next RAAF Museum Pageant as being the 24th February.

[Mudge]

JD...nicely done pictures and well composed post. That's simply a good looking airplane.

Mudge the aesthete

[Bill Greenwood]

I've heard Melbourne is a nice place, but why did you guys put it so far away from most anywhere? What is the purpose of pulling the prop blades through?

[daveymac82c]

Hey James,

Great pictures and story, but what I'd like to know is who set up the pylon obstacle course for the Mustang to taxi through?



Seems dangerous, but it looks like she made it through alright.

Cheers,

David

[JDK]

How did we end up in this forum? If I'd wanted to be here, I'd have posted here...

I've heard Melbourne is a nice place, but why did you guys put it so far away from most anywhere? What is the purpose of pulling the prop blades through?

Sorry Bill, I've just checked, and I'm here, so this is indeed the centre of the Universe. We are quite close to real far-away too, with (in order) Perth, WA; Antarctica and New Zealand just around the corner. On the other hand I've never felt so remote from reality as when I visited Montecito, CA.

As to pulling the blades through, I understand (bear in mind I'm no engineer) it's associated with the pre-oiling system, and is intended to increase the engine life. Like a lot of Merlin fighters around today, this Mustang is often used for relatively short display flights (3/4 hr from start to shutdown, including a short warm-up practice over to the west on Tuesday) and occasional much longer flights to remote places like Sydney.

Great pictures and story, but what I'd like to know is who set up the pylon obstacle course for the Mustang to taxi through?

Seems dangerous, but it looks like she made it through alright.

Ah, well spotted. We like to check we have the best pilots, so there's a small slalom before arriving back on the pan. The crew holds scores out of six up on a board (not shown) like the judges in ice skating competition.

More seriously, Point Cook is a mixed field, originally being an all grass airfield up until W.W.II. Certain taxi areas are just earth which was tarmaced over, and it won't take any significant weight; one of those ideas that seemed good at the time, I'm sure. We sill have a selection of grass runways as well as the two 'hard' strips.

Cheers,

[Swiss Mustangs]

here's the original:



source: http://bcofonline.com/is.htm

great photos, James ! thanks.

Martin

[JDK]

Hi Martin,
That's great, appreciate you finding this. The 'new' aircraft has a rather tougher paint finish, and no rocket hardpoints fitted, but otherwise it looks very accurate as to the original.
Cheers

[BrianVallero]

good picture.

[Rogue]

here's the original:

Is that a D or a K?

[JDK]

Is that a D or a K?

A 'D'.

ADF Serials:
http://www.adf-serials.com/

A68-750 P-51D-25-NT Mustang IV 124-44345 44-84489 Received 6 AD ex USA on 06/08/45. Issued 77 Sqn 12/11/45. Served in Japan with 77 Sqn. Returned to Aust in Nov 1948 and issued 78 Wing (Williamtown) 01/12/48. On 30/11/50 allocated to School Land/Air Warfare. On 15/03/51, approval given for conversion to components after removal of the engine. Hist Card says intent was to use parts of the airframe as a target. On 1/4/52 balance issued to DAP for disposal. The real A68-750 is stored in California USA, pending restoration. It did have the registration VH-POB reserved but that is now available for allocation. The aircraft flying as A68-750 is really A68-170.

[Rogue]

Thanks James,
I saw the uncuffed prop and what looked like a K canopy, not that means anything.