North American F-82 Twin Mustang

The North American F-82 Twin Mustang was a long-range escort fighter built from two fuselages joined by a common wing, designed and produced by North American Aviation. It was conceived during the Second World War to escort Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers on very long missions against Japan, although the war ended before development was complete. Despite its name it was largely a clean sheet design that shared only a minority of components with the single-fuselage P-51 Mustang. The XP-82 prototype first flew in June 1945 and the type entered Army Air Force service a year later. As the Cold War took hold it was bought as an interim escort for strategic bombers and as an all-weather interceptor, and in 1947 a P-82B flew nonstop from Hawaii to New York, the longest flight by a piston-engined aircraft.