ColFord

As you are modelling a Mustang Mk.IVa/P-51K, and the question of the main inner undercarriage doors up or down has arisen, plus usually along with that goes the question of flaps up or down if parked, well I think I have found an answer for you. Yesterday I was going through a copy of the 1945 Pilots Notes for the Mustang Mk.IV/P-51D with a supplement of information relevant to detail difference for the pilot to be aware of for the Mustang Mk.IVa/P-51K. This particular section I have included in the attached scan from the Pilots Notes provides a very interesting take on a difference between the P-51D and P-51K other than the propellor, especially when parking the aircraft. P-51K Parking. by Colin Ford, on Flickr Hope this is of interest.

Stuart, RAF Allison engined Mustangs, being the Mustang Mk.I supplied under direct purchase contract between NAA and the British Government, then the later orders for the P-51/Mustang Mk.IA and P-51A/Mustang Mk.II which were provided under Lend Lease, definitely did not have the underwing downward id lights. Photo of RAF Mustang Mk.IA underside, no underwing downward id lights, just a blank panel. mustang_01 by Colin Ford, on Flickr Merlin engined Mustangs P-51B/C = Mustang Mk.III and P-51D/Mustang Mk.IV and P-51K/Mustang Mk.IVa, were provided under Lend Lease and as such had the US installed underwing downward id lights fitted.

Earlier question on seat back cushion colours, see this build thread here on Britmodeller where this question came up. Page 5 of build thread. RAF Allison engined Mustangs, did not have the underwing downward id lights. AM on their 1/48th scale kits got the inclusion of the US id lights on the RAF subjects wrong. Also on the A-36 they got it wrong as well, as the downward id lights on the A-36 were on the underside of the radiator intake assembly 'dog house'. (The RAF Mustang Mk.I reference thread in WW2 discussion here in Britmodeller covers this and includes a diagram of the A-36 downward lights.) Later Merlin engined ones, check references for your chosen subject aircraft. Undercarriage bays of the RAF Allison Mustangs, as originally finished in NAA finish - natural metal, Z-C rear spar. However, RAF soon discovered that what might work for anti-corrosion control in a warm dry California climate, working off a sealed airfield, didn't cut it operating off a wet, damp, muddy grass airfield in a UK winter. Therefore RAF soon added as a modification on receipt in UK, or when aircraft went back into a MU for first major servicing, adding a single overall coat of aluminium laquer paint as a sealant and barrier coat to inside of undercarriage bays. Made it easier for the ground crews to keep it clean and for inspection purposes.

