June Nite P-51D

[docdodj01]

Hello there,

 

Can anyone shed more details on Capt Fiebelkorn’s P-51D? I see that it has a fillet on the tail, but looking at the serial on the tail, 44-11161, it is, to my perception, an early mustang. I noted that most of the early P-51D-5 had the serial 44-13XXX, but I can’t remember the exact detail on when switched to the D-10 series.

 

Could it be possible that his mustang was an early version with a field mod tail?  Thanks in advance!

[TAG]

Red Fiebelkorn's pony was a D-5-NT, part of order NA-111 and built at the North American Dallas plant, as per the -NT designation. His plane obviously received a dorsal fin field mod at some point in August '44, when the conversion kit finally became available for 8th AF fighter units (despite the fact that Technical Order #01-60J-18 requiring the addition of the fillet had been issued since 8 April 1944).

 

I read somewhere that the freighter carrying the first conversion kits was sunk by a U-boat whilst crossing the Atlantic, which may explain the delay in getting the fillets installed on Mustangs already in combat operations. The kits actually also included a reverse rudder boost tab, which added resistance to the pedals according to the rudder throw to help pilots from inadvertently overcontrolling and ripping off the tail planes in a snap roll (which were verboten in Mustangs).

 

The D-10-NA series, the first to include dorsal fins & reverse rudder trim tabs at the North American Inglewood, CA factory line, starts at serial number 44-14053. The equivalent variant manufactured at the Dallas plant was known as the P-51K-10-NT (due to the use of an uncuffed Aeroproducts propeller, as opposed to the cuffed Hamilton Standard-equipped D series) and the first serial number to roll out with factory installed dorsal fin/trim tab was 44-11953.

 

There's lots more info here on all things Mustang, and you can also find some scans of the original wartime T.O.'s re: dorsal fins here (post #9).

 

Hope that helped!

 

 

[D Bellis]

8 hours ago, docdodj said:

Can anyone shed more details on Capt Fiebelkorn’s P-51D? I see that it has a fillet on the tail, but looking at the serial on the tail, 44-11161, it is, to my perception, an early mustang.

Serial 44-11161 falls into the first batch of 200 P-51D-5s built at the Dallas plant. Production blocks by serial number can be found here:

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/production

 

Keep in mind that ALL surviving P-51D-5s in service were eventually fitted with the dorsal fillet mod, and the last 200 or so were modified at depot level prior to delivery. 

 

HTH,

D

 

[MikeMaben]

15 hours ago, docdodj said:

Could it be possible that his mustang was an early version with a field mod tail?  Thanks in advance!

 

Yep ...      http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/21006

 

 

[docdodj01]

15 hours ago, TAG said:

Red Fiebelkorn's pony was a D-5-NT, part of order NA-111 and built at the North American Dallas plant, as per the -NT designation. His plane obviously received a dorsal fin field mod at some point in August '44, when the conversion kit finally became available for 8th AF fighter units (despite the fact that Technical Order #01-60J-18 requiring the addition of the fillet had been issued since 8 April 1944).

 

I read somewhere that the freighter carrying the first conversion kits was sunk by a U-boat whilst crossing the Atlantic, which may explain the delay in getting the fillets installed on Mustangs already in combat operations. The kits actually also included a reverse rudder boost tab, which added resistance to the pedals according to the rudder throw to help pilots from inadvertently overcontrolling and ripping off the tail planes in a snap roll (which were verboten in Mustangs).

 

The D-10-NA series, the first to include dorsal fins & reverse rudder trim tabs at the North American Inglewood, CA factory line, starts at serial number 44-14053. The equivalent variant manufactured at the Dallas plant was known as the P-51K-10-NT (due to the use of an uncuffed Aeroproducts propeller, as opposed to the cuffed Hamilton Standard-equipped D series) and the first serial number to roll out with factory installed dorsal fin/trim tab was 44-11953.

 

There's lots more info here on all things Mustang, and you can also find some scans of the original wartime T.O.'s re: dorsal fins here (post #9).

 

Hope that helped!

 

 

Thanks! This means I can build the Revell kit using June Nite decals with or without a AM fillet tail