CAC Mustang A68-110 | July 2017

Warbirds Online brings you news on the refurbishment taking place on CA-18 Mk.21 Mustang A68-110 VH-MFT at Caboolture Qld. The aircraft is being overhauled by Dave Kingshott and his team at Complete Aircraft Care and much work has been completed since our last review in March 2017.

The mighty Mustang has had a very thorough overhaul of the airframe and systems and all the components requiring attention including electrical components, hydraulics and controls have been rebuilt and are ready for refitting.

: In the paint booth

: Completed doghouse

: Wings ready for painting

: Ready for paint application

The aircrafts airframe was examined in detail and all of the structure of the aircraft has been repaired and refurbished as required. The fuselage, wings, empennage and control surfaces are all complete and awaiting reassembly. VH-MFT is now moving on to the next stage of the rebuild which has commenced with the repainting of the fuselage and will be followed on with the wings and other components all being refinished in the next couple of weeks.

The decision has been taken to repaint the Mustang in much the same color scheme it has worn since it was restored. Minor changes have been made in terms of the color and finish of the aircraft to bring it more into line with actual color scheme of A68-769 “Snifter” (the adopted color scheme and identity it wears) when it was in service. Research has revealed that the shade of blue on the prop was incorrect and the rondels were also not as accurate as they could have been and this is being corrected. The actual overall shade of silver / grey of the aircraft is also being changed to more accurately reflect the original finish applied to “Snifter”. These changes are not significant but will further enhance what was an already beautiful looking Mustang.

: Rolls Royce Packard Merlin V12 engine

: Engine ready for refitting

: Propeller ready for paint application

: Restored components

Once all the paint work is complete in the coming weeks the task of re assembling the aircraft will pick up its pace and it should not be too long before the aircraft is complete again and ready for test flights. As the Rolls Royce / Packard Merlin V12 had been recently overhauled no work has been required on this other than a general clean and tidy up and it is ready to be refitted to the airframe.

Warbirds Online will continue to monitor progress on this restoration as she progresses through this detailed and complex rebuild back to better than new condition by Complete Aircraft Care.

Dave Kingshott and his team at Complete Aircraft Care have another CAC product in the workshop at present in the form of the Caboolture based CAC CA-25 Winjeel A85-422 VH-SOB undergoing overhaul following some water immersion it suffered during flooding at Murwillumbah NSW earlier this year. Fortunately the aircraft was not completely immersed and is in need of a thorough inspection and rectification as required. Work on the aircraft is proceeding well and it shouldn’t be too long before this CAC workhorse is also back in the air.