Pony Perked????

[NUTTZ]

Ok maybe 2 ponies

P-82b TWIN MUSTANG
 
NUTTZ

[Ripsnort]

Naa, that's two members of the 13th TAS flying in close formation!

My Father-in-law worked on this A/C in Korea, he can talk hours on the subject.

[Westy]

They had 20+ready well before VJ day.

PERK IT !!!


-Westy

[This message has been edited by Westy (edited 01-09-2001).]

[Tac]

what the HECK is that thing? North American engineers on crack?

[Wanker]

Actually, the real reason that the P-82 was  developed was that Runstangs like to run in herds.

[LaVa]

I cover one eye up and stop drinking when i see stuff like that

LaVa

[texace]

I wonder if it could fly if I knife-edged betewwn the cockpits?

 

------------------
Lt. Col. Aaron "txace-" Giles of the 457th BG
    "Fait Accompli"

[AKSeaWulfe]

Does that thing accomodate two pilots? I've seen it before but it's so damned ugly I was never interested in learning anymore about it.

If it does accomodate two pilots I can just see it now..
RightPilot:"Break right!! BREAK RIGHT!!"
LeftPilot:"Noooo break left!! BREAK LEFT!!!"

Both pilots go their seperate ways and someone gets an easy manuever kill. <G>
-SW

[Maverick]

Can't get the image of that old gag bumper sticker out of my mind. "Fly united"

Mav

[Voss]

Not a bad idea Nuttz, but I doubt it would see much action. There is very little need for a backup pilot here (just to accomplish a 2600 mile range) .  

However, if night fighting...

I'd rather see the P-51 H perked. You can't argue that the P/F-82 was available first, because the Twin Mustang was built from two modified and lengthened H model fuselages.

As I said, the range of this fighter is listed as 2600 miles, but you should check into the historical record of "Betty Jo" (the F-82 on display at the Air Force Museum). Hickam Field, Hawaii to Mitchell Field, NY - unrefueled. That record still stands as the greatest distance flown by an (unrefueled) fighter.

Isn't that like 5000 miles? maybe more?

Anyway, we don't need it. Perk the P-51H!

Voss 13th T.A.S.

[Hangtime]

"If one's good; two MUST be better." I luv Amercia.

 

[Fishu]

Hmm, I wonder how usable those planes were..

[Hangtime]

TOPS SPEED: 475 miles per hour
SERVICE CEILING: 42,200 feet
RANGE: 1,600 miles  
POWER PLANTS: Allison 12-cylinder V-1710-G6 engines
ARMAMENT: Six .50 caliber machine guns standard plus Eight additional .50 caliber machine guns in special center section nacelle. Five rocket launching racks carrying five rockets each. Other alternate payload: 7,200 pounds of bombs, photographic nacelle, or 2,000-pound torpedo.  
NUMBER BUILT: 272

Perk It. Sounds like fun.  

Muahhahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Hang
1st/AG Bishlanders

[Dune]

A little P-82 info  

 
An F-82G Twin Mustang of the USAF's 68th All-Weather Squadron based at Itazuke, Japan, returns from a weather reconnaissance mission over North Korea.

From Unreal Aircraft:  http://www.chariot.net.au/~theburfs/URmust.html

 

The Twin Mustang was conceived in 1943 as an ultra long range escort fighter with accommodation for a relief pilot. During WW.2 the belief had developed that an escort fighter needed two engines and a crew of two. The P-51 itself disproved those assumptions when it escorted 8th AF bombers deep into Germany. However, the greater distances of the Pacific war, and the advent of the B-29 Superfortress bomber, revived the idea, with an expectation that fighter crews, like their bomber counterparts, might face six to eight hours in the cockpit.
The proposal was to join two P-51H airframes by means of a constant-chord centre section and rectangular tailplane, retaining a port and starboard outer wing but deleting the remaining outer tail surfaces.

The pilot, with full flight and engine instruments, occupied the port cockpit, and a co-pilot sat in the starboard cockpit with sufficient instruments to control the aircraft to relieve the pilot or in an emergency.

