In mid-1945 The Royal New Zealand Air Force received 30 North American P-51D Mustangs, from the United States. As a planned replacement for the RNZAF Vought F-4U Corsairs in the Pacific Theatre. With the surrender of Japan in August of 1945. Resulted in the rest of the 370 aircraft order being cancelled. With the 30 delivered P-51D Mustangs being placed in to long term storage.
However, with the start of the Cold War and its impact on the Asia- Pacific region. Made the New Zealand government re-evaluate the nation's defence requirements. This resulted in the reinstatement of the reserve volunteer territorial air force in 1948. In order to strengthen the Royal New Zealand Air Force. However, the only aircraft available for the territorial air force were RNZAF trainer aircraft. Like the De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth and North American T-6 Texan.
Then in 1951 it was decided to take the 30 Mustangs out of storage. This greatly strengthen the Territorial Air Force as a fighting force. With the Mustangs serving as a second line fighter, behind the RNZAF newly acquired De Havilland DH.100 Vampires. The Mustangs were then issued to four of the territorial air force squadrons. With two squadrons based in the North Island and two squadrons for the South Island. With the Mustangs being stationed in the cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Each squadron had a fuselage checker board pattern, reflecting the colours of the assigned region. No 1 Auckland Squadron was represented by a Blue and White checker pattern. No 2 Wellington Squadron had a Yellow and Black pattern. Red and Black for No 3 Canterbury Squadron, stationed around the South Island city of Christchurch. And Blue and Gold checkerboards for No 4 Otago Squadron stationed in the South Island city of Dunedin. With the checkerboard pattern being replaced by a Blue bar with Gold triangles on a few No 4 Squadron Mustangs.
From 1951 until 1955 the Territorial Air Force Mustangs often took part in weekend training exercises. With mock dogfights and ground attack missions being practiced. However, the volunteer territorial Air Force began to be viewed as a drain on the resources regular and professional RNZAF. Resulting in the Mustangs being withdrawn from service by late 1955. With many Mustangs being sold off as scrap metal in 1958. As for the Territorial Air Force, that the Mustangs had served faithfully. Was disbanded by the New Zealand Government in 1957.
THE MODEL KIT
The model of choice to make a New Zealand Territorial Air Force is the recent Airfix 1/72 Scale P-51D Mustang kit. Which is another fun and easy model to make. As for the decals they were spare decals RAF roundels to represent the RNZAF Roundels. Which from 1946 until 1956, were identical to the Royal Air Force roundel. The serial numbers and checkerboard were printed onto clear and white decal paper.
Thank you for watching this video and good luck with all your ongoing projects.
From Shuttle Factory Scale Models