This is an all time favorite also
F-82 Twin Mustang,
The F-82 Twin Mustang was a purposely-designed aircraft charged with the purpose of providing the United States Air Force with a potent long-range fighter escort while allowing the pilot a much needed break with the addition of a copilot / navigator - who could take over the controls on extended flights. This design thought provided the basis for the unique-looking Twin Mustang, which was basically two P-51H model Mustangs fused at the wings, connected at the fuselage by a wing chord (housing the weapons) and a horizontal plane at rear, effectively making the Twin Mustang a twin-boom design. Controls found in each cockpit were redundant, allowing the pilots to share both piloting and weapons duty as the situation required.
Though already in design during the latter years of the Second World War, Twin Mustangs arrived too late to see combat service in the long-range island hopping campaigns of World War 2. As such, the system was still stationed in Japan during the post-war years and anywhere else that a long range fighter deterrent was needed (Alaskan airspace being one of these regions). The USAF would utilize the F-82 Twin Mustangs to replace its outdated fleets of Northrop P-61 Black Widows in the dedicated nightfighter role. It was actually in this role that the Twin Mustang quickly found a niche.
When hostilities broke out over the Korean Peninsula leading up to the Korean War, the Japan-based F-82 Twin Mustangs were among the first American aircraft to be put in to combat service there. Early successes greeted Twin Mustangs as they accounted for the first three North Korean air kills of the war. From then on, the system would fly nearly 2,000 sorties with similar success in the nightfighter, long-range escort and close-support combat roles.
Naturally, the system would become obsolete and outclassed by the new crop of turbojet-powered swept wing aircraft such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 "Fagot" and the North American F-86 Sabre. From then on, the system was removed from service as early as 1952. In the end, the intriguing design eventually fell out of service altogether, but not before leaving a small footprint of success, tied directly to the history of the World War 2-era ace maker - the P-51 Mustang.
(How's it going Scott? Hope you're safe brother!!!!:rock: )