Can I just throw into the mix, some bits and pieces about RAF Mustangs that has been covered in other posts I have made here at Britmodeller and on other forums regarding some specifics of RAF operated Mustangs. Might be useful to a few of you doing RAF subjects. RAF Mustangs, both early Allison engined and later Merlin models, were all fitted as a part of the standard RAF service operational modification process, with various marks of Sutton Harness, rather than the US style harnesses. If you go with the version of Sutton Harness that was in use the same time as other RAF fighter types such as Spitfire, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest, for your subject aircraft you usually can't go wrong. Allison Mustangs - the 1/48th scale AM kits do not supply the armour plate that goes behind the pilot's seat. This is something you need to fabricate out of plastic card - I have put a diagram on one of the build threads for the Group Build. The armour plate from available photographic and documented evidence appears in a number of colours, ranging from RAF dark green, to what looks like a dull bronze green. On some of the early Allison Mustang Mk.I aircraft, some photos have shown a round dull-yellow circle on the face of the armour plate, at approximately the pilot's head level, facing toward the front. Also the AM kits show US style radio gear behind the cockpit. RAF Allson Mustangs used the appropriate for the time RAF radio gear, so the exact size, shape of the relevant 'boxes' behind the cockit are different from the US radio gear as in the AM kits. Early on, up until the end of 1942, most of the Mustang Mk.Is were fitted with HF sets as normal practice (a hangover of their Army Cooperation role) which did have the antenna wire from the top of the mast behind the cockpit to the top of the tail fin. However from late 1942 onwards they were fitted with the standard for the time RAF Fighter radio sets, equivalent to other RAF fighter types of the same period. When they made the transition to the VHF sets, the long wire antenna was removed and the antenna was just the mast behind the cockpit. In 1944 the remaining Allison Mustangs in RAF service also started to sprout a few extra antennas, primariy IFF dipoles under the opposite wing to the pitot head - same basic location, other wing - and later also on the Mk.IAs and Mk.IIs in late 1944 they added a UHF dipole under the fuselage centreline in front of the radiator intake. By that stage they were running two radio sets, one VHF for largely air to ground - to control or to Army units/contact cars, and UHF for air to air. Use the date of your subject and photos of your subject aircraft to identify the appropriate radio set up. If a Mustang Mk.II was fitted with the Malcolm Hood, the normal post antenna mounted immediately behind the cockpit was replace by a whip antenna mounted further back on the spine of the aircraft. To allow the Malcolm Hood to slide back, the post antenna had to go (I've seen someone model a Mustang with the Malcolm Hood and the post antenna behind the cockpit and another person, an artist do a painting with the same "ooooppppsss!"). If modelling a RAF Allison engined Mustang, being depicted as after January 1944, add a circular 'Spitfire style" rear view mirror above the front arch of the cockpit canopy. Before then they just had the internal mirrors on the inside of the front bow of the cockpit canopy, but after January 1944 a standardised modification for RAF Allison Mustangs still in service was to add the external rear vision mirror. Control Column - this is one that has been the subject of one of the great modelling myths that is hard to put down, all traceable to a couple of photographs that NAA did very early on in their development and production of the Mustang Mk.I, that showed a Mustang cockpit with a RAF style circular grip attached to the top end of the control column. It was a photo done to show the Air Ministry, RAF and British Purchasing Commission "this is the proposed cockpit and cockpit controls layout, and we've noted you Brits use this type of top on your control sticks." As it was, to simplify supply and being consistent with other US types already being supplied and used by the RAF, such as the Curtiss P-40, NAA supplied the Mustang with the US style 'pistol grip' control column top section. They remained a constant on all Mustangs supplied and used by the RAF. However, and this is the BIG however, I am aware of and have evidence of a very, very, limited number of very early AG serialled Mustang Mk.I aircraft that were modified at unit level to have the US style control column top removed and replaced by a RAF style circular grip. This was done for a limited few, senior officers on their 'personal' aircraft. What is interesting is the source of the circular control column top, coming from another NAA product being supplied to the RAF, the NA Harvard Mk.I. It was apparenty a simple modification, a few screws, a few wires and done. However this quickly fell out of use by those senior officers due to the rate of turnover of a number of the early Mustangs as they were withdrawn from Squadrons to go back for further modifications or major servicing and the fact the senior officers could not always guarantee their aircraft would be available due to serviceability, etc. So to make life easier for everyone, including other pilots who might have to fly the aircraft, they reverted to the US supplied top. So basically, US supplied 'pistol grip' type control column top is the go for RAF Mustangs, MkI thru Mk.IVa, plus the one-offs taken on for trials purposes eg A-36, P-51F, P-51G, P-51H. In the ETO, it was a pre-requisite for RAF Mustang Mk.IIIs to be fitted with a Malcolm Hood to be considered as being modified to an operational standard. So all operational Mustang Mk.IIIs in the ETO would have a Malcolm Hood. Mustang Mk.IIIs in the MTO, were a mix of aircraft delivered direct from the USA in to that theatre of operations and a more limited number of aircraft that came via the UK. So in the MTO you will see that the majority of Mustang Mk.IIIs have the normal framed hood and are likely - unless they had been through a major repair or servicing in a RSU or MU, would initially be in US equivalent colour paints. Any Mustang Mk.IIIs with Malcolm Hoods in the MTO had come via the UK and as a part of the modification process there, they would have been stripped and repainted into a fairly standardised C&M scheme using standard RAF paints for the Day Fighter Scheme. Again any variation on that for those aircraft would depend if they had been through a RSU or MU in the MTO for major repair or maintenance.

