Warbird Information Exchange

Awesome news! Hard to think of a more highly anticipated first flight in the last decade, except maybe the first Mossie to return to the air. A truly spectacular accomplishment and a testament to the dedication of all involved.

Looking forward to more photos and video of future flights, as well as a chance to see it in person.

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Matt

Very, very, very cool! One of the most highly anticipated restorations of all time! Congratulations to Tom Reilly and crew, and everyone else involved in this incredibly significant restoration! And let's not forget the late, great Walter Soplata for having saved this airframe (or at least some of it) from destruction so many years ago!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

I wish when I turned 16 and got my driver's license, someone would have sat me down and told me about the airplanes thsat wre flying that I would have to wait my whole life to see another opportunity to see one fly. At that time, the late 1970's there was a flyable F-82E, Columbine SuperDuck, Martin AM-1 Mauler, B-26G Marauder, Sikorski S-43 , a few Mosquitos, two or more CASA 2111's (HE-111) and so many more flyable Hellcats, P-38's, P-39's and P-63's than there seem to be now. At that time there were also a lot more F-86's flyable, 2 F9F Panthers, an F9G Cougar or two, and an Republic F-84F Thunderjet, as well as a F4D Skyray and F2J Fury. There were also a couple Gloster Meteors in the country flying at that time.
Kinda wish they hadn't flooded the market with cheap foreign built jets and phony warbirds.

Excellent work to all involved!!!!
Along with the awesome historical webpage (http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/) is there any interest in making a video of the highlights and successes of the restoration, maybe as a fundraising item?

Oh, and I would love to see a professional production of a preflight, walkaround, startup, and multi angle images of a future flight in 2019?

Thanks!
MRK

I don’t recall any Skyray restored and flying - can you elaborate? For that matter, I don’t recall any Cougar’s either, unless you count contract aircraft doing work for the military. I’m aware of Doc Sudgen’s FJ-4 Fury, but not an “F2J”(sic)..... FJ-2? Can you remember who restored these and when?

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Al Casby
Project Cutlass

Cutlass Aeronautics, LLC
4863 E. Falcon Drive
Mesa, AZ 85215


“Restoring Aviation’s Cutting Edge” ™

Alcasby@projectcutlass.com
602-684-9371

I don't remember any Skyray either, but there was definitely a privately owned Cougar flying in the early 90's. In fact, I saw it fly and have pictures of it taking off at Chino airport. It is the one that mysteriously disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico and was never found. The guy flying it was a "hippie", but former Blue Angels pilot. Very strange story.

You mean the Columbia XJL-1? Not sure how much flying either one did; one got an R-2600 QEC from a B-25 but I don't know if it ever flew in that configuration. Moot point as it's now at Pima. The other was expensively restored to flight and wrecked soon after in 1997; it's been up for sale for a long time but not sure what shape it's in now.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Congrats to the XP-82 team as the first "official flight" was today!

Video of the flight:

https://www.facebook.com/warbirddigest/ ... 693724384/

For sale no more:

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquir ... ertxt=48RW

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Congrats to Tom Reilly and his dedicated crew as well as all of the suppliers and donors that have made this first flight possible. What a golden age in Warbird Restorations we live in. Also to Walter Soplata for saving this Twin Mustang. I had the great pleasure of visiting Walter twice in the late 70's at his place in Newbury OH. Quite a guy gave me a tour of the place both times.
Is this airplane sold to a museum or individual, or no one is talking at this time about that? This aircraft has to be right up there as one of the crown jewels in the warbird world currently. Again congrats to all involved

Question: I just re-read the original flight announcement. Am wondering how the XP-82 would have 3 times the HP of a conventional Mustang. Could this be a mis-quote? Thanks in advance!

Per Tom Reilly on their Facebook page:

The unexpected and dramatic acceleration of our XP-82 at 55 inches of manifold pressure occurred because it was approaching three times the horsepower of a single engine Mustang and one and a half times the weight. The XP-82 has 1860 hp each side for total of 3720 hp, compared to 1500 hp for the P-51. Our XP-82 weighs approximately only 1 1/2 times more than a P-51 - 14,700 lbs. compared to 9500 lbs. for the P-51.

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Always looking for P-51D parts.

As long as they are test-flying the aircraft with the gear remaining down, they don't want to have the gear doors attached due to the location of the landing gear in front of the radiator intakes, disrupting airflow into the radiators for a prolonged period. Leaving the gear down/doors off lessens the amount of things to be concerned about going wrong on this, the first real test flight.

The XP-82 is dual control, correct?

Yes, it is full dual control, but it is setup to the typical convention of pilot-in-command seated on the left and co-pilot seated on the right. As such, at least on the XP-82, the right-side isn't as fully instrumented as the left, and the left-side has the gun sight where as the right side has a gun camera.

Photos from the XP-82 Project Facebook page:

Left-hand (pilot-in-command) cockpit: https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CF5FDB8
Right-hand (co-pilot) cockpit: https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CB663C4


The XP-82's, P-82B's and F-82E's (like the one Pat Harker is restoring to fly) all had full dual controls on both the left and right. The later night fighter variants transitioned to having pilot on the left and radar controller (and associated equipment) on the right side.

BTW, here you can compare the fully restored left-hand cockpit of Pat Harker's F-82E and compare it to the XP-82 left-hand cockpit in the first photo linked to, and see how some things evolved. Photo by Max Haynes: https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CEF382A