History and Details of the P-51D-5-NA (A Flight Sim Project)

[hairyspin]

I couldn't possibly come close to this standard of modelling yet, but I greatly admire the attention to detail and the detailed modelling. It might seem obsessive, but a certain amount of obsession, plus a lot of bloody-mindedness is needed for a really good model.

More power to your elbow and I hope it sells shedloads! :salute:

 

[Bomber_12th]

One of the best 3D modelling I've seen.Are you planning to go through all Mustang versions including P-51H, or even F-82?
And a little something: please add the brake lines, there are on the real a/c so...apart of the fidelity of the model, if you want to do a realistic walk around before flight, they have to be there

Mohawk...brake lines it is. I'll be sure to add those on. ; )

There are currently no plans at all to cover any Mustang-types later than the D/K's.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you John and you know I will be one of the first to buy this gem! Never enough of your work on my PC. I hope to release the remainder of my VLR repaints once I'm settled into my new digs. This divroise thing is throwing me for a spin......

thank you for all your hard work......I am praying we'll see a late model corsair from you guys too.....:salute:

John, thank you very much for your very kind feedback, and I do hope to see those VLR repaints!

I too hope that a late-model Corsair will enter the fold, eventually. ; )

 

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you to everyone who has posted to this thread, I really appreciate it!

Adding onto Huub's post, here are some extremely rare photos of the cockpit on P-51B 43-12102, which is generally considered the P-51D prototype. At the point of development that these photos were taken, an N-9 gun sight was yet to be fitted/installed, so a mock-up "gun sight" was made using a piece of glass and a bump-guard pad. The radio heads below the main electrical panel, and the bracket for the IFF set, were simply a test as well, and were not installed on P-51D-5-NA's (though the brackets were manufactured with all of the proper holes for mounting this equipment). Also, by the time the first P-51D-5-NA rolled out of the factory, the older P-51B/C era single bomb release lever was replaced with the dual bomb release levers as seen in all production P-51D's.

Here are some photos that illustrate the N-9 gun sight installation, as well as the backup ring and bead installation.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Although a wartime-photo of the instrument panel on a P-51B/C, one can see how similar it was to that of the P-51D-5-NA instrument panel.

 

[Bomber_12th]

Here are the first screenshots of the reproduction of Major George Preddy's "Cripes A' Mighty 3rd", thus far.

 

[jp]

I will definately be buying this. Been waiting a long time to see Cripes modeled! Preddy lived just a few miles from my hometown.

 

[Quicksand]

Beautiful, John! Really looking forward to this one... "Cripes" looks awesome!!!!! :salute:

 

[skyhawka4m]

OK....I call these repaints!!!!


View attachment 49491

 

[jankees]

It's starting to look awfully good, this baby...

 

[Bomber_12th]

I'm very glad to hear of the interest in Preddy's "Cripes A' Mighty 3rd"! Both the story of George Preddy, and of course the aircraft he flew, have been a long-time interest of mine - being able to be in a developer's position, it is absolutely wonderful to actually build the aircraft as it originally was. Still some more work to be done on the external paint work.

All of the specific examples which will be covered have been fairly much set in stone, and I'll provide some screenshots and hopefully some more background history behind the aircraft and pilot, as they are revealed.

John, I love that shark-mouth 352nd FG example. Assigned to Capt. John Bennet, he also had a shark-mouthed P-51B before it, which is actually better known.

 

[DaveQ]

To quote a 'nineties sitcom - 'Absolutely Fabulous'!!!!!

Two things - will there be a separate paint kit and will there be a 'filletted' -5 in the kit?

DaveQ

 

[Bomber_12th]

Dave, that would be a yes on both accounts. ; )

BTW, here are some photos of a "filleted P-51D-5-NA", that might be of interest to you. ; ) The photos of "Da' Quake" ditched on the beach, were taken by French villagers/sight-seekers! All photos copyrighted to Martin Kyburz.

In better times:

Alternatively, here are photos taken by the French people as well, of P-51D-5-NA 44-13663, the actual airframe that was recovered and is under restoration in the UK, and a photo of the airframe after it was recovered from the sand. Both airframes ditched on the same beach very close to one another.

 

[skyhawka4m]

????????

