F-51 Mustang - No. 77 Squadron RAAF skins

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Generic (unmarked) skins for No. 77 Squadron RAAF, as they appeared from July 1950 until their transition to Meteors in April 1951. In particular, they flew from Yonpo airfield on our map, from 19 November until 3 December 1950.

I'm not really a skin artist, but I think these are acceptable, and right now it's all we have 🙂. Some screenshots (apologies for the graphics quality; I'm running this on my RTX 2060 laptop).

Download:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7i9swpjc3fkk8vw/F51D_RAAF_77Sq.zip/file

[Bert_Foster]

Fantastic thank you

[Stonehouse]

Looks good! Thank you.

Unfortunately, the tac code system doesn't fit RAAF aircraft (they just used a serial number on the fuselage under the tail plane in case people wondered eg A77-123 for 77sqd) but really does look good. Looking forward to your campaign.

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Just a small correction. RAAF aircraft are assigned an A number based on aircraft type not operating squadron. RAAF Mustangs were all A68-xxx regardless of squadron. 
 

https://adf-serials.com.au/raafserialsexplained

[Stonehouse]

1 hour ago, ATAG_Ezzie said:

Just a small correction. RAAF aircraft are assigned an A number based on aircraft type not operating squadron. RAAF Mustangs were all A68-xxx regardless of squadron. 
 

https://adf-serials.com.au/raafserialsexplained

Sorry yes correct. Not sure what my brain was doing when I typed that.

<edit> lol realised what I have done............A77 was the Meteor.

Edited September 12 by Stonehouse

[Bert_Foster]

So for a True RAAF Stang we need:

A68-xxx serials. Pick an appropriate number and hard paint it on.

Hamilton Standard uncuffed prop,  though some cuffed props were in Korea but only a very small number.

Basic CAC Green interior side walls.

Replace the Turn and slip with the RAF style dual Turn and slip needles (Reid & Sigrist turn and slip indicator)

ASI in knots

Edited September 12 by Bert_Foster

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Regarding the serials; obviously I'm aware that they should be there, but they're not possible with the in-game system as Stonehouse pointed out. That leaves me with a few options:

• I can have an unmarked skin (currently).
• I can choose a single number and have all aircraft in the flight share it. More realistic, but probably less good for immersion.
• I can make 4 variants but this takes another 60MB download / 120MB disk size.

Please let me know what everyone's preferences are.

 

2 hours ago, Bert_Foster said:

Hamilton Standard uncuffed prop,  though some cuffed props were in Korea but only a very small number.

Basic CAC Green interior side walls.

Replace the Turn and slip with the RAF style dual Turn and slip needles (Reid & Sigrist turn and slip indicator)

ASI in knots

Interesting, I didn't know about these changes. I was under the impression that the Mustangs were old USAF stock; why did they find it necessary to go to the trouble to repaint the interior walls?

Anyhow, these are all beyond my ability to change; only the Devs can do that. But at least we've got the external skins now 🙂 

[Stonehouse]

Only one other minor thing to fix sorry. The placard on the left-hand fuselage side forward of the cockpit should be removed - certainly should not refer to the USAF etc. Based on pics I have seen it should be completely removed. Pic below is Iwakuni 1950

I believe the 77 squadron Mustangs were CAC Mustangs built under license in Australia. CA-18s probably Mk21 and Mk23s. Guessing the latter mainly as more were built of these than the Mk21s as far as I know. There may have been some ex-USAF aircraft as well to make up numbers.

 

Edited September 12 by Stonehouse

[Nearlymen]

Oh My ! That looks great ! Ok I'll add something not all spinners (but most) were of the tricolour variety, some though were just a solid red colour. Indeed I believe the spinner on Lou Spences mustang A68-809 was solid red when he was killed early on in the conflict. Also in the same pattern as the Tricolour some were Blue/yellow/blue (maybe Black Yellow ?) and others a 'wasp stripe' blue/yellow/blue/yellow/blue/yellow (maybe Black Yellow ?)  ! Oh and Dick Creswells aircraft A68-803 had a off white spinner (Maybe Pale Blue ?). Pics are in the 'The Stang' book by Cam Care . Just seeing an aircraft with Roundels in this sim makes me happy though ! 

 

Edited September 13 by Nearlymen

[SOL-4-KEV]

how did you make the livery. i dont know how the mrr works

[Bert_Foster]

13 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Interesting, I didn't know about these changes. I was under the impression that the Mustangs were old USAF stock; why did they find it necessary to go to the trouble to repaint the interior walls?

These aircraft came from CAC who commenced production in 1945. CAC decided at the time to come up with their own version of the US interior green. It was a deeper green than what the US was using at the time. If you can get access to a Winjeel you will see the same green there , it has a slight satin type finish. The CAC  green offical designation was "K/322 green non reflecting enamel". The green areas are the same as you see in GB P51D.

The Black cockpit was A USAF thing immediately post WWII until 1954 when light grey became the standard for US cockpits

As to the serial question, I will go through my references to find a serial on an aircraft with a cuffed prop. To me just one would do. I can provide a  diagram of the font used  with dimensions if need be.

edit:

A68-723 had a cuffed prop in Korea.

