I just got an Academy 1/72 P51 C and according to the instruction, the floor of the cockpit is wood (Brown), Now I don’t know much about the P51, I can’t imagine the cockpitfloor being wood…
Or is it ?
Yes, the floor is wood.
floor was wood, with metal “skid plates” where your feet would normally slide back and forth at the rudder peddles.
Oh, thank you for the information. I must say, I’m amazed.
During the 2nd WW there was a shortage of materials, including aluminum. Folks gathered up their aluminum pots and pans and donated them to the government for the war effort. The same was done with metals like copper and brass. Things like gasoline, sugar, butter, and other products were rationed.
So, the use of plywood for the floor of the P-51 cockpit is a way to save on some aluminum.
The expression “guns and butter war” is a refference to the ability to produce a sufficient supply of guns (war material), and butter (consumer goods), without having to resort to rationing or sacarifice.
I hope this little bit of history gives you a better understanding of the use of wood on the floor of the Mustang. rangerj
its for the same reason that the wooden wonder - the DH mosquito was created. while metalworkers were in hot demand, cabinetmakers, carpenters and woodworkers in general sat around, bored. i need to build more mosquitoes !
The floor was made from plywood but it was painted with a non skid coating it should be painted a dark grey not brown.
You learned to appreciate the floor in the P-51 wood or not , if you have ever dropped a pen or some other object down into the guts of a Harvard only to have it return as a piece of shrapnel the next time you rolled inverted or pulled some negative Gs.
The P-51 did indeed have a wood floor. As far as painting, some were left unpainted, some were painted interior green & some were painted with a black anti-skid paint. It’s near impossible to get good pics of the floors of non-restored pits, so take your pick.
Regards, Rick
Speaking of rationing, my granny told me she would turn her motor off at the top of the last hill and coast the last three miles to work to save gas during the war! The metal birds are not all they seem, look inside a B24 or B17.
Quite a few of the WW-II planes , especially the early Navy birds, had no floors at all, just a trough for the pilot’s feet. Anything that was dropped by the pilot or maintenance folks fell into the deep, dark bowels of the cockpit, only to be regurgitated during rolls or negative Gs. A face full of dust, nuts, bolts, rocks, pencils, wrenches, etc can be very annoying during combat maneuvering. They can also jam control cables, which is REALLY annoying!
Darwin [alien]