The current owners/operators of the P-51D warbird operating out of Duxford that carries the C&M of the subject aircraft, did a lot of research to ensure the accuracy of the C&M on the aircraft and it more closely matches the ZM option, with the difference they went with the red spinner as there is other photographs that apparently the aircraft did at some stage possibly/likely/may have/high probability from the available evidence, had a red spinner with a yellow backplate fitted - was something specific to the Squadron in a particular post-war timeframe and before the Sky spinner was applied. The linked threads here on Britmodeller in earlier response posts have touched on this in part and there has been a fair bit of discussion and analysis on some of the warbird website forums on the matter of the scheme and its degree of accuracy.

Ratch, the kit supplied barrels are fine. They have the correct look for the RAF cannon installation. Other manufacturers have the cannon barrel moulded with the US style external recoil spring forward of the fairing. Troy, the top photo has been colour manipulated from the original. I have a 1st generation copy of that photo from the original photographer and all that shows under that wingtip is reflected light on the usual MSG underside. Whoever has played around with the brightness and colour balance of that version of the photo has introduced a yellow cast, very wierd.

The RAF's Mustang Mk.IAs, which included FD442, had the full RAF 20mm Hispano cannon modifications made, which means it was fitted with UK manufactured 20mm Hispano Mk.II* cannon, which had the recoil spring fully enclosed within the fairing forward of the wing edge, not an external recoil spring as on the US Oldsmobile manufactured cannon and original NAA mount. So substitute suitable diameter plastic rod or tube to represent the smooth cannon barrels without external recoil springs forward of the wing fairings. Add a 'blob' at the end of the barrel to represent the barrel end nut, paint it RAF id yellow or RAF dull roundel red to represent the doped over barrel end. RAF Mustang Mk.I and Mk.IA were certainly not fitted with underwing pylons or wing tanks, wings were not set up to accommodate them. Mustang Mk.II had the structure within the wing to accommodate pylons, but RAF didn't use them for their Tac/R Mustangs, didn't have the need.

Gingerbob, Old question about air filter in the air intake for the Mustang Mk.I and Mk.IA. Going through various versions of manuals for the Mustang Mk.I and Mk.IA today, found in a September 1943 edition of the RAF Pilot's Notes, updated and amended to November 1944 the following notation that was not in earlier versions of the Pilot's Notes for the type. Mustang Mk.I & Mk.IA Filter by Colin Ford, on Flickr So that is for NA-83 and NA-91, Vokes filter fitted within the carburettor air intake trunking. There is no indications of a bypass option in the Pilot's notes, so this would suggest that it is a full time - inline - air filter. The fact that it applies to the late production Mk.Is and the Mk.IAs also ties in with the appearance of the clearance of the type for desert/tropical operations in documentation for those batches. However, the timing of the inclusion of the information and naming of the filter by name/type in a late 1944 amended and updated version of the Pilot's notes may indicate that the addition of the filter may be, like that required for the Typhoon, a consequence of the dusty conditions on the ALGs in France after D-Day. So provision to fit a filter on AL series onwards, but a filter not fitted until later. That may help in narrowing down mod paperwork and associated technical information. I'll keep digging.

