What is the American fighter that wrote its name in gold during the Korean War?
US Air Force and the F-82 Twin Mustang in the Korean War
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The
F-82 continued to fight on in the conflict until 1952 when the final Twin
Mustang was sent out for rear-guard duty in Alaska.
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The beginning was with
This
Bizarre American Fighter Fought On The Front Lines Of Korea And Lived to inform
the story.
At
some point during the tail end of war II, an ingenious engineer at North
American Aviation checked out the p
51 Mustang old crow and wrote a memo to his boss
stating that if one Mustang was amazing, then two Mustangs merged together by
steel and rivets would be possibly the best thing to fly, ever. With one
cockpit dedicated to radar and therefore the other to flying, the F-82 Twin
Mustang — nicknamed “double trouble” — was born.
What
they didn't know was that the dual Mustang was destined to cement its place in
history over the skies of Korea.
The
F-82 was an aircraft born within the wrong era. The German fielding of the
Messerschmitt ME-262 at the Second World War’s close signaled the dawn of the
jet-powered fighter.
Because
the Korean War started, Air Force jets just like the F-80 were replacing the
F-51D Mustangs and F-82s that had become the core of the Air Force fleet. But
there have been still three squadrons of F-82s stationed in Japan.
Their
radar-housing double fuselage gave the 5th Air Force an all-weather capability
that might are available handy because the conflict turned hot.
On
June 27th, 1950, five F-82s were performing a high-stakes escort mission for
Air Force transports evacuating civilians out of Seoul. The North Korean Army
had barrelled across the approach the 25th and put the town in its crosshairs.
Although
the U.S.-aligned South Koreans had a fighting spirit, they lacked tanks and air
support, which the North had in abundance. it had been rapidly apparent to the
us that Seoul would fall, and fall fast. Evacuations began by sea and air, with
F-82s providing protection.
A
flight of Soviet-built Yak-11s and La-7s appeared near Kimpo Airfield to
intercept the evacuating transports. Lt. William G Hudson and his radar
operator Lt. Carl Fraser jumped into the furball, shooting down a Yak-11 and
cementing their F-82 because the first American aircraft to urge an air-to-air
victory in Korea.
The
F-82 continued to fight on within the conflict until 1952 when the ultimate
Twin Mustang was sent out for rear-guard duty in Alaska. The introduction of
advanced jet fighters just like the MiG-15 signaled the top of the prop fighter
era, and therefore the skies over Korea were soon crammed with F-86 Sabers and
MiG-15s engaged during a deadly ballet of atomic age acrobatics.
But
by then, the F-82 Twin Mustang had already cemented its place in Air Force
history thereon day over Seoul.
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