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Very Interesting SAAF Mustang MkIII


Charlie Hugo

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That's too bad - I steer clear of anything to do with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. Was this in relation to P-51/F-51 in Korea?

Edited by jannie
Typo.
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Mustang III would be a P-51C I think, malcolm hood a bulged Spitfre style canopy. The louvres over the breathers (oil coolers?) seem to have been an RAF thing, I'd be keen to see this to see if it had a fin fillet as well as did some RAF (& USAAF) examples later in the war. I'm with you on the zuckerberg thing Jannie, I am not a number, I am a free person. :D 

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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Great photo,.....I suspect that it might have been sent to the unit to help convert the pilots from Kittyhawks to Mustangs,..... other Kittyhawks had older Mustang Mk.III`s delivered for this purpose. 

Cheers

        Tony

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Sorry guys, yes is "closed group" but membership is for the asking

 

Details

 

Lt. Basil Creasey 5 Squadron SAAF Cervia Italy 1944, aged 19

Mustang MkIII S-GL FZ187 5 sqd SAAF in Italy. C-type roundals on upper wing, white fin flash of 5 sqd on tail.

As I said, first pic I have seen of a SAAF Mustang III with a Malcolm hood, and even more so the louvres which I thought was applicable to Mustang IV's.

No tail fin fillet as per P51C though. Further searching shows this aircraft as a Mustang IIIB, what is that? P51C?

Edited by Charlie Hugo
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8 hours ago, jannie said:

That's too bad - I steer clear of anything to do with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. Was this in relation to P-51/F-51 in Korea?

Although the FB page is listed as Mustangs in SAAF use Korea there is some discussion on SAAF Mustangs in WWII. Most Saffers (with the exception of some dedicated aviation nuts) do not even know that the SAAF used them in WWII, and even fewer are aware that 2 Sqd SAAF worked up and were in the process of converting to Mustangs before the end of WWII. They were scheduled to go to the Far East at the time.

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Mk.III Mustangs were used in the Sqns in Italy right up to the end in May 1945 (alongside the Mk.IVs which gradually replaced losses etc).

 

A number of Mk.IIIs had the louvres as well as Mk.IVs.

 

Quite a few Mk.IIIs were fitted with Malcolm Hoods in the U.K.  A few of these with Malcolm Hoods were transferred to Italy in March 1945 (along with a greater number with the original canopies) when some Mustangs were transferred from stocks in the U.K as there was a shortage of numbers against requirements in Italy. 

 

3 Sqn RAAF had one example with the Malcolm Hood as did 450 Sqn when they received a small number of P-51s for training purposes after May 1945 (both RAAF units were disbanded in Aug 1945 after VJ Day).

 

3 Sqn RAAF had two batches of Mk.IIIs, the first were P-51C-1 airframes which did not have the tail fillet, the 2nd batch were P-51C-10 airframes which had the tail fillet fitted at the factory (the last 200 P-51Cs built had this factory fitted tail fillet). FZ187 has no fillet so I assume it is one of the early airframes.

 

As for Facebook I suggest you get over your paranoia as there is masses of very useful Aviation info there.

 

Steve Mackenzie

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Charlie, I'm registered on face ache & log in occasionally to see what I can see but can't see this one.  Any chance you can share it you your page & post a link, not sure if that's doable or not.

Steve, I agree that there is some good aviation stuff on there which is why I look in from time to time but being frequently time poor, I find filtering through the dross is more hassle than its worth. even some enthusiasts pages are full of inaccuracies & ignorance. I will though take a look at the SAAF group (join) if I can find it, Charlie's link doesn't even show a home page.

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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Steve,

 

You will have to join the group first (it will take a day or 2 before an Admin processes the request), most groups are like that these days, but the process is no problem.

 

I am a member of the SAAF Mustangs group and I can see the photo without any problem (very nice photo it is too).

 

Steve Mackenzie

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On 12/25/2017 at 12:02 AM, Hornet133 said:

As for Facebook I suggest you get over your paranoia...

Absolutely nothing to do with "paranoia". This is not the place to discuss it though.

 

As for the Mustang in WW2 SAAF service, when growing up in the RSA there used to be a magazine called "Personality" - I don't recall if it was a biweekly or monthly magazine but at one stage it ran a series of cut-away aviation art work - "Aircraft of the South African Air Force in WW2" or something like that. That included a cut-away of a Mustang III (or IV?? Can't remember, too long ago) which had me very puzzled - only years later could I confirm that the SAAF did in fact operate Mustangs (no Internet back then :)).

Edited by jannie
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I'm having trouble even finding the page to request admission/membership, is it possible to give a link to it, searches on FB with the following "Mustangs in SAAF use Korea" in the search terms don't show up anything that  looks hopeful? :unsure:

Steve.

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Mustangs MK III of Polish Squadrons in RAF often has Malcolm hood

Podobny obraz

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania mustang mk iii polish

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania mustang mk iii polish

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania mustang mk iii polish

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania mustang mk iii polish

Please note the fin with fairing (pilot in this machine above shot down Me 262)

 

And non-Polish also

Podobny obraz

Regards

J-W

 

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On 30/12/2017 at 1:39 AM, Hornet133 said:

The Face book page is under the name 'SPRINGBOK Mustangs in Korea & Here' just to be tricky...

 

No wonder I could not find it - things like SAAF Mustangs, SAAF P-51 and other possibly illogical combinations spat up nothing.

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