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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Cavalier Mustang cockpit colors


JohnB

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Talking with Martin we decided to open this research thread on the Cavalier Mustangs. Particularly regarding the color(s) Cavalier used in the cockpits. Important to know when building the Halberd conversion. Stay tuned. :)

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Trans Florida Aviation established by David Lindsay was refurbishing ex-military P-51s to the Cavalier F-51 II standard. During the process the airframes were overhauled and to my best knowledge a protective off-white coat was used instead of well known zinc chromate .

Here is an example of 44-75007N F-51 Cavalier instrument panel. Noteworthy is the extra padding, car like pocket on the right with console and overall use of the white colour.

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And nice video showing white gear bay covers , partially white interior bits as well.

 

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A bit of history :)

 

by Curtis Fowles, MustangsMustangs

In 1957, the last of the active duty F-51s were withdrawn from ANG service. This released many F-51s to the civilian market. David Lindsay, a newspaper publisher, formed Trans Florida Aviation with the intent of refurbishing the ex-military P-51s into well-equiped civilian business aircraft. 

Lindsay purchased surplus P-51s (mostly P-51D) and began a restoration process. They would strip out all the military equipment, add a second seat behind the pilot, add extra fuel capacity (some models), update the avionics, install a tall tail similar to the NACA P-51s, plush out the interior to provide the most comfort possible and finish the job with a civilian paint scheme. Lindsay flew 44-13257, with the NACA tail, and was pleased how it handled. He got the FAA STC for the tail mod so the taller vertical stabilizer could be added to the civilian Cavaliers. 

One of the P-51s main attributes was its great range. The first P-51 conversion, named Cavalier, was in 1958. Orders trickled in for the first few years. The models offered were all relative to the range of the aircraft. The model numbers (all prefixed by "Cavalier") were 750, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500. The longest range Cavalier, the Cavalier 2500, included 110 gallon wingtip fuel tanks. Remember, with the second seat, the fuselage fuel tank was removed and the main wing tanks would yield about 180 gallons usable.

Trans-Florida was renamed Cavalier Aircraft Corporation and purchased the rights of the P-51 design from North American Aviation. The first contract with the U.S. Government was to IRAN 36 F-51 from the Dominican Air Force (FAD). These were not Cavalier conversions but were P-51s that were repaired and upgraded. Then in 1967, the USAF contracted with Cavalier to produce the F-51D for export to South America under the Military Assistance Program (MAP). These aircraft were given new serial numbers starting with the first, 67-14862 and named "Mustang II". In 1967 a total of 9 were built. These aircraft went to El Salvador. 

Changes to the Mustang II were made for increased loads. The wing was strengthened to carry a total of 4,000 lbs of ordance and additional weapon hard points were installed, up to six under each wing. A rear seat was installed in these models, for observers. A new Merlin V-1650-724 was installed and these Cavaliers also received the taller tail modification. In 1968, two of the new Mustang IIs went to the U.S. Army as chase planes for the Cheyene (AH-54) helicopter program. These were serialed 68-15795 and 68-15796. 
More orders placed in 1972 for 6 aircraft under MAP for export to Indonesia. The Mustang IIs did not have wingtip fuel tanks.With new ideas of how to keep the P-51 Mustang alive and in service, David Lindsay wanted to try replacing the long-standing workhorse Merlin V-12 with a turboprop. Lindsay perferred the Lycoming T-55 but had difficulties obtaining a copy. They were able to get a Rolls Royce Dart 510 Turboprop and installed it in civilian P-51 N6167U. This mod was not funded by the USAF, but by Cavalier. 
The new modification was called the Turbo Mustang III. Cavalier tried to get the USAF and other air forces interested in the project but no sales were made. Later, Cavalier sold the project to Piper and it later became the PA-48 Enforcer. The Enforcer had little in common with the original P-51. 
The USAF, under pressure from Congress, did order two prototype PA-48 from Piper. No other orders were place and the project died. The two PA-48 Enforcers do exist today at USAF Museums. Many Cavalier Mustangs are still airworthy today.

 

 

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Original Werk Numbers :)

44-11558 = N6175C
44-72844 = N5076K 
44-73027 
44-73260 = N5075K 
44-73411 = N 551D, N550D 
44-73454 = N2051D
44-73584 = N51Q 
44-73656 = N5073K 
44-73843 = N351D 
44-74427 
44-74441 
44-74453 
44-74458 - 44-74459 
44-74469 = N7723C 
44-74831 
44-74854 
44-84658 = N7724C 
45-11381 = N5471V 
45-11489 = N5421V

and the new ones assigned  by USAF

67-14862 - 67-14866 
67-22579 - 67-22582 
68-15795 - 68-15796 (used by USAF and US Navy)
72-1536 - 72-1541

A number of contracts were issued to deliver Cavalier Mustangs to various military users. Due to the fact that such conversions were based on airframes that were s.o.c. (struck off charge) by the USAF some 25 years earlier, new FY-serials had to be issued. Military Cavaliers can be found in the '67-, '68, and '72-serial ranges.

