Aircraft, awful and awesome:
F-82 Twin Mustang

The F-82 Twin Mustang was a seemingly awkward attempt at the very end of World War II to turn the classic P-51 Mustang into a very long-range fighter. The basic idea – one that had been tried earlier but unsuccessfully with several other aircraft – was to take two late-model P-51 fuselages and mate them to produce an airplane with extremely long range and the ability to carry a heavy load of external fuel tanks.

***image1***A large center section linked the two fuselages and carried the armament of six 50- caliber machine guns, while a single piece stabilizer tail plane joined the rear. The aircraft was manned by two pilots for the envisioned very long-range missions, so both cockpits had full instrumentation and flight controls so that one pilot could spell the other.

The F-82, originally designated the P-82, first flew in April 1945, just before the end of World War II. Perhaps surprisingly, it proved to be very fast – faster than a normal P-51 – and had excellent handling qualities despite its size and unusual appearance.

Best of all, it had the extremely long range the Air Force wanted. For extra range, it could carry four large 300-gallon external fuel tanks, and in February 1947 an F-82 flew nonstop from New York to Hawaii, a distance of more than 5,000 miles, which is a record that still stands as the longest flight by a piston engine fighter.

To put it in combat terms, the F-82 radius – the distance it could fly, fight for 15 minutes and return – was more than 1,800 miles. This meant an F-82 could fly from New York to Denver, Colorado, fight for 15 minutes at full power, and then return to New York.

The first F-82s were delivered to the Strategic Air Command for use as long-range escort fighters for B-29 and B-50 nuclear bombers and they remained in service as escort fighters until 1950. Later models of the F-82 were used as night fighters, painted black and carried a large radar pod in the center section, making the aircraft look even more awkward and ungainly.

Despite this extra load, the F-82 remained fast and agile as a fighter. When the Korean War began, night fighter F-82s flying out of Japan shot down several North Korean fighters in day engagements without any losses – the first American kills of the Korean War.