Can we please stop hotlinking pics?

Appleseed wrote:

damn… what is this ?

requirement being met

aircooled wrote:

Ultimate build thread: restoration of the XP-82 prototype.

In reply to wbjones:

That turboprop Mustang is called a "Cavalier", methinks.

the most accurate thing on the internet

Will wrote:

aircooled wrote:

Ultimate build thread: restoration of the XP-82 prototype.

Can someone explain to me what the perceived advantage was to having two planes joined by a common wing? While it looks kind cool, it also seems bizarre and useless.

Matt B wrote:

Will wrote:

aircooled wrote:

Ultimate build thread: restoration of the XP-82 prototype.

Can someone explain to me what the perceived advantage was to having two planes joined by a common wing? While it looks kind cool, it also seems bizarre and useless.

Comonality of parts to speed up design and production in war time compared to a clean sheet twin engine single cockpit plane?

Unrelated, but a childhood favorite Me163

The idea was a pursuit plane with a lotta HP built with easily available stuff. As a bonus, it could carry a copilot/bombardier/gunnery guy in the other fuselage. The P38 was a smilar high HP idea but limited to a single guy.

It was another interpretation of the P61 idea, just lighter and faster.

It was intended to be a fighter-bomber. Left guy was pilot, right guy was navigator / bombardier. The main reason for being developed that way was that 95% of the engineering was already done for the regular P-51. It was intended to be thrown into service with extremely minimal development time / cost and required almost no retooling.

Pic unrelated:

The F-82 actually shares virtually no parts with the P-51. They look alike, but are hugely different. They had different engines, the F-82 had longer fuselages, etc. The Twin Mustang was ordered as a long-range fighter to escort B-29s to Japan. If we hadn't captured Iwo Jima, our escorts would have had to fly from the same bases in the Marianas as the bombers, and no other fighter we had could have managed that.

They arrived too late for service in WW2 and saw limited service in Korea. It made a decent night fighter because the size and complexity of early airborne radars required a powerful aircraft to lift it, and a dedicated operator to use it.

Adrian, Curmudgeon, Duke - Hat's off to you fine sirs for the excellent explanation

edit: ...and Will for the clarification

Duke wrote:

I've never gotten a certificate of boner.

The f-82 nightfighter's equipment was extremely bulky and with no "nose" to speak of, North American housed it in a huge housing underneath and forward of the 6 50. guns. It was of course nicknamed..."The Dong."

now for something completely different

In reply to ncjay:

You'd expect the city can afford larger trucks...

My t-shirt came in the mail today! Huzzah!

Hotlinked from this site. I didn't notice until now, but obviously it had to be an NA miata in the photo.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Matt B wrote:

Will wrote:

aircooled wrote:

Ultimate build thread: restoration of the XP-82 prototype.

Can someone explain to me what the perceived advantage was to having two planes joined by a common wing? While it looks kind cool, it also seems bizarre and useless.

Comonality of parts to speed up design and production in war time compared to a clean sheet twin engine single cockpit plane? Unrelated, but a childhood favorite Me163

The other side is where you put the wife and kids for a long trip.

Rufledt wrote: My t-shirt came in the mail today! Huzzah! Hotlinked from this site. I didn't notice until now, but obviously it had to be an NA miata in the photo.

I got mine earlier this week. I wore it for less than an hour before the inevitable happened.