Malcolm Hood Installations for P-51B/C

[drgondog]

RAF Warton became the primary Air Depot (2) for B-24 and P-51. Each Fighter Group in the 8th and 9th Air Force had an on base Service Squadron/Group capable of implementing tech orders and significant repairs.

I have heard that the Malcolm Hood required between 85 and 135 hours to install and I am unclear where the primary installation took place.. conceivably it could have also been modified at 1AD Burtonwood which had responsibility for B-17 and P-47... RAF Warton or each local Service Group - I suspect tooling required so I suspect centralized process in which the Mustang was flown to a specific location, modified and returned to the combat unit. Ditto the first 250+ 85 gallon fuselage tanks for the P-51B-1, -5-NA and P-51C-1NT that arrived without them.

Can anyone shed light on this subject? BTW, according to The Mustang Story by Ken Delve (pg 35), the NAA engineers in UK in 1942 designed the Hood for the Mustang IA AG618 and Malcolm tweaked it for the blown hood and manufactured the canopies. The RAF modified very few Mustang I and IA but performed the modification on all Mustang III and IIIA at RAF Henlow before inserting them into combat ops, whereas the 8th AF typically received their P-51B/C's with the birdcage canopy - then had them modified.