Seeing Double

51fixer · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:48 pm

I wonder if there were crew member arguments leading to issues of one guy wanting to go left and the other right, ect. At least if you sit next to the guy the PIC can lean over and slap the co-pilot. In the P-82 all you can do is yell at him and wrestle with the controls.
Anyways, I guess it comes down to rank and trust.
Rich

gary1954 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:18 pm

Imagine this same airframe, but with only One cockpit for One pilot.

Forgotten Field · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:34 pm

Quote:

I wonder if there were crew member arguments leading to issues of one guy wanting to go left and the other right, ect. At least if you sit next to the guy the PIC can lean over and slap the co-pilot. In the P-82 all you can do is yell at him and wrestle with the controls.
Anyways, I guess it comes down to rank and trust.

I'd say the guy on the right side had the distinct advantage- he could get his .45 out and aim it faster than the guy on the left...

Misterg97 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:59 pm

Paul,

Great picture. From time to time while walking the Modern Flight Gallery I stop by and take a up close look at the museum's F-82B, "Betty-Jo".

retroaviation · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:47 pm

Could be wrong...probably am, but the way I understand it is that the left fuselage is for the pilot in command, while the one on the right was for the radar and weapons guy. Both cockpits did have full controls, however.

Gary

51fixer · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:01 pm

retroaviation wrote:

Could be wrong...probably am, but the way I understand it is that the left fuselage is for the pilot in command, while the one on the right was for the radar and weapons guy. Both cockpits did have full controls, however.

Gary

IIRC I think it is the other way with the PIC on the right. I had something around the office that had a pilots manual for the P-82 but it isn't floating around at the moment.
Rich

51fixer · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:10 pm

51fixer wrote:

retroaviation wrote:

Could be wrong...probably am, but the way I understand it is that the left fuselage is for the pilot in command, while the one on the right was for the radar and weapons guy. Both cockpits did have full controls, however.

Gary

IIRC I think it is the other way with the PIC on the right. I had something around the office that had a pilots manual for the P-82 but it isn't floating around at the moment.

Never mind, as a kid I saw a photo with only 1 pilot in the R/H fuselage. It was the 1st pic of the P-82 I saw and I thought it was cool. Now I remember it was printed backwards.
Gary keeps the pony and I'll go back to the horizontal fixture I'm building.
Rich

Steve T · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:19 pm

Hey, that's 44-83887...one of the XPs, and about one third of her still exists, in some guy's backyard in Ohio someplace... :wink:

S.

sdennison · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:38 pm

Love to talk with a pilot of one. How difficult was it to fly offset as you would be from the center line? I think it would take a completely different "feel" having so much of the aircraft off-center.

Anyone know for sure, ever talk with someone with experience in one?

Chris · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:08 pm

I heard rolls took some getting used to.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:29 pm

Quote:

I think it is the other way with the PIC on the right.

"MY first checkout in the F-82G was unusual because I rode in the right cockpit (radar observer's station), and there were no flight instruments. The ride I got from the pilot was awesome! I had been flying the P-61 Black Widow, and the difference was quite noticeable-mainly during a slow roll. The cockpits were about twelve feet apart, and when he rolled to the right, I experienced a most unusual feeling of being on the end of some sort of crack-the-whip maneuver. As a result of that first ride, I found out the F-82 had great performance, great power and plenty of speed. When I flew in the left seat for the first time, I wrote in my logbook that it was the greatest flying thrill yet! "We flew a lot of aerobatics and aerial gunnery. That was when I knew that this aircraft was a great fighter. I was unable to compare it with the famous P-51 Mustang, but the pilots in our squadron who had Mustang time said that it compared favorably. Col John F. Sharp CO 4th FIS korea 1950

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:22 am

gary1954 wrote:

Imagine this same airframe, but with only One cockpit for One pilot.

That would then be a P-38, and hence, not part of this thread! :lol:

Jerry

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