The belle of the ball at SUN ‘n FUN 2019 in Lakeland, Florida, had to be Tom Reilly’s XP-82 Twin Mustang. It’s one of just over 270 built, one of only five extant, and the only one flying in the world.
Conceptually, it looks like two P-51 Mustang fuselages sharing a common wing. But the truth is a bit more complicated, as almost no parts from a P-51 interchange with the longer and somewhat reshaped P-82.
Tom Reilly, who restored this gem in his shop in Douglas, Georgia, knows that all too well.
According to Reilly, his XP-82 flew for several years with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) before a ground mishap damaged the wing center section in late 1949.
The fighter’s carcass was taken apart with a chain saw, he added.
The remnants were cherished by one man: Walter Soplata, an Ohioan with a prescient passion for military aircraft. Soplata bought the remains of many military aircraft over the years, amassing 35 airframes in varied states of repair on his Ohio farm.
“We thank him for collecting all these airplanes,” Reilly said.
The damaged and incomplete remains of the XP-82 were purchased by Reilly, who took them to his Georgia shop. A decade later, with scrounging in many states and fabrication of parts that could not be located, Reilly and his team of craftspeople stood proud as their XP-82 made its air show debut at SUN ‘n FUN this year.
Ray Fowler is currently the world’s only Twin Mustang pilot, learning the quirks of the beast while testing Reilly’s XP-82 restoration. He told a crowd of several hundred at the Victory’s Arsenal Theater gathering at SUN ‘n FUN that “it is hard to make your brain taxi to the left of centerline,” as dictated by the offset cockpits on this unusual twin.
With four wheels — two mains plus a tailwheel beneath each fuselage — Fowler says the Twin Mustang tracks straight.
It’s noisy — a P-51 makes a racket with only one Merlin engine.
“With two of them, it’s very loud,” Fowler told the crowd, adding, “with the canopy cracked, it’s obnoxious.”
The XP-82 was conceived during World War II when the need for very long range escort fighters to protect B-29 Superfortress bombers was urgent. The second cockpit meant two pilots could take turns on tediously long escort missions expected to originate far from the target.
Underwing pylons on the P-82’s beefed-up wing structure could carry large long-range drop tanks. The right-hand flier was considered copilot and navigator.
Production versions of the P-82 (later designated F-82) had a listed range of 2,240 statute miles.
That range capability enabled a later production F-82B Twin Mustang called “Betty-Jo” to set a record. The fighter flew 5,051 miles nonstop from Hawaii to New York over Feb. 27-28, 1947, the longest sortie ever made by a propeller-driven fighter.
Reilly’s XP-82 Twin Mustang (serial 44-83887) was the first of the breed to fly, in the summer of 1945. By that time, the U.S. Army Air Forces had secured bases near enough to Japan to enable traditional single-fuselage P-51 Mustangs to handle escort duty for the B-29s. No P-82s saw combat service in World War II.
In the late 1940s, some F-82E escort fighters served with the Air Force. But the Twin Mustang made its combat debut as a glossy black night fighter over Korea, and is credited with downing the first enemy aircraft of the Korean War.
The eagerly anticipated flight of Reilly’s Twin Mustang over SUN ‘n FUN produced rare aural sensations. This P-82 uses a pair of opposite-turning Merlin engines. One audiophile compared the sound to that of another rare twin-Merlin machine, the British de Havilland Mosquito. But while the Mosquito’s Merlins turn in the same direction, the P-82 has left- and right-hand powerplants.
The propellers on the XP-82 rotate inward at the top of the arc. Designers found this arrangement produced superior lift over the wings when compared with rotating outward.
Finding a Merlin that turned in the opposite direction of those commonly associated with the P-51 could have been a serious hurdle for Reilly and his team. But the rarified network of warbird rebuilders includes the engine specialists at Vintage V-12s in Tehachapi, California. They found an opposite-turning Merlin in a shipping crate in Mexico City.
Tom Reilly has honed his talents as a warbird rebuilder for more than four decades. He’s resuscitated nine B-25s, two B-17s, and a rare B-24J Liberator, along with a host of fighters and trainers. Chatting with Tom, one quickly gets his passion for warbird restoration, especially with a rare gem like his XP-82. He can be persistent, even fussy over details, as he should be.
At SUN ‘n FUN, he was beaming like a proud parent, affable and happy to share details about his Twin Mustang with an appreciative public.
It’s almost an afterthought to report Reilly’s XP-82 Twin Mustang was judged Grand Champion Warbird at SUN ‘n FUN 2019. Was it ever in doubt, from the moment those four wheels touched the runway?
