Get the Hook!

[72modeler]

While surfing the P-51 SIG I found reference to this Mustang, which was a navalized P-51D used for trials in 1944, with discussion and photos. Rob Elder flew a lot of test aircraft in his USN career and was associated with a lot of famous aircraft. Love the WIF scheme, but tri-color would have been killer! Enjoy! (Not as impressive as the C-130 that flew carrier trials, to be sure, but still pretty impressive.)I hardly think the USN would have adopted an aircraft with a liquid-cooled engine for carrier use, and the Corsair,  Hellcat, and  Bearcat, which was on its way to the PTO when the war ended, were quite capable of handling any opposition.

 

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21732

Edited October 7, 2020 by 72modeler
corrected spelling

[e8n2]

Tommy Thompson had a section on Tailhook Topics covering this very thing back in 2011 and replied to an earlier thread on it.  Here is the link to the article on Tailhook Topics:

 

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2011/06/seahorse.html

 

Would be an interesting conversion to do.

Later,

Dave

[Ed Russell]

It may have ended up like this...............

 

[72modeler]

10 hours ago, e8n2 said:

Here is the link to the article on Tailhook Topics:

I also had that article, Dave, but since it was never proceeded with, I decided not to supply the link. Glad you did, though, because in hindsight it would make for an interesting WIF project for somebody. I have two of the CMR and two of the RS H's.....hmmmmm.

Mike

[e8n2]

13 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I also had that article, Dave, but since it was never proceeded with, I decided not to supply the link. Glad you did, though, because in hindsight it would make for an interesting WIF project for somebody. I have two of the CMR and two of the RS H's.....hmmmmm.

Mike

I think I have three of the RS H's.  Your giving me ideas Mike!  Have to do it with Korean War service having replaced the F4U-5s and the never developed AU-1! 😉

Later,

Dave

Edited October 9, 2020 by e8n2

[Greenshirt]

My navalised Mustang what-if follows a Seafire train of thought:

• Sea Mustang (Mustang V) — hooked Mustang IV. Essentially the mods done for testing but with a small production run. 
• Seahorse I — Navalised Mustang sans folding wings
• Seahorse II - Add wingfold, rockets, bombs
• Seahorse III - Navalised P-51H but with Griffon engine, raise the cockpit for better approach visibility 
• Seahorse IV - “Definitive” Griffon engined Seahorse w contra prop and other refinements
• Seahorse V — Dart powered Seahorse IV as interim until jet fighters arrived. 

Both Seahorse IV and V used heavily during Korean war for support of forces on the ground, carrying loads comparable to the US AD-4 and AU-1. All manufacture is in UK under license from NAA. 
 

fun to imagine. 
 

Tim
 

 

[Work In Progress]

Haha, nothing derived from a P-51 could ever carry an AD-4 ordnance load. Skyraiders used to tote up to four tons under the wings. 

It's a pretty terrible basis for a Corsair / Skyraider close-air support alternative for the reason that it's fundamentally too small - which is one of the reasons it never happened. But it is possible to imagine a navalised Mustang doing a respectable job in a specialised long-duration CAP role in a way that a Panther can't because of poor fuel endurance, especially at low/medium level.

[Truro Model Builder]

Seahorse would have been just the sort of daft name the Royal Navy would have bestowed on it.

 

Those sea blue gloss WHIFs look rather lush.