Snifter is now 361st FS "Jersey Jerk"

aerovet · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2024 8:58 am

https://www.scramble.nl/military-news/m ... -at-sywell

Hooligan2 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2024 10:51 am

Strangely, this Mustang doesn't appear in the late Geoff Goodall's listing... presumably accidentally deleted.

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3322

It’s listed, towards the end of the list, as an anonymous P-51D with no known identity

Hooligan2 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2024 3:00 pm

Thanks Mike, so it is - just discovered that the search function in my Acrobat extension is defunct! No wonder I couldn't find it...

Spitty · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2024 4:17 am

One chapter ends another starts....

Archer · **Joined:** Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:13 pm **Posts:** 368

It is listed on MustangsMustangs but I cannot find a trace of it in the Warbids Registry. It may have been an airframe with unknown provenance that assumed the A68-110 identity... or parts of A68-110 have been used in the rebuild, or something along those lines. Or the websites just haven't caught up with a new (relatively speaking) restoration for which the paperwork trail has been unclear.

Hooligan2 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2024 6:02 am

From Geoff Goodall's site (thanks again Mike!)

Quote:

P-51D Ed Field/ Mustang Fighter Trust, Hong Kong 3.94/97 (composite rest. project ex Fort Lauderdale FL, shipped ex USA, arr. Caboolture QLD 26.5.95, rest. completed at Caboolture 95/01)
VH-MFT Ed Field/ Mustang Fighter Trust,C aboolture QLD 13.1.97/99
Ed Field/ Warplanes Pty Ltd/ Mustang Pty Ltd, Caboolture QLD 19.3.99/20 (ff Caboolture QLD 24.1.02, flew as RAAF "A68-769/FA Snifter and Mabel II",
fuse.datablock "P-51D-25-NT 44-84502": viz A68-769) Mustang Flights (Australia) Pty Ltd, West Maitland NSW 21.4.20/23
(Australian Civil Register quotes type CAC CA-18 c/n 1435, viz A68-110: which was scrapped at RAAF Tocumwal NSW in 1957

So does appear to be an adopted identity and a P-51D parts project rather than a Commonwealth airframe?

Archer · **Joined:** Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:13 pm **Posts:** 368

A quick look at Joe Baugher's lists for 44-84502 shows:

Quote:

84502 to RAAF as A68-769. Relegated to use as target Apr 1, 1952, subsequently
sold on civil market. Registered as VH-MFT to Warplanes PTY, Ltd of Australia.

So perhaps parts of A68-769 were incorporated, but for some reason the owners decided to go with the identity of A68-110. Perhaps this provided an easier way to get the airframe registered? I can see this process being easier for an Australian-built airframe than for an imported US-built one if you are trying to get it onto the VH-register. Without someone who knows which parts started this project back in Fort Lauderdale, FL, it may well remain a mystery. But we do get to enjoy the sight and sound of another P-51D of course... :wink:

Hooligan2 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:34 am

Archer wrote:

But we do get to enjoy the sight and sound of another P-51D of course... :wink:

Absolutely!

Given that some of the Emu Junction CAC-18s ended up donating parts for the Cavalier conversion program in Florida (as I understood it), I guess it's not impossible that left over bits ended up being part of this project.

Randy Haskin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2024 2:02 pm

Hooligan2 wrote:

Given that some of the Emu Junction CAC-18s ended up donating parts for the Cavalier conversion program in Florida (as I understood it), I guess it's not impossible that left over bits ended up being part of this project.

True statement (5 of the 6 airframes went to Cavalier), although at this point who knows what parts ended up where.

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Snifter is now 361st FS "Jersey Jerk"

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