 

[DaveQ]

Many thanks John for the pictures of the beeched duo. There was some doubt about which one was recovered but most sources seem to agree it was probably Kester's rather than 'Da Quake'. But, as far as I can tell, no work has been done on the airframe for many years, if at all. I don't even know where it is now; it was in Coventry but I've seen nothing about it in quite a while.

And I'm very glad here that both -5's AND a paint kit will be included in the kit!

Regards

DaveQ

 

[Sundog]

Thank you Sundog! About the Miles M.20, you may very well be correct!

The currently available Warbirdsim P-51B/C's for FSX are fully native as they stand right now, but they are quite a bit aged, and have been under the knife, on and off, for quite some time, for an eventual full-upgraded version. I can say that there was a signficant purchase made on my part, about a week ago, that will definitely help see this upgrading through to completion much faster. Also, as you might think, there is so much P-51B/C in the P-51D-5-NA cockpit, that a good portion of the cockpit of the P-51B/C can be upgraded by simply using what exists in the cockpit of the P-51D-5-NA. However, the challenging part comes down to items like the windscreen/canopy enclosure assemblies, and entirely different gear wells and wing-to-fuselage fillets. I can say that the future looks bright for high-back Mustangs in general - though that future is still quite a bit of ways away, with other aircraft on the bench as well.

I'm glad you like my story-telling! ; )

I had to go back and look and what I was thinking of was the Fighter Leader II pack. The B/C with the dorsal fin isn't available for FSX, yet.

 

[Bomber_12th]

I'm very sorry for the amount of time that has passed since the last update.

Here are some screenshots of another historical P-51D-5-NA which has been reproduced, that of Col. Thomas J. J. Christian's 361st FG mount, "Lou IV". Every known-to-exist photograph of the original Lou IV, as well as the leading studies and research of said photographs, were used to accurately reproduce the look of the original aircraft. For example, all of the photos of Lou IV which date to mid-late summer of 1944, show the full-invasion stripes painted out/reduced to only being present on the bottom-sides of the aircraft, as the order that was handed down at the time stated (with them no longer referred to as "invasion stripes"). When the stripes were painted over, the paint showed up as a different, lighter tone than the camoflage paint that had already been applied to the aircraft weeks before. In period photos, you can make out this tonal difference, and even the lighter-tone of paint can be seen applied over the black recognition stripes on the top-sides of the horizontal stabilizers. For many years, no one knew for sure what the starboard side of Lou IV looked like, as no photos from that side of the aircraft seemed to exist. That is until one surfaced, showing that on the starboard side of the nose, the aircraft had the name "Athelene". Col. Christian named the aircraft Lou after his baby daughter at the time (following two P-47's and a P-51B by the same name), while Athelene was added because that was the name of Col. Christian's crew cheif Pete Army's wife.

Here are just a few photos of the original.

 

[Bomber_12th]

"Marie", a 52nd FG P-51D-5-NA, that was assigned to Maj. Freddie Ohr, was finished last week. The feature of two rather well known late-war color photographs, the aircraft had a dorsal fin fillet added in the field, from one of the units produced by North American Aviation, and shipped to the various theatres of combat (as opposed to the wrong impression that they were simply engineered/machined in the field - all of the dorsal fin fillets fitted to B's/C's/D's, no matter if they were added during production, or in the field, were manufactured by NAA). Because the technical order which outlined the fitting of the dorsal fin fillet, and was instructed in mid-late 1944, was a direct order that all P-51B/C's and D's had to have a dorsal fin fillet installed in order to be combat operational, it would have been extremely hard to find a P-51D-5-NA (or a P-51B/C) flying by the end of 1944, and most definitely by the end of the war, without a dorsal fin fillet installed.

No photos are known to exist showing the right-side of the aircraft, but all of the 52nd FG Mustangs that I have seen, which had a name scribed on the nose on the left side, also had the name scribed on the right side.

And here are a couple more images of Lou IV, with final adjustments. When switching between either the stock fillet-less D-5-NA, or one that has the fillet installed, you can notice a difference in yaw handling/stability.

 

[skyhawka4m]

WHEN!?!?!?!?!? LOL!!!! Can you tell I want this one!!?? :salute:

 

[jankees]

Major Freddie Ohr, as far as I know, was the only Asian-American ace.
Looking good, John!
Now for one of those extremely worn 20th FG D-5's, or a two-tone 357th version perhaps?