F-82 Twin Mustang

P-82/F-82 Twin Mustang
XP-82 prototype
Role	Long-range escort fighter and night fighter
Manufacturer	North American Aviation
First flight	15 June 1945
Introduction	1946
Retired	1953
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	272
Unit cost	US$215,154
Developed from	North American P-51 Mustang

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. The war ended well before the first production units were operational.

In the postwar era, Strategic Air Command used the planes 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.

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 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the opening of Soviet attacks on Japanese-held territory in Manchuria.

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 twin-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 caliber M3 Browning machine guns as a single-engine Mustang, but with more concentrated fire. The first XP-82 prototype (s/n 44-83886) was equipped with a removable centerline gun pod housing eight additional .50 caliber M3 Brownings, but this did not make it to production aircraft. An even more powerful centerline gun pod containing a 40 mm cannon was considered, but it was never built. The outer wings were strengthened to allow the addition of hard points for carrying additional fuel or 1,000 pounds (450 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.

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