Point Cook Mustang flies
 

That's Judy Pay's Mustang from Tyabb. The RAAF Museum Mustang at Point Cook not airborne yet..

Speaking of Judy's Mustang... it has been confirmed for the Yarram Centenary of Flight Airshow, the weekend before the Tyabb airshow. Looks like a good line-up lead by the Paul Bennett performers. Should be a good airshow for a small country town. Put it on your list for flying into!!

Loved the sound of the RR Merlin. However, I have a genuine technical question for the pilot (Judy Pay?) and that refers to the coolant and oil cooler radiators. The final approach and touch down in the film reveals the radiator and oil cooler shutters under the fuselage were fully open. The Pilots Notes Mustang (1950) states they are set to Auto as part of the Vital Actions Before Takeoff. They are then left in Auto for normal flying (which means they are coolant and oil temperature dependent but generally almost closed).

It is only after landing as part of the after landing drills, are the shutters set to manually open by means of an Auto/Manual switch in the cockpit. This is because lack of cooling airflow on the ground requires both radiator shutters to be manually opened to prevent coolant and engine oil from over-heating.

In the case of the film which shows both radiator shutters fully open during a low fly past (5:15 minutes into the film) and on final approach, it suggests that either the owner's policy is to set both radiator shutters to be fully open while still airborne (which seems unusual) - or - perhaps the radiator temperature controller in that Mustang is defective as shown by the shutters being wide open in flight even though one presumes Auto was selected in the cockpit immediately before takeoff. There is no gauge in the cockpit displaying radiator shutter position, so the pilot would not be aware of the wide open position of the radiator shutters if they had failed in that position. This writer flew the type several decades back which is why I was curious about the radiator positions shown in the film. If Judy Pay or the pilot happens to read this post, they may be alerted to the possibility of a problem with the radiator shutters operation. Of course there is always the possibility the pilot may have forgotten to select radiator shutters to Auto before starting the take off run and the shutters were inadvertently left fully open for the whole flight...

Zero experience and zero knowledge from me, but I’ve always wondered why the (apparent) preference is for grass strips. Same with the Temora Spitfires.

My guess is that it’s less stress on something, but I would have thought there are more ‘unknowns’ landing on grass rather than tarmac.

Tailwheel aircraft are directional unstable on the ground and easier to keep straight if the main wheels don’t grip with sideways drift. The grass lets the wheels move without gripping.

In the early 1950's Archerfield was a RAAF aerodrome with an all-over field. No 23 Squadron flew Mustangs from there. The grass would "cushion" a heavy landing. However if three-pointing a Mustang on a hard surfaced runway, a high hold-off would result in a bone-jarring arrival.

The only problem with landing on grass in a Mustang was it was easy to skid the wheels when applying the brakes (no anti-skid) especially if the grass was wet with dew. Loose grass and seeds could also be blown into the coolant and oil cooler radiators.

Landing on grass (such as present day Point Cook) is useful when training ab-initio students on circuits. Any drift at touchdown on grass, whether pilot induced or wind, meant no sideways squealing of tyres as on a runway. Also less sideways strain on the undercarriage, less instructor stress and as the student wouldn't recognise a slightly sideways touch down anyway, he maintained his confidence.

Speaking of rebuilds....anyone got any news on BOB?

Thanks for all that info.

I’ve learned something new.

Any definitive answer to the Mustang whistle ?

Open gun ports. Meteor had same sound caused by 20mm gun ports

Thanks for the answer, appreciated.