Countries to receive military Cavaliers were Bolivia, El Salvador and Indonesia. Besides that, many military Mustangs were upgraded with kits supplied by Cavalier, i.e. the aircraft stayed in their countries and saw 'local' rebuild / upgrade with the help of Cavalier representatives. Customers were: Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Indonesia, Bolivia, and probably others.

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P-51 Nov 8 1968-2 small.jpg

P-51 Nov 8 1968-3 small.jpg

P-51 Nov 8 1968-11 small.jpg

P-51 with turbo prop May 3 1968-2 small.jpg

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Some very useful info Martin. :) I figured Cavalier had changed the cockpit color but guessed it would be a light gray. A little surprised to see it was white. Now to begin work on my Halberd conversion.

Bolivian AF F-51D.jpg

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2 hours ago, JohnB said:

Some very useful info Martin. :) I figured Cavalier had changed the cockpit color but guessed it would be a light gray. A little surprised to see it was white. Now to begin work on my Halberd conversion.

Bolivian AF F-51D.jpg

You are welcome John. I would say 'off white' that is used on modern era airframes. Also there were new parachutes and harness used and naturally the switch console for the weapons, utilizing tires with the post war standard thread.

Basically they stripped them to the bare airframe and started all over in their own way.

 

Trans Florida Aviation facility at Sarasota (1961)

 CAV.jpeg.bd4686570a87ed3248763e536ff8f433.jpegcaval.jpeg.f0c03e53dcdd6397f620f2dd6ec6a8f8.jpeg

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23 minutes ago, Martinnfb said:

You are welcome John. I would say 'off white' that is used on modern era airframes. Also there were new parachutes and harness used and naturally the switch console for the weapons, utilizing tires with the post war standard thread.

Basically they stripped them to a bare airframe and started all over in their own way.

 

Trans Florida Aviation facility at Sarasota (1961)

 CAV.jpeg.bd4686570a87ed3248763e536ff8f433.jpegcaval.jpeg.f0c03e53dcdd6397f620f2dd6ec6a8f8.jpeg

I guess I'll have to do some ad libbing on some of the details such as the tires. :)

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 44-13257, NACA 108, beautifully restored to flying condition.  Needless to say that the healthy amount of flying P-51s are actually Cavaliers.

 

1944: Manufactured as a P-51D-5A AF S/N 44-13257 (NAA S/N 109-26890) 
1944 Dec, Modified by NAA for high speed research. 
1944: NACA, NACA 108 - dive tests until 1949
1957: Nov, sold surplus, N4222A, Charles Snydor
1959: May, N4222A, Trans-Florida Aviation, Sarasota, Fl 
1959-67: Stored 
1967: Dec 07, N4222A, Remanufactured, Cavalier Mustang II prototype. 
1968: Weapons testing at Apalachicola, FL. 
1968-71: Chase plane for "Enforcer" project. 
1972: N51DL, Lindsay Newspapers Inc, Sarasota FL 
1980: N51DL, Lindair Inc, Sarasota FL

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44-13257_00620_cf1.jpg

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On 6/4/2023 at 3:22 PM, Martinnfb said:

You are most welcome guys. Few more shots of langnase mustang. 

Screenshot2023-06-03at9_24_46PM.thumb.png.72e4bdc9781041bb8fb6fda4a64eec1b.pngScreenshot2023-06-03at9_25_03PM.thumb.png.f3881235d42bf5e424cdf3a12f398cd1.png

Finally, it does not take much to convert a beautiful airframe into a butt-ugly one …

Hubert

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10 minutes ago, HubertB said:

Finally, it does not take much to convert a beautiful airframe into a butt-ugly one …

Hubert

I agree Hubert. Far from being the best looking Mustangs.

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There's little confusion about the Piper Enforcer to be clarified.

Langnase :)  Turbo Mustang III (N6167U) with the RR Dart engine, later renamed "Enforcer" was in 1970 sold to Piper Aircraft. D.Lindsay closed Cavalier year later and was involved in the development of the concept with Piper, which leased a Lycomings t55 from the Air Force and built 2 Enforcers, a single seater PE-1 (N201PE) and two seater PE-2(N202PE). Two seater crashed and single seater didn't get the COIN contract.

Seems like the Turbo Mustang III ( N6167U) was used to construct the PE-1.

One more thing , later two Piper Enforcers PA-48 (N481PE)and (N482PE) were built in 1984. These were completely different and new aeroplanes sharing very little with P-51. Both survived one is in PimaASM Tucson, second at AFTM Edwards.

So here are two beautiful pictures of PE-1

 

enforcer3.jpeg

enforcer4.jpeg

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Nice pictures John, thanks for sharing.

The first one is ex-RAAF CA-18 Mustang Mk.22 with the  Rolls-Royce Dart 510 installed. A project of Australian gentleman  Hockney Treloar. It never made it and was later sold to US and reverted to Merlin engine.

The second one is Piper PA-48 (N481PE), note the framed windscreen, ten hard point and the probe on the left fuel tank. Probably at Pima, during its restoration process.

 

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