# F-82 Pilot in Korea



## MIflyer (Aug 28, 2020)

An article on the F-82 in Korea in the October 2020 issue of Flight Journal yielded this remarkable photo of an F-82 pilot in Korea. That dome shaped object behind the pilot that looks like a light is in fact the antenna for the ARN-6 radio compass, a common sight under the canopy on postwar fighters, including not only the F-82 but the F-86 and F-94 as well. The photo was taken by Lt Charles Moran.

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## Snautzer01 (Aug 28, 2020)

MIflyer said:


> An article on the F-82 in Korea in the October 2020 issue of Flight Journal yielded this remarkable photo of an F-82 pilot in Korea. That dome shaped object behind the pilot that looks like a light is in fact the antenna for the ARN-6 radio compass, a common sight under the canopy on postwar fighters, including not only the F-82 but the F-86 and F-94 as well. The photo was taken by Lt Charles Moran.
> View attachment 593117


I think that pic is a cut out from a larger one i have seen. Just saying.


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## MIflyer (Aug 28, 2020)

Well, that photo was taken from the RO position, which Lt Moran was occupying even though he was a pilot. So it could not be very much bigger than that, given the short distance of the shot.


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## Gnomey (Aug 30, 2020)

Cool!


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## MIflyer (Aug 30, 2020)

Here are a few more shots of F-82's in Korea from the Flight Journal Article.

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## chipieal (Sep 4, 2020)

The trouble that and The Tigercat could have caused Japan

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## Snautzer01 (Sep 5, 2020)

Snautzer01 said:


> I think that pic is a cut out from a larger one i have seen. Just saying.



this is what i remembered


F82 North American Twin Mustang #103 WW2 WWII 5x7 | eBay

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## Wurger (Sep 5, 2020)




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## MIflyer (Sep 5, 2020)

PQ-169 is a P-82, not an F-82. Not the different cowling for the V-1650 engine versus the V-1710 engine of the F-82.
Note also it has the manually cranked loop antenna for direction finding rather than the selsyn driven ARN-6 antenna of the F-82 and it lacks the black bars that are the ARN-6 sense antennas that the F-82 has.

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## SaparotRob (Sep 5, 2020)

MIflyer said:


> PQ-169 is a P-82, not an F-82. Not the different cowling for the V-1650 engine versus the V-1710 engine of the F-82.
> Note also it has the manually cranked loop antenna for direction finding rather than the selsyn driven ARN-6 antenna of the F-82 and it lacks the black bars that are the ARN-6 sense antennas that the F-82 has.


Impressive!

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## Donivanp (Sep 22, 2020)

MIflyer said:


> PQ-169 is a P-82, not an F-82. Not the different cowling for the V-1650 engine versus the V-1710 engine of the F-82.
> Note also it has the manually cranked loop antenna for direction finding rather than the selsyn driven ARN-6 antenna of the F-82 and it lacks the black bars that are the ARN-6 sense antennas that the F-82 has.


The P-82 is in fact an F-82B which was indeed powered by the Merlin V-1650-23 or 25 (right or left engine). The later F-82E and G were powered by the Allison V-1710 engines, that all is true, point is they all wore the F-82 name. The P for Pursuit was a date time issue. When the USAF came of age in September 1947, one of their early adjustments was to rename pursuit to fighter and all P's became F's including the early F-82 and F-51 and F-47 etc...


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## MIflyer (Sep 22, 2020)

True, but there were only 20 P-82B's built, two of which were built as experimental night fighters, the P-82C and P-82D. PQ-169 was the P-82C and it was a P at the time of the photo because the red stripe had not been added. Most P-82's went to Air Training Command and all the Merlin engined versions were phased out by Dec 1949.


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## Donivanp (Sep 22, 2020)

MIflyer said:


> True, but there were only 20 P-82B's built, two of which were built as experimental night fighters, the P-82C and P-82D. PQ-169 was the P-82C and it was a P at the time of the photo because the red stripe had not been added. Most P-82's went to Air Training Command and all the Merlin engined versions were phased out by Dec 1949.


True at the time of the photo it was pre USAF and yes the Merlin engined birds were transferred to be trainers. The E and G models were kept in a active role and did get the first kills in Korea. Interesting aircraft and hobbled by the air force as the cost of the Merlin license went up after the war and thus they went to the 1710 to save money thus and the active birds were slower than the trainers.


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## MIflyer (Sep 22, 2020)

Not only slower but far less reliable. The V-1710's had two stage superchargers but unlike the Merlins no inter/aftercoolers. They had so much trouble getting working engines out of Allison that the airframes were parked at the old Vultee plant in Downey, CA for years. NAA tried adding anti-backfire screens to the engines and that helped but were told to knock it off by SECAF Symington, a former GM executive.

By the way, the USAAF did not like paying a licensing fee for Merlins, which was the horrific cost of $1500 each. Or.... the SCAF decided to send work toward his former firm of GM - take your pick

Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen wrote a novel where, desperate to have something fast enough to fight the Nazis in 1946, they took the Merlins off P-51's in storage, put them on the stored F-82's, and added rocket boosters designed for the XP-79.

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