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F-82 Twin Mustang

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The North American F-82 Twin Mustang was the last American piston-engine fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter in World War II; however, the war ended well before the first production units were operational, so its postwar role changed to that of night-fighting. Radar-equipped F-82s were used extensively by the Air Defense Command as replacements for the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter. During the Korean War, Japan-based F-82s were among the first USAF aircraft to operate over Korea. The first three North Korean aircraft destroyed by U.S. forces were shot down by F-82s, the first being a North-Korean Yak-11 downed over Gimpo by the USAF 68th Fighter Squadron.

Design and development:

Initially intended as a very long-range (VLR) escort fighter, the F-82 was designed to escort Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers on missions exceeding 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the Solomons or Philippines to Tokyo, missions beyond the range of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and conventional P-51 Mustangs. Such missions were part of the planned U.S. invasion of the Japanese home islands, which was forestalled by the surrender of Japan days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In October 1943, the North American Aircraft design team began work on a fighter design that could travel over 2,000 mi (3,200 km) without refueling. It consisted of a two-fuselage design, somewhat similar to the experimental German Messerschmitt Bf 109Z "Zwilling". Although based on the lightweight experimental XP-51F, which would later become the P-51H Mustang, it was actually an entirely new design. North American Design Chief Edgar Schmued incorporated two P-51H Mustang fuselages lengthened by the addition of a 57 in (145 cm) fuselage plug located behind the cockpit where additional fuel tanks and equipment could be installed. These were mounted to a newly designed center wing section containing the same six .50 inches (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns as a single-engine Mustang, but with more concentrated fire. The outer wings were strengthened to allow the addition of hard points for carrying additional fuel or 1,000 pounds (500 kg) of ordnance. The two vertical tails were also from the XP-51F, but incorporated large dorsal fillets for added stability in case of an engine failure. The aircraft had a conventional landing gear with both wheels retracting into bays under each fuselage center section.

The XP-82 was to be powered by two Packard-built Rolls-Royce V-1650 Merlin engines. Initially, the left engine was a V-1650-23 with a gear reduction box to allow the left propeller to turn opposite to the right propeller, which was driven by the more conventional V-1650-25. In this arrangement both propellers would turn upward as they approached the center wing, which in theory would have allowed better single-engine control. This proved not to be the case when the aircraft refused to become airborne during its first flight attempt. After a month of work North American engineers finally discovered that rotating the propellers to meet in the center on their upward turn created sufficient drag to cancel out all lift from the center wing section, one quarter of the aircraft's total wing surface area. The engines and propellers were then exchanged, with their rotation meeting on the downward turn, and the problem was fully solved. The first XP-82 prototype (44-83886) was completed on 25 May 1945, and made the type's first successful flight on 26 June 1945. This aircraft was accepted by the Army Air Forces on 30 August 1945, whose officials were so impressed by the aircraft, while still in development, that they ordered the first production P-82Bs in March 1945, fully three months before its first flight.

Prototype XP-82s, P-82Bs and P-82Es retained both fully equipped cockpits so that pilots could fly the aircraft from either position, alternating control on long flights, while later night fighter versions kept the cockpit on the left side only, placing the radar operator in the right position.
Although some P-82B airframes were completed before the end of World War II, most remained at the North American factory in California waiting for engines until 1946. As a result, none saw service during the war.

Like several versions of the P-51 Mustang, the first two prototype XP-82s as well as the next 20 P-82B models were powered by British-designed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, built under license by Packard. These provided the fighter with excellent range and performance; however, the Army had always wanted to give the Twin Mustang a purely American and stronger engine than the foreign-designed P-51's V-1650 (built at Packard plants, dismantled after the war). In addition, the licensing costs paid to Rolls-Royce for each V-1650 were being increased by Britain after the war. It therefore negotiated in August 1945 with the Allison Division of the General Motors Corporation for a new version of the Allison V-1710-100 engine. This forced North American to switch subsequent production P-82C and later models to the lower-powered engines. It was found that Allison-powered P-82 models demonstrated a lower top speed and poorer high-altitude performance than the earlier Merlin-powered versions. The earlier P-82B models were designated as trainers, while the "C" and later models were employed as fighters, making the P-82 one of the few aircraft in U.S. military history to be faster in its trainer version than the fighter version.