The undercarriage was to consist of a single main wheel between each fuselage and the centre section, and twin tailwheels.

Design work began in January 1944, and the first flight by one of the two prototypes designated XP-82 was on April 15, 1945. It was powered by two Packard Merlin V-1650-23/25 engines of 1,860 hp. By this time, 500 production aircraft, designated P-82B, were on order.

These were essentially similar to the prototypes, but had wing racks for four 1,000 lb (453.5 kg) or two 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs, twenty-five 5-in (12.7 cm) rockets, or a central pod supplementing the six inbuilt .5 in (12.7mm) machine guns with a further eight similar weapons.
The third prototype differed in having Allison V-1710-119 engines with airscrews rotating in the same direction.

The end of the Pacific war saw a cut-back in production orders of the P-82B to twenty aircraft. One of these, Betty Jo, establishing a number of distance records, including a non-stop flight between Honolulu and New York on 28th February, 1947, in 14 hours and 32 minutes. This stood into the 1990s as the longest unrefuelled flight by a piston-engined fighter.

Two of this batch were completed as night-fighters; a P-82C (with SCR-720 airborne intercept radar) and a P-82D (with APS-4 radar). The radar was housed in a large nacelle under the wing centre section. Other equipment included an APN-1 radar altimeter and APS-13 tail warning. The starboard cockpit was adapted to house the radar operator.

In 1947, orders were placed for 250 additional Twin Mustangs, the first 100 to be P-82E (later designated F-82E) day fighters, for escort and ground attack, and the remainder to be night-fighters. These would comprise 91 P-82Fs with APS-4 radar, and 59 P-82-Gs with SCR-720 radar.
All three versions would be powered by the Allison V-1710-143/145 engines. From June 1948 all three types were redesignated F-82E, F-82F and F-82G.

The F-82E served as a long-range escort with Strategic Air Command between 1948 and 1950. The Twin Mustang entered service with the USAF's Air Defense Command, succeeding the P-61 Black Widow, and was subsequently deployed overseas with the 5th Air Force in Japan, operating over Korea in the early stages of the Korean War.

An F-82G of the 68th (All-Weather) Squadron was credited with the destruction of the first enemy aircraft on June 27th, 1950.
After withdrawal from service in the Far East Air Force, fourteen F-82F and F-82G Twin Mustangs were winterised, redesignated F-82H, and assigned to Alaska.

Only five Twin Mustangs are known to have survived into the 1990s, none of them airworthy. The Confederate Air Force at Midland, Texas, undertook restoration of a P-82D to flying condition, delayed somewhat as they sought a left-handed propellor.

From Joe Baugher's site:  http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p82_10.html

 

The first Twin Mustangs began to reach the squadrons during 1948. In June of that year, the P-designation was changed to F, and the Twin Mustang became F-82 rather than P-82. The F-82E entered service in the long-range bomber escort role with the 27th Fighter Group (522nd, 523rd, and 524th Squadrons) of the Strategic Air Command. They spent their brief life flying alongside B-29s, and were replaced by jets in 1950.

In 1948, the F and G night-fighter versions of the Twin Mustang began to replace the Northrop F-61 Black Widow in service with the Air Defense Command. They were painted all-black and had flame-damped exhausts. The first Air Defense Command unit to take delivery of the F-82F was the 325th Fighter Group (317th, 318th, and 319th Squadrons) based at both Hamilton Field, California and McChord AFB, Washington, the 51st Fighter Group (16th, 25th, and 26th Squadrons) and the 52nd Fighter Group (2nd and 5th Squadrons) based at Mitchel AFB and McGuire AFB, New Jersey. In 1949, the 347th Fighter Group (4th, 68th, and 339th Squadrons) stationed in Japan received F-82Gs. The 449th Squadron of the 5001st Composite Group based at Ladd AFB in Alaska received the "cold-weather F-82Hs.

