"Real Life" Flight Sim?

[Sundog]

https://youtu.be/xT9aMC0IPIE

Watching this, it felt like being in flight sim watching the controls move. I even wanted to hit the zoom key to zoom into the panel to read the gauges! That's the XP-82, JIC anyone doesn't recognize it.

[magoo]

I never thought I'd see one of those things fly....ever. That's a video that had me watching with a wide, stupid grin on my face from beginning to end.

What sound...(!!!!)

Man...!!

And....I couldn't get over how far the machine would extend from the airport in mere seconds....before turning back for the next pass.

Thank-you for posting...that's a very good one. Most impressive.

[mikew]

Thanks for sharing this. I has no idea one was airworthy. What a unique and awesome piece of history!

Mike

[Bomber_12th]

A ten year, 200,000+ man hour restoration. It flew for the first time back on December 31, 2018. During the restoration over all those years, Tom Reilly ran an excellent, monthly blog of the progress: http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/

There are only 5 P-82/F-82's surviving, and only two are in private hands, the rest are owned by the USAF. The XP-82 is owned by Tom Reilly of Georgia, and an F-82E, also under restoration to fly (and very nearly complete as well), is owned by Pat Harker in Minnesota (both of which came from Walter Soplata).

The first 22 P-82's produced, including this XP-82, were powered with Merlin Engines, where as the rest were powered by the late/most advanced final development of the Allison engine. The XP-82, as with the other early production examples, were completely dual control, but the PIC was always in the left-hand cockpit. On the early Twin Mustang, one can operate just about everything from the right-hand cockpit except for raising the landing gear and operating the aileron trim, and there is only one gunsight, as located in the left-hand cockpit, while the gun camera is mounted in the right-hand cockpit. Later production variants of the P-82/F-82 could only be flown from the left side, with the right-hand cockpit setup for the radar operator.

According to the aircraft's pilot, Ray Fowler, it is unlike most any other twin-engined aircraft in that it does not have a VMC/minimum single engine speed.

Both the Tom Reilly XP-82 and the Pat Harker F-82E are former NACA aircraft - Tom Reilly chose to finish the XP-82 as it was in 1945, with North American Aviation, where as Pat Harker plans on finishing his F-82E in the NACA markings it had in the late 40's - also bare metal. The XP-82 was restored exactly as it was when originally produced, and therefore handles quite heavily on the controls, where as the later versions had hydraulically-boosted controls, as in the case of Pat Harker's F-82E, and which therefore will handle much lighter on the controls when it flies.

[Flyboy208]

Here is another Oshkosh video with footage from the ground. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUrkjSUU11c Mike

[b52bob]

Outstanding video, a must see even for the early jet fans such as I. Thanks for the link.