In 1948, the 3200th Proof Test Group at Eglin AFB, Florida, fitted the 4th F-82B Twin Mustang (44-65163) with retractable pylons under the outer wings capable of mounting 10 High-Velocity Air Rockets (HVAR) each, which folded into the wing undersurface when not in use. This installation was not adopted on later models, the standard "tree" being used instead. The 13th aircraft (44-65171). was experimentally fitted with a center wing mounted pod housing an array of recon cameras, and was assigned to the 3200th Photo Test Squadron, being designated, unofficially, the RF-82B.

Record-setting:

On 27 February 1947, P-82B 44-65168, named Betty Jo and flown by Colonel Robert E. Thacker, made history when it flew nonstop from Hawaii to New York without refueling, a distance of 5,051 mi (8,129 km) in 14 hr 32 min. It averaged 347.5 miles per hour (559.2 km/h). This flight tested the P-82's range. The aircraft carried a full internal fuel tank of 576 US gallons (2,180 l; 480 imp gal), augmented by four 310 US gal (1,173 l; 258 imp gal) tanks for a total of 1,816 US gal (6,874 l; 1,512 imp gal). Also, Colonel Thacker forgot to drop three of his external tanks when their fuel was expended, landing with them in New York.[3]
To this day, it remains the longest nonstop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter, and the fastest such a distance has ever been covered in a piston-engined aircraft (the record for the longest unrefueled flight by a propeller-driven aircraft of any type is held by the Rutan Voyager).

Operational history:

The Twin Mustang was developed at the end of the prop-driven fighter era and at the dawn of the jet age. Its designed role as a long-range fighter escort was eliminated by the atomic bombing of Japan and the sudden end of World War II. With the rapid draw-down of the armed forces after the war, the newly established United States Air Force had little money for new prop-driven aircraft, especially since jets, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other Luftwaffe fighters, had been faster than P-51 Mustangs in the skies of Germany in late 1944. The completed airframes (less engines) of the P-82 pre-production aircraft already manufactured by North American went into storage, with an uncertain future.
However, during the 1947 Soviet Aviation Day display at Tushino Airport, a surprise appearance was put in by three four-engined long-range strategic bombers. They were early examples of the Tupolev Tu-4, which was a bolt-for-bolt copy of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, three examples of which had been interned in the Soviet Union after having been forced to land there during bombing raids against Japan. Since the USSR was expected soon to have nuclear weapons, the appearance of the Soviet Tu-4 was a shock to U.S. military planners, since it meant that the U.S. mainland might soon be vulnerable to nuclear attack from the air.
Until jet interceptors could be developed and put into service, the Twin Mustangs already built were seen as an interim solution to SAC's fighter escort mission for its strategic bomber force and also as an all-weather air defense interceptor.
Early attempts to develop jet-powered all-weather fighters ran into a series of snags and delays. The Curtiss-Wright XF-87 Blackhawk had been ordered in December 1945, but it ran into developmental difficulties and the project was eventually totally abandoned in October 1948. The Northrop P-89 Scorpion was deemed to have greater promise, but it too ran into teething troubles and did not show promise of entering service until 1952 at the earliest. Due to the lack of any suitable jet-powered replacement, the wartime Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter was forced into this role, and in order to help fill in the gap until the Scorpion could be available, night fighter adaptations of the piston-engined North American P-82 Twin Mustang were developed and deployed.
On 11 June 1948, the newly formed United States Air Force eliminated the P-for-pursuit category and replaced it with F-for-fighter. Subsequently, all P-82s were re-designated F-82.