A68- 755 as in stonehouse lower picture has a cuffed prop as well. I think its -755 but the last digit is slightly obscured.

Also CAC produced Stangs did not have the data block on the left fuselage as shown in Stonehouse post above. In CAC aircraft this area is blank.

Edited September 12 by Bert_Foster

[AEthelraedUnraed]

12 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Only one other minor thing to fix sorry. The placard on the left-hand fuselage side forward of the cockpit should be removed - certainly should not refer to the USAF etc. Based on pics I have seen it should be completely removed. Pic below is Iwakuni 1950

Well spotted. I'll remove it once I've decided what to do with the serials. If I decide to make a couple, I'll probably give one of them an alternative spinner.

1 hour ago, Bert_Foster said:

These aircraft came from CAC who commenced production in 1945. CAC decided at the time to come up with their own version of the US interior green. It was a deeper green than what the US was using at the time. If you can get access to a Winjeel you will see the same green there , it has a slight satin type finish. The CAC  green offical designation was "K/322 green non reflecting enamel". The green areas are the same as you see in GB P51D.

The Black cockpit was A USAF thing immediately post WWII until 1954 when light grey became the standard for US cockpits

As to the serial question, I will go through my references to find a serial on an aircraft with a cuffed prop. To me just one would do. I can provide a  diagram of the font used  with dimensions if need be.

I've done a bit more research, and it seems that actually the bulk of No. 77 Squadron's Mustangs didn't come from CAC but were rather ex-USAF stock. E.g. A68-709, one of the numbers that keeps popping up in the mission logs I'm reading, was a Dallas-built USAF machine according to http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a68c.htm and https://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/production/, transferred to the RAAF in July 1945. The same goes for another three numbers I've checked; Texas-built P-51D-25NTs.

What does this mean for the cockpits? I suppose they might've swapped a few instruments, but would they really have done the effort of repainting them?

 

3 hours ago, SOL-4-KEV said:

how did you make the livery. i dont know how the mrr works

The template has an MRR layer group, containing Metalness, Roughness and Specular (Reflectivity) sub-groups. You have to create a new image with these as respectively the Red, Green and Blue colour channels. The end result was a bit too bright compared with the reference skins; applying a 0.78 gamma correction to the channels made it look much closer to the original.

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Nice discussion with some good info - thanks everyone. 
 

I was serving at 77 Sqn in the early 90s in a non aircrew role when the squadron celebrated our 50th anniversary. A bunch of the squadron’s ww2 and Korean War pilots attended and I asked Dick Cresswell to sign the book that was produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary (Swift to Destroy). 
 

From memory they were an energetic bunch especially their wives / partners but I don’t recall much specific discussion about Korea. WW2 was the focus and we painted one of our Hornets with the same nose art from Dick Cresswell’s Kittyhawk from memory. 
 

Our airframe fitters were refurbishing a Meteor in our main hangar - from memory- that become one of the gate guardians at RAAF Base Williamtown. So I used to walk past it most days as it was being worked on. 
 

And our XO used to fly a 2 seat  Mig-15/17 (can’t recall exactly - someone may know?) that was based at Williamtown in the early 90s and if you track down one of the 77 squadron videos from the early 1990s on the internet you will see it flying with our Hornets. 
 

So I’m enjoying this thread and the game from a historical perspective and would be very happy to see a Meteor in the game in the future. 
 

Ezzie

[Nearlymen]

Just looking at some of these pics with the alternative spinner colours in my reference books and it seems the different coloured spinners were either belonging to the CO or the 2IC which kind of makes sense. The fact though they went to war in Korea  with that is slightly suprising as I thought they would have overpainted them to be all the same. This was something that was done to the Seafire 47's of the RN FAA 800 Sqdn who were disembarked with 77 sqdn at Iwakuni, all the spinners had a coat of Extra dark Sea Grey to stop identification of Senior Pilots when going into action. Just to echo ATAG_Ezzie this is a great thread !

7 hours ago, Bert_Foster said:

These aircraft came from CAC who commenced production in 1945. CAC decided at the time to come up with their own version of the US interior green. It was a deeper green than what the US was using at the time. If you can get access to a Winjeel you will see the same green there , it has a slight satin type finish. The CAC  green offical designation was "K/322 green non reflecting enamel". The green areas are the same as you see in GB P51D.

The Black cockpit was A USAF thing immediately post WWII until 1954 when light grey became the standard for US cockpits

As to the serial question, I will go through my references to find a serial on an aircraft with a cuffed prop. To me just one would do. I can provide a  diagram of the font used  with dimensions if need be.

edit:

A68-723 had a cuffed prop in Korea.

A68- 755 as in stonehouse lower picture has a cuffed prop as well. I think its -755 but the last digit is slightly obscured.

Also CAC produced Stangs did not have the data block on the left fuselage as shown in Stonehouse post above. In CAC aircraft this area is blank.

Never noticed the cuffed prop ! Good spot !

