AF Scrub/J. Beckwith F-51H revisited

Fictious Brunei Mustangs

What if Brunei had declared independance earlier and turned to the US instead of Commonwealth.
In a similar way to Indonesia, third world countries were dealing with both Western powers and USSR, therefore receiveing military assistance from one or the other, depending on political leaders choices and Coup d'état.

Royal Brunei Air Force F-51H, surplus from ANG, Military Assistance Program
Initially assigned to Air Defence, they were quickly re-tasked to COIN/CAS role where they had most of their operational career in the RBAF.

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For unknown reasons, these planes were shipped to Europe then ferried to Brunei by the air.
Here is a F-51H with a Brunei civilian registration for the ferry flights following the route :
Francfort,Germany - Roma,Italy - Paphos,Cyprus - Koweit City - Mascate,Oman - Bombay - Calcutta - Bangkok - Brunei

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Like Dominican Mustangs, Brunei's F-51H remained in service until late 80's with a midlife overhaul and upgrade done by Cavalier Aircraft Corporation technicians. F-51's kept their new low visibility grey until their withdrawal in 1990, replaced by newer turboprop Piper Enforcer
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L'iguane
 

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I see the new liveries in the library! :jump::jump: Thank you! Will be trying them out this evening, and maybe a few screen captures.

Java :applause::applause:
 
Was not the F51 used in Korea, I recall reading that a couple of Sqn's swapped out there P 80's too F51's so they could deal with the Yak 9's flown by the North Koreans ?

Steve
 
SteveB said:
Was not the F51 used in Korea, I recall reading that a couple of Sqn's swapped out there P 80's too F51's so they could deal with the Yak 9's flown by the North Koreans ?

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,

According to what I read about F-51H, despite being more refined and offering better performance than F-51D, F-51Hs were never used in Korea because F-51D were already available in more quantities and had already proven their value in combat. As the H version was lighter for more performance it may have been less damage-tolerant than its counterpart D, especially as Korean mustangs were mainly use for close air support.

L'iguane
 
L'iguane - enjoying your repaints very much indeed! Thank you for your additions to the existing aircraft file.

This is an interesting topic you raise, and it can be treated also as an elementary lesson in the economics of war. When WWII ended the USAAF/USAF found itself in possession of an imposing fleet of P-51s, some of which it retained, some it scrapped and some it mothballed. It also had a number of P-47Ds, bubble-tops. The P-47s cost more per unit to manufacture than the Mustangs, plus the R-2800 engine was more expensive to both manufacture and maintain than the Packard Merlin. It also had worse fuel mileage than the V-1710. When you add these things up it shows why the few ANG units that were issued P-47Ds after WWII kept them mostly for only a limited time. The P-47s in the inventory were disposed of as quickly as possible. The P-51s were kept because there were many more than the P-47s, and if they were lost to enemy ground fire, it didn't cost as much to replace one of those as it did to pull a P-47 out of an ANG unit and send it to Korea - although it would have been far superior to the P-51 as a ground attack aircraft, no doubt.

Even in the middle of a war, the purse strings matter.

BTW if you've ever seen a film called "Fighter Squadron," starring Edmond O'Brien and Robert Stack, it was shot in 1948 or 1949 at an ANG unit possibly in Kentucky or Tennessee. I may be wrong, I'm recalling the words of someone who was associated with the film (an AF type who did liaison between Republic Studios and the USAF/ANG and got the unit to do the flying sequences for the film). He said that film was a testament to many of the men who are seen flying those P-47s because about a year or so after the film was completed they converted to P-51s. Quite a few shipped out to Korea and many did not return.

Interesting note for trivia types - Republic Studios made the film about a Republic product.
 
SteveB said:
Was not the F51 used in Korea, I recall reading that a couple of Sqn's swapped out there P 80's too F51's so they could deal with the Yak 9's flown by the North Koreans ?
Steve
Click to expand...

Yes, the F-51 was used in Korea, but not to deal with the Yaks. (The F-82s and F-80s could handle them well enough.) It was used for ground attack.

The F-51 was brought in when the Air Force suddenly realized that it had just finished scrapping the last examples of the plane they really needed, the F-47 Thunderbolt. The Mustang wasn't a very good choice for the ground attack role, as its liquid cooling system made it very vulnerable to ground fire (an expensive lesson that the USAAF had already learned in WW2, when many P-51's and their pilots, including several top fighter aces, were lost to ground fire) but it was the only relatively slow fighter-bomber available and the F-80s were too fast to do the job with the desired precision, and they lacked endurance over the battlefield. (Despite that, the F-80 and F-84 were used in vast numbers in the ground attack role as the war went on, and they did the job quite well.)