Strategic Air Command:

The F-82E was the first model to reach operational squadrons and its initial operational assignment was to the Strategic Air Command 27th Fighter (later Fighter-Escort) Wing at Kearney Air Force Base, Nebraska in March 1948.
During World War II, the P-51 Mustang had escorted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers from bases in England and Southern Italy to targets throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. However, the Cold War brought on the challenge of possible B-29, Boeing B-50 or Convair B-36 bomber missions into the Soviet Union. The sheer size of the Soviet Union dictated that a bombing mission would be a 12-hour affair there and back from bases in Europe or Alaska, most of it over Soviet territory. Also the weather, which was bad enough in Western Europe, would make bombing missions impossible over the Soviet Union between October and May. With no long-range jet fighters yet available to perform escort missions for the strategic bomber force, the mission of the 27th FEW was to fly these long-range missions with their F-82Es.
The F-82E had a range of over 1,400 mi (2,300 km), which meant that with external fuel tanks it could fly from London to Moscow, loiter for 30 minutes over the target, and return, the only American fighter which could do so. It also had an operational ceiling of 40,000 feet (12,200 m), where it could stay close to the bombers it was designed to protect. The first production F-82Es reached the 27th in early 1948, and almost immediately the group was deployed to McChord AFB, Washington, in June, where its squadrons stood on alert on a secondary air defense mission due to heightened tensions over the Berlin Airlift. It was also believed that the 27th would launch an escort mission, presumably to the Soviet Union, if conflict broke out in Europe. From McChord, the group flew its Twin Mustangs on weather reconnaissance missions over the northwest Pacific, but problems were encountered with their fuel tanks. Decommissioned F-61 Black Widow external tanks were found at Hamilton AFB, California, which could be modified for the F-82; fitted on the pylons of the Twin Mustang, these solved the problem. With a reduction in tension, the 27th returned to its home base in Nebraska during September, where the unit settled down to transition flying with their aircraft.
Four F-82s were deployed from McChord to Alaska, where the pilots provided transition training to the 449th Fighter (All Weather) Squadron, which used Twin Mustangs in the air defense mission. They remained in Alaska for about 45 days, returning to rejoin the rest of the group at the beginning of November 1948.

Four F-82s were deployed from McChord to Alaska, where the pilots provided transition training to the 449th Fighter (All Weather) Squadron, which used Twin Mustangs in the air defense mission. They remained in Alaska for about 45 days, returning to rejoin the rest of the group at the beginning of November 1948.

In January 1949, Eighth Air Force planned a large celebration at Carswell AFB. All of its assigned units were to participate in a coordinated flyover. Most of SAC's bombers were to participate, along with SAC's only "Long Range" fighter group, the 27th. The weather in Nebraska in January that year was especially horrible, with most airports in the Midwest weathered in on the day of the display. At Kearney AFB, the base was socked-in by a blizzard. Nevertheless, the crews had an early-morning mission briefing, and the aircraft in the hangars were pre-flighted and prepared for the flyover mission. Paths were cut though the snow for the aircraft to taxi and somehow the F-82s got airborne, with the 27th's Twin Mustangs joining up with SAC bombers over Oklahoma on schedule. The flyover by the Twin Mustangs was a tremendous success, with SAC leadership being amazed that the F-82 was truly an "all weather" aircraft and the 27th being able to carry out their mission despite the weather.
In early 1949, the 27th began carrying out long-range escort profile missions. Flights to Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Bahamas and nonstop to Washington D.C were carried out. For President Truman's 1949 inauguration, the 27th FEW launched 48 aircraft to fly in review, along with several other fighter units, in formation down Pennsylvania Avenue. Another flyover of the newly-dedicated Idlewild Airport in New York City soon followed, with the aircraft flying non-stop from Kearney AFB.

In March 1949, Kearney AFB was closed, primarily for budgetary reasons, and the 27th FEW was reassigned to Bergstrom AFB, Texas. Other long-range missions were flown cross-country, and simulated "dogfights" with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star units were carried out. The 27th FEW began transitioning to the Republic F-84 Thunderjet beginning in March 1950, and the F-82Es were largely declared surplus, with the last Twin Mustangs being phased out by September. A few were sent to Far East Air Forces for combat in Korea and a few were sent to Alaska to fly bomber escort missions over the Arctic from Ladd AFB until 1953. The majority were sent to reclamation and were gone by 1952.
With the appearance of the MiG-15 over the skies of North Korea in late 1950, the B-29, as well as all of the propeller-driven bombers in the USAF inventory, were simply rendered obsolete as strategic offensive weapons. The straight-winged F-84Gs used in Korea as bomber escorts were ineffective against the MiG, and it took the swept-wing North American F-86 Sabre to clear the skies. It was clear that it would take a new generation of swept-wing jet bombers, able to fly higher and faster, to effectively defeat the defense of the jet propelled MiG-15 or subsequent Soviet-designed interceptors. Also, the era of large groups of bombers flying in formations to a strategic target ended after the Korean War. Strategic bombing evolved into a one-plane, one target affair, with the nuclear-armed Boeing B-52 Stratofortress flying higher and faster than most enemy interceptors. The escort fighter concept became redundant, and by 1957 SAC had deactivated the last of its strategic fighter escort wings.