With a number of members of the Britmodeller community currently working on models of early Mustangs as a part of the Group build, I thought it worthwhile to point out a couple of details regarding the early Allison engined Mustangs. First and foremost, the cockpit floor on the early Allison Mustangs is curved and made of metal. Why? Because it is the top surface of the centre section of the wing. So the cockpit floor is basically the top surface of the wing with various mounts, brackets, conduits and the like added to which are fitted those items of cockpit equipment that mount to the 'floor'. Being metal, it is painted the same basic colour as the cockpit sidewalls. It is definitely NOT wood! Note: the Merlin engined Mustangs, they increased the depth of the fuselage from behind the cockpit forward, to accommodate the increased depth of the Merlin and also to route cooling lines from the engine to the radiators. As such, they then added the FLAT wooden floor which sat above the curved wing surface below. The wooden floor was also painted, the paint being mixed with a non-slip additive - basically fine sand - and to prevent water, oil or other fluid damage to the wooden floor it was noted in the maintenance manuals that it should be kept in a painted condition. The woodgrained floors are a post war, shiney US P-51D warbirds affectation that is not correct for wartime service aircraft. Something too that has become a bit of a modellers 'thing' to "add interest to the cockpit". For those interested in detail of the cockpit of the RAF Mustang Mk.I, I provide the following photos and descriptions taken from the Mustang Mk.I Pilots Manual AP2025. Mustang Mk1 Cockpit Front by Colin Ford, on Flickr Mustang Mk1 Legend by Colin Ford, on Flickr Mustang Mk.1 Cockpit Port by Colin Ford, on Flickr Mustang Mk1 Cockpit Stbd by Colin Ford, on Flickr Note that in one of these photos the pilot's seat has been removed to give a clearer view of some of the cockpit controls and fittings and some items of equipment (eg IFF controller) have been removed for security purposes. There are a number of detail differences in the cockpit layout of the Mustang Mk.IA, key amongst those is the deletion of the nose gun charging handles in the upper corners of the control panel and changes to the armament control switches. Note how in the key they also mention changes relating to certain modifications across the Mustang Mk.I production groups and where certain RAF modifications were implemented - or not. Hope the above helps those interested in the early Allison Mustangs.

Floor of the cockpit on the Allison engined Mustangs was metal, being the top surface of the wing. So for the Mustang Mk.I, Mk.IA/P-51, Mk.II/P-51A and A-36, the cockpit floor is the top surface of the wing with various brackets to mount controls, the seat, etc fitted. Normally painted same colour as the cockpit sidewalls. The wooden floor comes in with the Merlin engined Mustangs when extra depth was added to the fuselage. Then the wooden floor being painted, the paint having anti-slip additive - basically fine sand - added to the mix. If the floor on a Merlin Mustang was so badly worn as to show large areas of bare wood, then the crew chief was probably in for an ear bashing. The bare wooden floor on a Mustang is more to do what the owners of a few highly polished US warbird P-51Ds have had done to their aircraft for cosmetic looks, rather than period accuracy (along with non-standard colour interiors and modern avionics) and then that has been picked up as being the norm by mdellers seeing photos when they do Google searchs or in 1970 and 1980s US P-51 modelling reference publications that didn't know better.

Don't forget to add some seat back armour. One of the things AM forgot to include in all their Allison and Merlin engined Mustang kits is the sheet of armour between the back of the seat frame and 'stuff' behind the cockpit. Something fairly easy to replicate with a suitable shaped thin piece of plasticard. The dangers of model manufacturers using restored or preserved examples in museums where normally standard items have been removed, or if the aircraft preserved was never used operationally, never fitted. The alignment of the 'stuff' behind the cockpit in the AM Mustangs takes some fettling and fiddling to get them to sit properly and level. Was one of the poor areas of their moulding design. UPDATE: Knew I had picture/diagram of armour plate somewhere. Now attached. P51Armour by Colin Ford, on Flickr

Yep, the dangers of posting in the morning (Australian time) before I've had my morning coffee. Yes ailerons not elevators. And whilst I remember, the underwing id lights under the starboard wing, fill them and sand flush with the surrounding panel. The RAF Allison Mustangs did not have those id lights fitted - Mk.I, Mk.IA and Mk.II. From memory too, you may have to do a little bit of reshaping of the radiator air intake area to be more represntative of the intake fitted to the Mustang Mk.I, which was the early style movable ramp type, compared to the fixed type on the P-51A. If so it is reshaping the intake and scribing on the panel lines to represent the movable ramp intake.

AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH! How to get rid of the inaccurate information propogated on Wikipedia and elsewhere about the early Allison engined Mustangs. RAF Mustang Mk.I aircraft of No.268 Squadron RAF were the ones that conducted the first long range sorties into western Germany in the region of the Dortmund-Ems Canal in October 1942. However, they were not escorting Wellingtons. Just the Mustangs doing what they did best, shooting up ground targets of opportunity. That night, RAF Wellingtons also operated into the same area. The original Air Ministry communique covering the preceding day's operations, lists the two sorties separately and quite distinctly as day operations and night operations. So then how do the two distinct day and night operations become 'one'? After much digging around I found copies of the condensed - for sending via cable to the USA and elsewhere around the World for press release purposes - communique, then an even more condensed version that was re-written and distributed by one of the US press agencies where they combine the Mustangs with the Wellingtons as one sortie. And that press report published in most major wartime US newspapers was used as the source by the author of one of the early seminal works/histories of the Mustang, and has been re-quoted and repeated ever since. But back to the modelling subject. It is possible to use the ICM P-51A kit to create a Mustang Mk.I utilising the Ultracast conversion bits. The ICM kit has the incorrect for a P-51A, but okay for a Mk.I or Mk.IA narrow air intake above the nose. You will need to fill and rescribe the ammo bay doors on top of the wing - Ultracast instructions include a diagram, ditto the underwing case and link ejection ports. You also need to remove the fairings in front of the elevators on the top surface of the wings. You are also going to need to fill the landing light on the kit wing - use the supplied clear transparency, fair in and paint over - as the Ultracast wing inserts have the correct landing light locations for the Mk.I as part of their wing inserts. You will need to find or make clear covers for those landing lights. The subject aircraft AP247 'A' of No.IV(AC) Squadron, that photos is from early 1943, so aircraft is in the Day Fighter Scheme - Ocean Grey, Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey with Sky spinner and rear fuselage band and Sky id letter. Looking at the camuflage pattern this one is a repaint into DFS generally following demarcations of NAA factory applied scheme, Grey areas look darker than usual which would suggest use of a mixed grey. Yellow leading edge id stripe appears to start outboard of the outermost MG. Inner gear doors up, they have interlocks that keep them up unless unlatched on the ground for servicing purposes. And I also refer to our best reference thread: The colour photo of the Mustang Mk.II FR912 being crated for shipping to the UK is one of a number of colour photos of that aircraft and shows the NAA Factory applied TLS but with later style RAF markings that they applied to the Mustang Mk.IIs. Note the underside colour shown in the photo (consistent with the others) that is a pretty good match for Sky. That is consistent wth the few earlier colour photos of the TLS scheme applied by NAA on the Mustang Mk.I and Mk.IA aircraft.

It's an old thread, but the basics of my reply then, apply now. Just to add that Page was flying Mustang Mk.I AM107 - apparently also repainted ina scheme similar to the one Maclachlan had on his Mustang Mk.IA FD442.

Ordered!! And compared to the "big E" their exchange rate is reasonable and their postage rates are more than reasonable, no "Down Under Tax" on this transaction. This one I will be doing as one of the included options, the RAF aircraft. Now if they did a P-51F and P-51G, and given the quality of what they are doing, can someone tell them if they did really accurate 1/48th models of the Mustang Mk.I, Mustang Mk.IA and Mustang Mk.II, they could get a LOT of sales.

F-6D variant was originally going to be included in Royal Class boxing, but is now going to be its own special boxing sometime in 2020. 2020 will also see in 2nd half, a special RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces P-51D/K boxing.

