The F-82: Two P-51 Mustangs Bolted Together

The F-82 Twin Mustang is an unusual creation, designed to serve a specific purpose during the Second World War. Although the P-51 Mustang gained a reputation as an outstanding long-range fighter, it did not have the range to traverse the vast distances of the Pacific theater. With an invasion of Japan seemingly imminent in 1945, the United States needed an even longer-range fighter, which could escort B-29 heavy bomber raids on the Japanese homeland. The father of the P-51, engineer Edgar Schmued, decided the best solution would be to combine the two XP-51F Mustang fuselages into a single airframe. >> The F-82 Twin Mustang is a very strange-looking plane, very unusual, and in fact, you might think it looks like two planes bolted together at the wings and flying in parallel, which it kind of was.