Retirement:

The Twin Mustang had a very short operational life. About two years after its introduction to SAC, the F-82E was phased out of service in favor of the jet-powered F-84 Thunderjet for bomber escort duties beginning in 1950. Some were sent to Korea for combat, others were sent to Alaska, but most were declared surplus and were being sent to storage and ultimately reclamation in 1951. Air Defense Command's F-82Fs began to be replaced by F-94 Starfires in 1950, and by early 1951, with most being sent to the smelters, although a few Twin Mustangs remaining in ADC towing aerial targets. In the Pacific, the F-82Gs in combat were also replaced by the F-94 in late 1951 and early 1952, with the survivors being sent to Alaska after being modified to the F-82H configuration in Japan for cold-weather use.


EF-82B Twin Mustang 1-NA 44-65168 "Betty Joe" with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Cleveland, Ohio, 1952.[N 1]
Ultimately, due to a lack of spare parts, many of the remaining Twin Mustangs which broke down were cannibalized to keep the other aircraft flying. Eventually all were withdrawn from service when the lack of parts made it impossible to keep the aging airframes flying. The last remaining F-82s were ultimately scrapped at Ladd AFB, Alaska. By June 1953 no F-82s appeared on Air Force, Air National Guard or Air Reserve Forces rolls with some being turned over to museums as static displays.

After the end of their USAF service, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) acquired four surplus F-82s for research work.

XP-82-NA 44-83886 (c/n 120-43742) (NACA-14). Operated by NACA from 6 June 1948 to 5 October 1955. This aircraft was ultimately sent to salvage at Langley AFB, Virginia.

XP-82-NA 44-83887 (c/n 120-43743). Operated from October 1947 to July 1950. Used for ram jet tests, it was damaged during July 1950. The damaged aircraft was sold to Walter Soplata and placed on his farm. In March 2008 it was sold to Tom Reilly and moved to his restoration facility in Douglas, Georgia.

P-82B-NA 44-65168 (c/n 123-43754) (NACA-132). Operated from September 1950 to June 1957: This was the Betty Joe distance record holder aircraft and it was used for ram jet tests. Was turned over to the USAF Museum.

F-82E-NA 46-256 (c/n 144-38141) (NACA-133). Used for high-altitude icing tests beginning in January 1950, redesignated EF-82E. Sold to Walter Soplata for $1,600 in March 1954. Now being restored to flying condition by C&P Aviation in Anoka, Minnesota.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2
Length: 42 ft 9 in (12.93 m)
Wingspan: 51 ft 3 in (15.62 m)
Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Wing area: 408 ft² (37.90 m²)
Empty weight: 15,997 lb (7,271 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 25,591 lb (11,632 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Allison V-1710-143/145 counter-rotating liquid-cooled V12 engines, 1,380 hp takeoff (1,029 kW each) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 482 mph (400 kn, 740 km/h) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
Range: 2,350 mi (1,950 nmi, 3,605 km)
Service ceiling: 38,900 ft (11,855 m)
Armament
Guns: 6 × .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns
Rockets: 25 × 5 in (127 mm) rockets
Bombs: 4,000 lb (1,800 kg)
Image size
1024x709px 103.84 KB
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LordOmegaZ's avatar
This kind of makes me think that if you were a ww2 nation and didnt want to build a new bomber design plus factories for the new parts you COULD take a existing already in production heavy fighter, conjoin them, slap some extra fuel pods on them, maybe back gunner too and create a off-the-shelve parts improv "bomber" :D

not completely impossible no?