AP2025A - Pilots Notes Mustang Mk.I - early (orange cover) AP2025A, 2nd Edition - Pilots Notes Mustang Mk.I and Mk.IA (blue cover)

The harness came up over the top of the seat back. On the Mustang Mk.I thru III, the 'Y' part was behind the seat, in the gap between the seat back and the armour plate behind the pilot. The anchor point and tensioning mechanism was on the floor of the cockpit at the forward edge of the base of the armour plate, with a tension and locking control for the harness down to one side of the seat. So the shoulder straps came up over the seat back, over the pilot's shoulders and then down either side of his chest to the locking buckle down near his waist. Finding a really good and clear photo to show this is difficult. Most of the staged pilot in cockpit photos the pilot is sitting on top of and in front of the harness. There are a couple of good technical photos, but I can't share at present as they embargoed for a future publication on the Mustang in RAF Service. A fellow researcher has gone through all the relevant files and found the RAF Modification paperwork for the Mustang Mk.I thru IV cross referenced to the relevant AP amendments, and it includes modifications to upgrade earlier variants of the Sutton harness with later variants and to introduce modifications such as reworked anchor points, stronger components, etc. That covers from 1942 through to 1945. In particular, Mod 544 for AP2025H was for the replacement of the earlier Sutton Harness originally fitted to the Mustang IV with the Sutton 'Q'Harness - that one dated July 1945. Hope that helps.

No speculation - FACT. The Allison engined Mustangs supplied to the RAF, being the original Mustang Mk.I, Mk.IA and Mk.II all used the RAF supplied and fitted Sutton Harness. That is confirmed by numerous original period documents including the RAF Pilot's notes and RAF Aircraft Servicing Manuals, a whole lot of photographs and confirmed by pilot's who flew them. No speculation - FACT. The Allison engined Mustangs supplied to the RAF, being the original Mustang Mk.I, Mk.IA and Mk.II came from NAA fitted with the standard US pistol grip style top section to the control column. There are the photos of an early cockpit mockup produced by NAA showing a circular spade type control column top section. These were photos produced by NAA for publicity and other purposes. But as the aircraft came off the production line, they came with the standard US style pistol grip. That is confirmed by original period documentation including the RAF pilots notes, a whole lot of photographs and confirmed as well in newsreel footage and confirmed by the pilots who flew them. A very, very, very few, probably no more than a handful, of very early AG serialled Mustang Mk.Is were modified at unit level at the direction of senior officers, to have their usual 'personal' allocated aircraft modified by the removal of the US style pistol grip and its replacement with a circular style spade grip. That circular grip was sourced from another NAA product already in RAF service, the NA Harvard Mk.I. It was apparently a relatively simple substitution, undoing and removing the original grip and disconnecting the firing button wiring, then replacing it with the circular grip from the Harvard Mk.I - the tubing diameter of the two control columns was the same and the wiring for the gun buttons was the same. The officer(s) requesting this personal modification had the 'clout' to get it done and in particular were long serving RAF officers who were very used to the RAF style circular spade grip and felt uncomfortable flying with the US style grip. Confirmed to me personally by pilots who had seen the circular style spade grip fitted to the senior officers early Mustang and who had on occasions flown that senior officer's Mustang. The unofficial modification did not last long as the senior officer(s) involved realised that they could never guarantee availability of their allocated aircraft and the rate of turnover of early AG serialled Mustangs in Squadrons as aircraft were sent back into MUs for further modifications or passed on to the OTU for non-operational use, it made more sense for them to stick with the standard US pistol grip. From the details provided to me by the pilots involved, including access to Squadron records and original Pilot's Log Books, I have been able to identify by serial some of the aircraft so modified, where and when. The later Merlin engined Mustangs used by the RAF in the UK and MTO were all fitted with RAF supplied and fitted Sutton Harnesses and were fitted with the NAA supplied standard US style pistol grip top section to the control column. That is all confirmed by numerous original period documents including RAF Pilots Notes, RAF Aircraft Servicing Manuals, lots of photographs and pilots who flew them. There are numerous other threads here on Britmodeller where the matter of what type of harness, control columns and other details of early RAF Mustangs have been well covered, which include copies of original period documentation and photographs for reference purposes. Similarly the types of harness, control columns and other details of RAF Merlin engined Mustangs have been pretty well covered and detail provided. Unfortunately in recent years there have been a couple of publications pitched at modellers that have been less than accurate in presenting the full and correct information on RAF Mustangs, both Allison engined and Merlin engined, and a lot of "myths" from earlier published works have been repeated without confirming accuracy of the original source material. The original source published material that a lot of these publications have depended on was based around what was available in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, well before many of the relevant files held in Government archives were declassified and became available to later generations of researchers and authors. They get quoted often in response to queries on forums such as this one, and so the myths and inaccurate information keeps geting perpetuated. The aircraft shown in the original post is an early AG Serialled NA Mustang Mk.I with the early 'plated funnel' style camera installation (was discontinued in favour of the simpler cut out perspex window arrangement on later production AG, AL, AM, AP series Mustang Mk.I and certainly never seen on a Mustang Mk.IA or Mk.II), that in this photo where the camera lens would normally be, has been 'plugged'. Well used and worn aircraft, probably overdue to head to a MU for some servicing including a repaint. And to be completely accurate, a RAF Mustang Mk.I is technically not a P-51. It is a Mustang, but the type predates the adoption of the US P51 type designation, which came in with the P-51 Mustang, which was the equivalent of the Mustang Mk.IA in RAF service.

