Korean Theater F-51's

[DetCord12B]

I made these just to see what they'd look like. Dropping here for anyone else that wants them. Contains USAF, RAAF, SAAF, and ROKAF liveries.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fDv_NZANcnpt2hwX_lqA4cXh__ww2DVf/view?usp=sharing

 

 

[Trooper117]

Nice mate... well done.

[migmadmarine]

I look forward to seeing what we can do to capture different finishes with the new rendering with PBR, a lot of F-51s were complete painted silver rather than left bare metal. 

[DetCord12B]

3 hours ago, migmadmarine said:

I look forward to seeing what we can do to capture different finishes with the new rendering with PBR, a lot of F-51s were complete painted silver rather than left bare metal. 

 

Was that silver paint matte or gloss? I ask because if it was gloss then it ultimately doesn't really matter. 

[jollyjack]

Generally i wonder why the silver ... in comparison to green or desert camo colors silver must have been a 'sitting duck' paint looking from above over sea or land ...

[LuftManu]

Thanks @DetCord12B!

Some pics for reference, from Axis and allies, Korea in Colour thread. From HBPencil

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51D-30-NAMustang44-74653-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/F-51DMustangK-30-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51D-30-NAMustang44-74630-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangFF-278-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51K-5-NTMustang44-11913-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangMkIV334-RAAF-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/F-51DMustangK-63-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustang-Unkown-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangMkIV361-RAAF-Korea.jpg

 

[Trooper117]

It's hard to say from those pics... some look matt, some look like bare aluminium but not polished up, but interesting to find out.

[LukeFF]

Most likely they were bare metal, as the ones sent over to the USAF were planes that had been built during WWII but then put directly into storage.

[Duggy]

Some were bare metal however most  were actually painted Matt Aluminum during refurbishment, instead of being left in natural metal.   At the same time, many had the cockpits painted black.

[migmadmarine]

I'd imagine those painted were painted in order to make preservation of the aluminum skin easier during long term storage, and painted silver for consistancy with other aircraft in the USAF roster, since bare metal silver was pretty much the standard from late WWII onwards. . Cant speak for how matt the paint was, but easiest way to distinguish the painted from unpainted ones is to look at the panel around and behind the exhaust stacks on the nose, as this was a different alloy from the surrounding panels, and appears darker on bare metal aircraft. The painted ones have a uniform finish across the nose. 

 

Unpainted:

 

 

Painted:

(the paint in this photo does look moderately shiny, not super high gloss, but not super matt either)

[PhilthySpud]

On 7/21/2024 at 1:39 PM, DetCord12B said:

 

Was that silver paint matte or gloss? I ask because if it was gloss then it ultimately doesn't really matter. 

It’s aluminium paint, actually. Semi-gloss when new but fading to pretty matt following exposure, judging by photos. The high gloss you see on some warbirds is a modern conceit.

[Stonehouse]

On 7/21/2024 at 8:08 PM, LuftManu said:

Thanks @DetCord12B!

Some pics for reference, from Axis and allies, Korea in Colour thread. From HBPencil

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51D-30-NAMustang44-74653-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/F-51DMustangK-30-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51D-30-NAMustang44-74630-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangFF-278-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51K-5-NTMustang44-11913-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangMkIV334-RAAF-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/F-51DMustangK-63-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustang-Unkown-Korea.jpg

 

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii120/Duggy009/Duggy009-2/Korea in Colour/P-51DMustangMkIV361-RAAF-Korea.jpg

 

 

Just an fyi the links quoting RAAF actually show SAAF aircraft

 

Note also that the RAAF versions of the F51 were not quite the same as the US ones and were Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation licensed built.  However I believe they also had lend lease ones on strength. It was mainly the imported ones that ended up in Japan with 77SQD until they received the upgraded CA-18 MK21s early in 1951. Main difference with the Mk21s was higher HP engines as I understand it and apparently was a close cousin to the P51H with a higher top speed. 77SQD first flew missions over Korea July 3, 1950, I believe. They later were upgraded to Meteors. 

 

 

Maintenance at Iwakuni

 

George Hale managed to kill several Mig15s in his Meteor. Temora Air Museum has a restored flying Meteor of the correct Mark painted up as his aircraft. You can see the staining from the 20mm cannons.

 

 

Apparently, they weren't that happy to receive Meteors as the RAAF had planned to equip them with F86s but lack of supply of the aircraft for non-US air forces at the time led to procurement of Meteors instead. The squadron popular ditty at the time when they were going up against Mig's with F51s and later was "all we want for Christmas is our wings swept back".  The majority of their missions in Korea were ground strikes. They ended up not getting Sabres until much later in 1956 ready for the Malayan Emergency and even then, they were CA-27 versions built by CAC with an upgraded Avon engine and 30mm cannons replacing the 50 cal's and greater fuel capacity. Temora also has a flying CA27 that does displays.

Edited July 25, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Hoss]

F-51 is given, let's have the F-82 along side it.... no pun intended

[Duggy]

The night-fighter Twin Mustangs went into service primarily as interim replacements for the P-61 Black Widow until jet night fighters were available. These Twin Mustangs soldiered on a few more years, until the F-82Hs were finally withdrawn in 1953. They were the last prop-driven air-combat fighters in service with the USAF.

During their short lifetime, the F-82s achieved one major distinction: holding the fort in Korea until reinforcements arrived. Three squadrons of F-82Gs were operating in Japan as part of the 347th Fighter (All Weather) Group, when North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. The F-82Gs were the only aircraft available in Japan that had sufficient endurance to fly to the battle area and operate for hours over the evacuation centers at Kimpo and Inchon. On 27 June, Lieutenant William Hudson and his radar operator, Lieutenant Carl Fraser, scored the first air-to-air kill of the Korean War, shooting down a Lavochkin La-11. Lieutenant Charles Moran shot down a Yakovlev Yak-9 a short time later, and Major James Little increased the day's score to three by destroying a Lavochkin La-7.

The North Korean Air Force had no advanced jet aircraft at the time, and the F-82Gs and Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars quickly cleaned the North Koreans out of the sky. The F-82Gs switched their mission from air combat to night interdiction, using bombs and HVAR rockets to destroy North Korean armor and other targets.

Eventually, the night interdiction mission was taken over by the Douglas B-26 Invader, which was more heavily armed and better suited to the role. The last assignment of the F-82Gs in Korea was to hunt down low-flying Polikarpov PO-2 biplanes that the North Koreans used for night harassment raids, but this was an exercise in frustration since the nimble biplanes were almost impossible to find, much less shoot down. The F-82Gs were finally replaced by Lockheed F-94B Starfires in 1952.

 

From here -- http://axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?p=1&id=4783#post-4783

[Aapje]

The Twin Mustang seems perfect for a collector's plane. Not really needed or that useful for the campaign, but very cool. And they would be probably be able to reuse a bunch of F-51 stuff.

[Hoss]

50 minutes ago, Aapje said:

The Twin Mustang seems perfect for a collector's plane. Not really needed or that useful for the campaign, but very cool. And they would be probably be able to reuse a bunch of F-51 stuff.

Except for the Mig-15, you can pretty much say the same thing about anything 1C brings to the table for PRK, and PRC. The Yak-9, La-11, IL-10, saw less action, I would imagine, than the F-82. The only expansion they can do after the initial release is add, full UN countries carrier ops, (Panthers, Banshee's, Corsairs, Skyraiders, SeaFury's, SeaFires, SeaFurries, and land based Meteor. Collectors would be B-26, F7F, F-82, F-84F, Tu-2, and Washing Machine Charlie.

 

JMTCW