By the middle of 1949, the Twin Mustang was in widespread service, some 225 E, F, and G models being on strength. It was anticipated that the service life of the Twin Mustang would be relatively brief, since the F-82 was seen as only an interim type, filling in the gap only until adequate numbers of jet fighters could be made available. In 1950, some units based in the USA were already beginning to replace their Twin Mustangs with jets.

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out. The Twin Mustangs based in Japan were immediately thrown into combat to stem the North Korean advance. They were the only fighter aircraft available with the range to cover the entire Korean peninsula from bases in Japan. They provided fighter cover for the C-54 and C-47 transports flying in and out of Kimpo Airfield near Seoul. On June 27, 1950, an F-82G (46-383) of the 68th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group flown by Lieut. William Hudson (pilot) and Lieut. Carl Fraser (radar operator) shot down a North Korean Yak-7U. This was the first air-to-air kill of the Korean War, and, incidentally, the first aerial victory by the newly-formed United States Air Force. Squadron records have been lost, and memory is unreliable, and it is possible that Lt. Hudson was actually flying 46-601 that day. Later that same day, an F-82G (46-392) flown by Major James Little of the 339th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group shot down a North Korean Yak-9. Records are unreliable, and some experts maintain that Major Little actually was the first to kill.

The Twin Mustang saw extensive service in Korea until November of 1951, serving in both escort and ground attack roles. However, the F-82 played a secondary role as compared with its distinguished predecessor, the single-engined F-51. As more jets became available, the F-82s were withdrawn from combat and phased out of service.

The last Twin Mustang was retired from service in mid-1953.

Specs from USAF museum page:  http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/fighter/f82.htm

 

SPECIFICATIONS (F-82B)
Span: 51 ft. 3 in.
Length: 38 ft. 1 in.
Height: 13 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 24,800 lbs. max.
Armament: Six .50-cal. machine guns, 25 five-inch rockets, and 4,000 lbs. of bombs
Engines: Two Packard V-1650s of 1,380 hp. ea.
Crew: Two
Cost: $228,000
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 482 mph
Cruising speed: 280 mph
Range: 2,200 miles
Service Ceiling: 39,900 ft

BTW, I've found records for 3 F-82's scoring kills during Korea.  2 La-7's and a Yak 9.

------------------
Col Dune
C.O. 352nd Fighter Group
"The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney"

"Credo quia absurdum est." (I believe it because it is unreasonable)
- The motto of the Republic of Baja Arizona

[Hans]

North American wasn't the only ones to think of this idea.

       

The Me 109Z prototype incorporated two Bf 109F-4 fuselages, joined with a new constant chord wing center section and parallel chord tailplane. Included also was the 109F-4 powerplant, the Daimler Benz DB 601E-1 engine (12 cylinder, liquid-cooled, inverted V - 1750 horsepower on takeoff). The main landing gear attachment point were moved inboard to attach to a strengthened centerline keel in each fuselage. The outermost main landing gear retracted outboard; the inner legs retracted into the new center wing section.  A single pilot sat in the port cockpit and the starboard cockpit was faired over. Armament on the projected production models varied (see below).

Several other Me 109Z designs were planned, developed around the 109G  fuselages. The Me 109Z was to use around 90% of pre-existing 109 parts, with only the new main wing and tailplane, modified landing gear mountings, slightly larger wheels, extra fuel tanks in place of the starboard cockpit and a few other components needed to complete the aircraft. A prototype was completed in early 1943, but it was damaged in an Allied air attack on the Messerschmitt test center, and the damage was deemed too severe for repair. The development was abandoned in 1944, and by then, the Me 262 jet fighter had taken wing. One interesting note: the North American aircraft company followed the same design (independently) to produce the P-82 Twin Mustang, which was two P-51 fuselages joined in a similar manner as the Me 109Z.

Mas speed 462 mph @ 26250'
Cruises 354 mph @ 9840'
Max alt 38385'

Hans.

[This message has been edited by Hans (edited 01-10-2001).]