I received my copy (purchased) from the publishers a bit over a week ago. Generally, I am happy with what it contains in terms of information and inspiration for those interested in modelling Griffon engined Spitfires or Seafires. However, I did find a few things that caught my attention, either as errors or omissions, or things that I think could have been included to enhance the finished product. Firstly, I did notice a number of spelling and grammatical errors, including a couple of places where text got repeated - usually where text was placed either side of a photograph - which probably comes down to editing and design. In particular, I did notice the appearance of the rarely covered "Spitefire" a couple of times. Next, the supplied plans are good, but when it comes to the differences between the wing panels of the Spitfire FR.XIVe and the Spitfire FR.XVIIIe, as some have already noted in threads about the FR.XVIIIe, they don't show the correct panel layout and difference between the two wings. The lack of listing of RAF, RCAF (as part of 2TAF) and RN FAA units operating the Griffon engined Spitfires and Seafires, even in a basic form I found disappointing. It was interesting in the parts covering overseas users some listings of units and aircraft were provided, but recognition of the major user units was absent. An interesting omission, there is no reference that I could see included about the interim FR Spitfire XIV, which utilised the Spitfire F.XIVc airframe with the addition of an oblique camera installation in the rear fuselage, which was evident by its 'tear drop' raised fairing around the camera port. These were used by a number of the Tac/R Squadrons in 2TAF in the later part of 1944 into early 1945, with examples being used by No.II(AC) Sqdn, No.414 (RCAF) Sqdn and No.430 (RCAF) Sqdn. Interestingly they show an example of an airframe with this modification on page 253, but don't make the connection to the interim FR type. Photos and profile illustrations of this sub-type appear in volumes 2, 3 and 4 of 2TAF by Shores & Thomas. Examples include RN114, RM810 'A' and RM818 'C'. Focus of the photos and profiles of Spitfire FR.XIVes appears limited, as to a certain degree does that of Spitfire PR.XIXs. A number of 2TAF units operated the Spitfire FR.XIVe in the Tac/R role - with what I will admit were generally unremarkable c&m schemes - but a number of these continued with the type post war into service with BAFO and provided aircraft with the return of Squadron identificaion codes, squadron 'colours' and some other interesting variations. Similarly some of the post war BAFO schemes on Spitfire PR.XIXs provided a bit of variety which is not captured in the photos or profiles included. I'll be pedantic, largely because a good friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us, was Officer Commanding of No.II(AC) Squadron RAF - Shiny Two - in 1945-1946, the use of 2 Squadron to refer to No.II(AC) Squadron whilst seen as a convenience to some, I see as not respecting the history or heritage of the Squadron by not using its proper title. One good thing, thank heavens, no reference or dodgy photos or ill concieved profiles of Spitfire FR.XIVes supposedly with No.II(AC) Squadron wearing the low level PR scheme. No, they didn't exist. My overall review rating, good, lots of good information and detail, but let down from being great by the items I have listed above.