All the Mustangs used in Korea were the older D model, and the Air Force had to scour the Air National Guard to get them back. The faster, lighter and less sturdy H models were retained at home for air defense until they could be replaced by jets - which were in short supply due to the war in Korea.
 
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Model & Texture Note

I've discovered something that might save someone some annoyance.

I've had the original Jerry Beckwith model installed since it was released in the fairly early days of FS9. I never installed Scrubby's version of it because I saw no need for it. So when I selected my favorites from l'Iguane's skins I didn't use the model that he supplied with them. I quickly discovered that when one of the new skins is applied to the original model, the top part of the vertical tail is not painted by the image on the texture file.

When I tried the new model with one of my old skins I found that the top of the tail doesn't display properly, sort of the flip side of the issue.

If you want your F-51H to wear my old skins and l'Iguane's new ones, you'll need both Jerry's original model and l'Iguane's update of Scrubby's in your aircraft folder. I named the original "model.JB" and the new one "model.AFS" and assigned each skin to the appropriate model in the aircaft.cfg file.
 
Mick said:
I've discovered something that might save someone some annoyance.

I've had the original Jerry Beckwith model installed since it was released in the fairly early days of FS9. I never installed Scrubby's version of it because I saw no need for it. So when I selected my favorites from l'Iguane's skins I didn't use the model that he supplied with them. I quickly discovered that when one of the new skins is applied to the original model, the top part of the vertical tail is not painted by the image on the texture file.

When I tried the new model with one of my old skins I found that the top of the tail doesn't display properly, sort of the flip side of the issue.

If you want your F-51H to wear my old skins and l'Iguane's new ones, you'll need both Jerry's original model and l'Iguane's update of Scrubby's in your aircraft folder. I named the original "model.JB" and the new one "model.AFS" and assigned each skin to the appropriate model in the aircaft.cfg file.
Click to expand...

:encouragement: I didn't notice that

Thanks for the update Mick, will probably save one or many from an annoying troubleshooting
Cheers

L'iguane
 
L'iguane, I just sent one of your skins through the Wayback Machine: N313H has re-enlisted in the Army, where it first got that very attractive olive drab and white livery. I hope you like it!
 
Mick said:
Yes, the F-51 was used in Korea, but not to deal with the Yaks. (The F-82s and F-80s could handle them well enough.) It was used for ground attack.

The F-51 was brought in when the Air Force suddenly realized that it had just finished scrapping the last examples of the plane they really needed, the F-47 Thunderbolt. The Mustang wasn't a very good choice for the ground attack role, as its liquid cooling system made it very vulnerable to ground fire (an expensive lesson that the USAAF had already learned in WW2, when many P-51's and their pilots, including several top fighter aces, were lost to ground fire) but it was the only relatively slow fighter-bomber available and the F-80s were too fast to do the job with the desired precision. (Despite that, the F-80 and F-84 were used in vast numbers in the ground attack role as the war went on, and they did the job quite well.)

All the Mustangs used in Korea were the older D model, and the Air Force had to scour the Air National Guard to get them back. The faster, lighter and less sturdy H models were retained at home for air defense until they could be replaced by jets - which were in short supply due to the war in Korea.
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Hi Mick.
In the original article in August 1994 Air International, by Robert F Dore. It is stated that "many pilots complained that the F80 was too fast and lacked the Manoeuvrability and pleaded for prop driven aircraft to combat North Korea's Yak and Lavochkin's. By the autumn of 1552, two of the three F80 sqn's in Korea had been converted too F-51D Mustangs for a short period of time". I read this article many moons ago and forgot the D bit so I saw this thread I wondered if maybe this model was the correct one or not. I have since found the article again and realised that It was just me being forgetful.

Thanks for the info.

Steve
 
Mick said:
L'iguane, I just sent one of your skins through the Wayback Machine: N313H has re-enlisted in the Army, where it first got that very attractive olive drab and white livery. I hope you like it!
Click to expand...

For sure I like it :wavey:
I would have sent you the N313H original templates if I had known !

L'iguane
 
SteveB said:
Hi Mick.
In the original article in August 1994 Air International, by Robert F Dore. It is stated that "many pilots complained that the F80 was too fast and lacked the Manoeuvrability and pleaded for prop driven aircraft to combat North Korea's Yak and Lavochkin's... Steve
Click to expand...

I'll bet I read that article back when that was the current issue!

I should've remembered about the F-80 and the comments by its pilots. But I'm old, I'm supposed to forget things.

The old F-82 had no trouble with the Yaks, though! Even in the daytime, while hauling around those big night fighter radar pickles and the operator with his equipment, they made quick work of the Yaks when they ran into them.
 
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