XP-82 - Paging all avgeek oppos

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 08/27/2018 at 16:11 • Filed to: None

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very cool little story about a very odd little plane

ttyymmnn > HammerheadFistpunch 08/27/2018 at 16:19

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Air & Space Magazine has a short article about this a/c in the latest issue. “Reilly’s team, based in Douglas, Georgia, was able to make good progress because of some staggering good luck, like stumbling upon a left-hand turning Merlin engine in Mexico City, and finding a fuselage piece owned by a guy who would only give it up in trade--for a nearly impossible-to-find windshield that Reilly just happened to have.”

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > HammerheadFistpunch 08/27/2018 at 16:21

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There’s an excellent example of the F82G at the Dayton Air Force Museum

It’s so unique

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 08/27/2018 at 16:22

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“Hey, I found an engine they built wrong in Mexico!” sounds like a David Tracy story, not an epic engineering tale of Postwar America.

ttyymmnn > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 08/27/2018 at 16:33

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They’ve also got Betty Jo , which set a world distance record for piston-powered fighters when it flew nonstop  from Hawaii to New York in 1947. The record still stands.

Chariotoflove > HammerheadFistpunch 08/27/2018 at 16:40

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They make a point of the fact that these planes had almost nothing in common with the P-51.  That’s actually surprising to me.  I would have thought that they would have use Mustang parts as much as possible to cut down development and build costs.  That makes me think there must have been good engineering reasons, but I don’t know what they are.

For Sweden > ttyymmnn 08/27/2018 at 16:57

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Surly it’s easier to make a custom piece of glass from scratch than a left-hand Merlin engine

ttyymmnn > For Sweden 08/27/2018 at 17:03

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You would think.

user314 > Chariotoflove 08/27/2018 at 17:23

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The resemblance between the P (later F)-82 and the P-51 is (barely) skin deep. The fuselage is based on a modified version of the XP-51F with an added plug behind the cockpit, and enlarged tail. The wings were also modified, and, for various reasons, the Packard-built Merlin engines were replaced with Allison V-1710s.

Chariotoflove > user314 08/27/2018 at 17:45

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I know. What I was wondering out loud is why. The plane was conceived to fill a specific and pressing need during an ongoing conflict. My first thought is that an engineer would think to take as much of what is already available to speed the path to production . Instead, these guys created something that is only superficially similar. I am intrigued by why they had to do it the harder way.  The video does address the reason for the engine change.

user314 > Chariotoflove 08/27/2018 at 18:01

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Some of it was conscious changes: the plug added fuel storage to meet the 2000 mile range; the enlargements to the tail were thought to as sist in sing le -engine operations. Some though were due to the (relatively ) primitive state of aeronautical engineering at the time: the propellers were originally set up so that they’d turn upwards to the center wing , again to make single-engine performance more tolerable. As it turned out though, having the props spin in that direction killed the lift from the center, and the prototype stubbornly refused to fly. After swapping the props so they’d spin down to the center, the plane flew.

Chariotoflove > user314 08/27/2018 at 18:14

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I remember the issue with the props because that was a pretty huge deal . What’s emerging for me is a picture in which the engineers thought they would riff off the Mustang, but as they went along, they kept having to change details to the extent that the final product lost almost all the commonality they may have originally thought to take advantage of.

At least that’s the story I’m playing in my mind at the moment.

user314 > Chariotoflove 08/27/2018 at 20:45

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That seems to be a reoccurring theme in these “Why don’t we stick two airplanes together? ” plans: you hit that moment where you go “Oh, that’s why. ”...

McMike > HammerheadFistpunch 08/27/2018 at 21:13

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Why in the world was this NOT named the P-102?

TheRealBicycleBuck > HammerheadFistpunch 08/27/2018 at 21:39

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There’s one mounted at the Lackland AFB Parade Field ( https://goo.gl/maps/EQunqs9CGp52 )

I remember seeing it when I was a kid.

Ash78, voting early and often > For Sweden 08/28/2018 at 16:36

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Safelite repair, Safelite replace. And Safelite does random shit all case-by-case.™