Oh! And Finally ! Something small but we have no control over this ! The pilot figure is wearing a US hard lid. The Aussies and the RAF at the time of Korea I believe were using the Type E flying helmet, which gives a very different look to the Pilot, but thats out of our control.

Edited September 13 by Nearlymen

[Bert_Foster]

8 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

What does this mean for the cockpits? I suppose they might've swapped a few instruments, but would they really have done the effort of repainting them?

Dallas built  handed over in July 1945 means USAF actually NAA's interpretation of interior green... so similar to the GB P51D. Would also imply standard US instrumentation.
 

The black interiors were a post WWII thing and then only applicable to USAF aeroplanes not CAC built aeroplanes. The exact date that black actually went into service is unknown and subject to much angst in the modelling community.

like Ezzie I had 2 tours in 77 and loved every moment of it. I soaked up the units history, spending countless hours reading the unit history book. This was in RAAF squadrons a huge book full of original images and reports and usually lived in the pilots crew room. A priceless document.

The Grumpy monkey on the Squadrons crest comes directly from its Korean experience.  

"Swift to destroy"

 

 

Edited September 13 by Bert_Foster

[AEthelraedUnraed]

6 hours ago, Nearlymen said:

Just looking at some of these pics with the alternative spinner colours in my reference books and it seems the different coloured spinners were either belonging to the CO or the 2IC which kind of makes sense. The fact though they went to war in Korea  with that is slightly suprising as I thought they would have overpainted them to be all the same. This was something that was done to the Seafire 47's of the RN FAA 800 Sqdn who were disembarked with 77 sqdn at Iwakuni, all the spinners had a coat of Extra dark Sea Grey to stop identification of Senior Pilots when going into action. Just to echo ATAG_Ezzie this is a great thread !

Good point. I never noticed, but it seems that at least the S/L had a "personal" aircraft. Dick Cresswell always flies A68-803 in all mission logs I've seen, although other flight leaders also occasionally flew it (e.g. Gordon Harvey, Pip Olorenshaw). It seems to have had a relatively dull spinner though.

Another interesting fact that I noticed earlier from the mission logs, is that flight leaders had "personal" call signs. E.g. Cresswell always uses callsign Dropkick Able, Ross Coburn uses Dog, Jack Murray is Sugar, etc.. I suppose it makes it easier to remember in the heat of combat.

2 hours ago, Bert_Foster said:

Dallas built  handed over in July 1945 means USAF actually NAA's interpretation of interior green... so similar to the GB P51D. Would also imply standard US instrumentation.
 

The black interiors were a post WWII thing and then only applicable to USAF aeroplanes not CAC built aeroplanes. The exact date that black actually went into service is unknown and subject to much angst in the modelling community.

Good point.

Anyhow, there's little I can do about it since the skins only contain the exterior textures. It may be possible with a mod, but I prefer not to use those as long as I cannot "pack" them with my missions and use without Mods On.

[Stonehouse]

I believe Dropkick was the unit callsign so it does make sense that the C/O was Dropkick Able.

[JollyJack]

Out of curiosity i downloaded the P51d skins above. The size of the DDS files is quite different than in IL2 GB, so i guess they're not Korea exchangeable alas.

[JG14_Jagr]

On 9/12/2026 at 5:34 AM, Stonehouse said:

Only one other minor thing to fix sorry. The placard on the left-hand fuselage side forward of the cockpit should be removed - certainly should not refer to the USAF etc. Based on pics I have seen it should be completely removed. Pic below is Iwakuni 1950

I believe the 77 squadron Mustangs were CAC Mustangs built under license in Australia. CA-18s probably Mk21 and Mk23s. Guessing the latter mainly as more were built of these than the Mk21s as far as I know. There may have been some ex-USAF aircraft as well to make up numbers.

 

The RAAF got 299 US manufactured Mustangs that were used for Korea.  They also had 4, yes 4, locally produced under license Mustangs that were deployed but they deployed right before the Squadron they went to transitioned to jets.  That being said, I don't know if the stenciling would have been changed or not.  

[actionhank]

On 9/12/2026 at 12:57 AM, Stonehouse said:

Looks good! Thank you.

Unfortunately, the tac code system doesn't fit RAAF aircraft (they just used a serial number on the fuselage under the tail plane in case people wondered eg A77-123 for 77sqd) but really does look good. Looking forward to your campaign.

I've run into the same issue with the RoKAF F-51 I'm making. I'm hoping the developers can either add other countries with unique tactical codes, but in the mean time...I might just make a handful of varied numbers and have way too many skins in my folder to pick from.

[Bert_Foster]

Going through the RAAF serials page it states only 4 CAC built machines went to korea as Jagr said.

Serials A68- 121/123/125 and 130

[LukeFF]

You can probably find most/all of the Mustangs supplied from the US to Australia on this page here: https://www.crouze.com/baugher/

It's Joe Baugher's prodigious serial number list of USAAF/USAF planes, now updated by someone else.

For instance, for 1945 production of the P-51D-25-NT, you'll find four planes being sent to 77 Squadron: 45-11458, 45-11464, 45-11479, and 45-11483.