Warplanes of the USA: North American F-82 Twin Mustang

(USAF Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-83887), on a test flight over the Sierras, 1945.

The North American F-82 Twin Mustang is the last American piston-engined fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the North American P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in the Second World War. The war ended well before the first production units were operational.

In the postwar era, Strategic Air Command used the aircraft as a long-range escort fighter. Radar-equipped F-82s were used extensively by the Air Defense Command as replacements for the Northrop P-61 Black Widow as all-weather day/night interceptors. 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 Airfield by the USAF 68th Fighter Squadron. (Wikipedia)

(NACA Photo)

North American XF-82 Twin Mustang prepares for flight at the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. The aircraft was one of only two prototypes built by North American in October 1945 and powered by Packard Merlin V-1650 piston engines.The Twin Mustang’s unique two-pilot configuration allowed one pilot to rest during the long missions and thus be ready for action upon arrival.

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 end of World War. With 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, had been faster than P-51 Mustangs in the skies of Germany in late 1944. The completed airframes (minus engines) of the P-82 pre-production aircraft already manufactured went into storage, with an uncertain future.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 delays, leading to night fighter adaptations of the Twin Mustang being developed and deployed.

On 11 June 1948, the newly formed United States Air Force replaced the P-for-pursuit category with F-for-fighter. All P-82s were then re-designated F-82. (Wikipedia)

(USAF Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-83887).

(USAF Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-83887). The second prototype being flight-tested at Muroc Army Airfield, California.

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North American XP-82 Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-83887) in formation wth a P-51D Mustang (Serial No. 44-84745).

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North American XP-82 Twin Mustang  (Serial No. 44-83887).

(USAF Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang  (Serial No. 44-83887), 30 August 1945. This aircraft was transferred to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), in 1952. It was later sold to Walter Soplata after an accident in the mid-1950s, Newbury, Ohio.

(USAF Photos)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang  (Serial No. 44-83887).

(USAF Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang  (Serial No. 44-83887), with two 1,000-pound bombs, 10 5-inch rockets and two 500-pound bombs.

(G3ENERAL Photo)

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang  (Serial No. 44-83887), AA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65168), coded PQ-168.

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North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65163), coded PQ-163.

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North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65167), coded PQ-167.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65173), coded FQ-173.

(USAF Photo)

North American EF-82B (Serial No. 44-65176), coded FQ-176.

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North American EF-82B (Serial No. 44-65170).

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North American P-82C Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-65169), coded PQ-169, prototype night interceptor, 1946.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82C (Serial No. 44-65169), coded PQ-169, flying over Seal Beach, California. This F-82C in black night fighter motif. The large pod that carries a radar array under the wing.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-294), coded FQ-294. The F-82E was the first operational model 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.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-334), coded PQ-334, 523d FES.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E Twin Mustang, 523d FES.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

North American F-82E Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-275), coded FQ-275, 524th FES, Buchanan Field, Concord, 28 May 1949.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 46-258), coded FQ-258.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 46-258), coded FQ-258.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E, 27th Fighter-Escort Wing, at March AFB California practicing escort missions with B-29s (background), 1948.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 46-299), coded PQ-299.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 46-299), coded PQ-299, Travers AFB, 18 Sep 1948.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

North American F-82E, 24th FES, night operations, c1948.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82F (Serial No. 46-415), coded FQ-415.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

North American F-82F (Serial No. 46-426), coded FQ-426, 318th FAWS, 325th F(AW) Group, Hamilton Field, Sep 1948.

(USAF Photo)

North American P-82F Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-420), 319th Fighter-All Weather Squadron, 325th Fighter-All Weather Group, Oct 1948.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82G Twin Mustang,

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North American F-82G Twin Mustang (Serial No. 45-6401), coded FQ-401, 68th Fighter AW Squadron.

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North American F-82H Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-377), coded FQ-377.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82H Twin Mustang (Serial No. 46-377), coded FQ-377.

(NACA Photo)

North American EF-82B Twin Mustang 1-NA (Serial No. 46-5168), coded EFQ-168, with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Cleveand, Ohio, 1952. Note the “EFQ” Buzz Code, the NACA symbol on the tail, and the full serial number. When retired in 1957, this F-82 was the last flyable Twin Mustang under USAF ownership.

The Air Force accepted a total of 272 F-82s (including 22 prototype, test and early production aircraft). All examples were redesignated as F-82 in 1948. Specifically, the F-82 program consisted of two XF-82s, one XF-82A, 10 F-82Bs (known for a while as P-82Zs and all allocated to testing), four F-82As, 96 F-82Es, 91 F-82Fs, 45 F-82Gs and 14 F-82Hs. All models and variants of the P-82 were produced at North American's Inglewood, California manufacturing plant.

Five F-82s are known to still exist.

North American XP-82 Twin Mustang (Serial No. 44-83887) has been restored to flying status in Douglas, Georgia and was first flown on 31 December 2018. During the restoration process, a number of written notes and graffiti by the original factory workers were found on internal surfaces. These were preserved and later reapplied to the interior of the finished aircraft. It carries Reg. No. N887XP,. This aircraft is currently on loan in flying condition to the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida.

(Judson McCranie Photo)

(Roland Turner Photo)

(Ducatipierre Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)

North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65162) is on display in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. It had been a gate guard outside Lackland AFB in Texas, until acquired by the Commemorative Air Force in 1966 who flew it until damaging it in Harlingen, Texas in 1987. The unique props and landing gear were destroyed and replacements could not be obtained. In 2002, the CAF tried including it in a trade, but the USAF had to sue them for its return as it was loaned to the CAF on the condition that the CAF return the aircraft if it was no longer wanted. It arrived at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in late 2009 and underwent an extensive restoration in 2010, modifying the aircraft to resemble an F-82G but without the F-82G's radar "long dong" pod, as none had been located. In 2011, the aircraft was displayed in the Korean War Gallery.

(USAF Photos)

F-82B Betty Jo (Serial No. 44-65169), flying over Los Angeles, 1947. Note the misspelling of "Betty Jo".

(NMUSAF Photos)

(ZLEA Photo)

(Ducatipierre Photo)

North American F-82B (Serial No. 44-65168) "Betty Jo" is also on display in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio in its Cold War gallery. The aircraft is displayed in the markings of its historic Hawaii to New York flight in 1947, along with clothing and artifacts used in that record-breaking flight. "Betty Jo" was delivered to the Museum on 21 June 1957.

(Articseahorse Photos)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 46-0262), coded FQ-262, on display as a gate guard at Lackland AFB in Texas as part of the USAF Airman Heritage Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

(USAF Photo)

North American F-82E (Serial No. 44-6256), coded PQ-256. Currently under restoration to flying status. It was at the Walter Soplata farm. This aircraft previously flew with the NACA and had a registered FAA tail number.North American F-82 Twin Mustang