If you use the search function here on Britmodeller using the search term Typhoon FR.1b you will get a number of previous threads on this subject, including some other model builds of this sub-type of the Typhoon, some including pictures.

Mustang Mk.I was still in operational use in limited numbers up until VE-Day. Mustang Mk.IA and Mk.II were still in daily operational use until VE-Day, last aircraft being returned to UK for scrapping in late August 1945. At the time of D-Day, three squadrons were using the Mustang Mk.I - 168, 414(RCAF) and 430(RCAF) with the Mustang Mk.IA in use by No.II(AC) Squadron and No.268 Squadron, with No.II(AC) Squadron in the process of working up on the Mustang Mk.II.

Volumes 3 & 4 of 2TAF by Shores and Thomas includes details, photos and profile artwork of a number of low back Spitfire XIVes operated by fighter units and Tac/R units. They show aircraft both during wartime and immediate post war period. The Tac/R units operating the Spitfire FR.XIVe in the period leading up to VE-Day in the ETO followed the same basic c&m arrangements they had used for their earlier Mustangs, no Squadron id letters, just individual aircraft id letter placed aft of the fuselage roundel. As No.41 Squadron RAF operated low back Spitfire XIVes, opportunity to use left over Squadron code letters from the earlier Airfix Spitfire XII to model one of the No.41 Squadron aircraft. The forthcoming Valiant WIngs publication on the Griffon engined Spitfires and Seafires may bring forth other photos and profiles for Spitfire XIVe aircraft. Red Roo Models in Australia do a couple of decal sheets for Spitfire XIVes that were used by No.451 and No.453 RAAF Squadrons after VE-Day when they were a part of BAFO. They are aircraft that feature nose art and unusual squadron markings - substitution of diamond symbol for aircraft id letter. Four different sheets produced - one is a multi aircraft sheet of four Spitfires used by No.451 RAAF Squadron (VC, IX, XVI, XIVe).

My pre-order shipment of the kit arrived today 'down under' in Australia. 6 days from Hornby warehouse to here. I've opened up all the kits in my order and found no issues, so that bodes well. What I have seen from my quick review of what is contained in the kit makes me very happy, and compared to the 'now relegated to history' Academy Spitfire XIV kit, this is certainly a more realistic and finer representation of what a Spitfire XIV looks like. I have a few c&m schemes selected for these, mainly late WW2 2TAF and immediate post-War BAFO aircraft. An interesting sideline is that my order was shipped in one of the boxes that their manufacturer in India used to ship the kits to England. Each box holds 12 kits. On the side of the box it says that it is one of 396 boxes in the consignment = 4,512 kits in that consignment. The word was that the supplier had split the order for shipping, so we know that at least part of that order equated to just over 4,500 kits.

An innaccurate representation of the Mustang Mk.I flown by F/O Hollis Hills with No.414 RCAF Squadron at the time of the Dieppe raid. All the photographic evidence and other research indicates that the maple leaf roundel and horse's head insignia were added some time after Dieppe. More recent research in Air Ministry records held in the UK Archives that were not declassified until some years after the war indicate certainly one, possibly two, earlier confirmed kills by RAF Mustangs over FW-190s were recorded before that by Hills at Dieppe. Those claims were checked by cross referencing to surviving Luftwaffe loss records post war. - there were matching Luftwaffe losses that the Luftwaffe themselves acknowledge were incurred in combat with RAF Mustangs. There are quite a number of aspects of the early history of the Mustang in RAF service that are mis-understood and until recently inaccurately recorded in published works.