Nor could anyone else. The F-82 was the only long range fighter to have two pilots.
- Just because you can't grasp something doesn't mean everyone else can't.
- NAA engineers obviously had an idea, the same guys who also put the autopilot in the plane.
- F-82 was also, as an escort fighter, pretty much alone with how long its missions would have lasted. Just because other firms didn't build an escort fighter with two pilots doesn't mean "no one understood NAA's decision to do so."
One last time. Saying that autopilot can take care of everything there is to do during an escort sortie is stupid. If it is considered that the endurance of the mission is too long for a single pilot without rest, then autopilot isn't going to solve that problem either.
One could argue that a single pilot could have done it but that is a totally separate argument.