NACA’s ramjet F-82 Twin Mustang, 1949 crash & burn? Reborn more than 60 years later!

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) acquired three F-82E (P-82E) Twin Mustangs between 1947 and 1950.

NACA photo, 01APR1949.

The first F-82E (PQ-887) was used to test ramjet missiles over NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (now called NASA Glenn Research Center).

NACA photo, 1948.

With the creation of the U.S. Air Force in September 1947, the ‘P’ for pursuit was dropped for ‘F’ for fighter, and PQ-887 became FQ-887.

NACA photo, 1948.

The info that came with this photo says the ramjet tests took place over Wallops Island (Wallops Flight Facility), Virginia. NACA photo, 1948.

A 28MAY1951 Aviation Week article revealed the once secret Wallops Island operations, but stated that the ramjet craft were scale models of bigger things to come.

U.S. Army Air Force photo, XP-82 44-83887, 1945.

By April 1949, FQ-887 became XFQ-887, and a NACA press release claimed the ‘X’ represented that this F-82E was actually one of the two North American prototype XP-82s (#44-83887)!

Skidded off the paved runway, and down into the mud. NACA photo, 14DEC1949.

XFQ-887 then suffered a ‘runway incident’ in December 1949 and was ‘transferred’ after that.

NACA photo, 14DEC1949.

Jacked-up out of the mud. NACA photo, 14DEC1949.

In 1950 two more F-82E came onboard. By the end of 1951, a new designed F-4 ramjet missile was tried-out.

NACA photo, 01DEC1951.

The new F-4 ramjet missile was mounted in the center of the aircraft, instead of on the outboard wings.

NACA photo, 01DEC1951.

NACA photo, 1951.

NACA photo, 01DEC1951.

NACA photo, 1952.

Compare to wing mounted ramjet missile.

NACA photo, 1953.

Interestingly, these air-launched ramjet missiles look like the successful surface-to-air RIM-8 Talos missile used by the U.S. Navy, but with much fewer fins. The Talos ramjet project began in 1944, with its first flight in February 1945.

What happened to XFQ-887? It was removed from military records in 1950, then ended up in the hands of an aircraft collector in Ohio, from 1965 to 1985. It rotted away in a junkyard until 2008, when Brooks Aviation got a hold of it, restoration work began the same year, airworthiness was certified in 2011 even though the left fuselage still needed restoration. In 2019, XFQ-887 (XP-82) made its debut at the Fun-n-Sun Air Show in Florida.

https://www.facebook.com/169791783063916/videos/1815465248496553/

See and read a whole lot more about the return of XFQ-887 (XP-82) at XP-82 Twin Mustang Project.

Crash Landings: