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Korean War F-51D Paint Scheme


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Google hasn't turned up anything definitive, so I'll try here. Were Korean War Mustangs in the same scheme as WW II: natural metal fuselage with silver painted wings, or had they been painted overall silver? Also, IIRC weren't the cockpits in matte black by this time? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Deke

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Looking at Ethell's P-51 Mustang In Color Photos from WWII and Korea, it appears NMF with black antiglare. No photo shows the cockpit but many discussions over the years indicate black cockpit for those aircraft removed from storage and refurbed before use. The first P-51s were drawn from ANG squadrons so they usually had WWII coloring. I can't recall if wings had the putty removed but I doubt it. Tail wheels were locked down.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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...No photo shows the cockpit but many discussions over the years indicate black cockpit for those aircraft removed from storage and refurbed before use...

Yes. Black cockpits. I have Osprey Publishing's "Modeling the P-51 Mustang" and it specifically mentions this on the F-51 build featured in the book.

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I don't have any info approaching authoritative, but I'm sure I'd read that the putty on the wings had been removed and other than the anti-glare panel

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I don't have any info approaching authoritative, but I'm sure I'd read that the putty on the wings had been removed and other than the anti-glare panel and other artwork/markings was NMF overall.

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I agree with Slartibartfast.

I would only add that I think some F-51's did retain the WWII wing finish in Korea.

One needs to choose a specific aircraft and try to figure it out, there are too many variables.

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