Following the momentous news over last weekend concerning the XP-82 Twin Mustang’s first engine runs in Douglas, Georgia, we wanted to know a few more details. A lot of major developments have been occurring with this incredible project in recent weeks, what with the move to a new, much larger hangar, attaching the outer wing panels for the first time, and of course the engine runs. We contacted Tom Reilly to learn more about what his restoration team has been up to, and thought our readers would be as eager as we were to see his responses… so here they are!

WN: When did you move the XP-82 from the project hangar, and did you move the shop as well?
TR: The XP was moved to the other hangar on 12 October. We are now located on the other side of the airport in the most southern hangar. A partial shop was moved, only what we need to compete the restoration.

WN: How did the outer wing panel installation go?
TR: The wing installation went smoothly and only took minutes. They went on with no issues, and are temporarily installed at this time.

WN: Who conducted the engine tests?
TR:  The General Manager of Vintage V12s [Ed. Jose’ Flores] was here and did the starts.

WN: How did the engine runs go, and did you test any other systems?
TR: The runs went great on the first starts. Other than temps and pressures, no other systems were brought online.

WN: Was there a reason for conducting the first engine runs inside the hangar?
TR: It was raining. The fire department was onsite.

WN: The video shows just one engine being run, did you test both engines?
TR: Yes

WN: What restoration items are still remaining?
TR: Main and tail gear doors, top cowls, coolant door motor wiring and retractions.

WN: Do you have any tentative dates for a first flight, or pilots in mind to conduct it?
TR: No date for the first flight yet. We have talked to warbird test pilots Ray Fowler and Eliot Cross.

WN: How would you sum up the project so far?
TR:  … It has been 8 years and one of the most enjoyable restorations that I have worked on ever!

WarbirdsNews wishes to thank Tom Reilly and Louisa Barendse for spending time with us and sharing some of the recent details of the work going on with this exciting project. We hope to provide news of addition progress very soon. To visit the restoration’s blog, please click HERE.

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia. Here’s what they’ve been up to this past month!

First of all, the project is fully moved into their new hangar. A lot of progress has been taking place with the finishing touches on the aircraft too!

Firewall Forwards

The last left-hand engine upper, lower and side cowling items are now complete. The final installation of the left-hand propeller has also been completed, with the exception of the spinner. The spinner will remain off during the engine test runs to allow easier observation of any potential leaks.

According to Tom Reilly, the final mounting of the right-hand propeller should be complete by the time these words are read.

The induction-trunk lower intakes for the right-hand and left-hand engines have now been completed and are being final-fitted, awaiting sanding and polishing. These were very difficult forming tasks. The rotating carb air temperature barrel mechanisms and mounting structure are now also final-fitted, but presently removed to allow painting.

The mounting installation of both heat exchangers (oil/intercoolers) is now complete. These parts both presented a problem, as they interfered with the upper cowling arch framework. The project had the original exchanger mounting straps attached to the dishpans, but did not have the original rings that mounted the exchangers to the straps. When Reilly’s team machined the rings, as per the XP-82 drawings, the exchangers would mount about an inch higher and not nestle into the two factory-formed notches in the oil tanks. After redesigning and machining the four new mounting rings, the restoration team solved the interference problem.

Engines/Props
The test running of both engines and all of their associated systems will start this December.

Outboard Wings

The English wheel forming of the two wing tips is progressing rapidly. Both upper wing tip panels are finished and the two lowers are in production. Tom Reilly expects them to be completed sometime in mid-December.

Landing Gear/Doors

The subcontract machine work of the press dies for the inboard gear doors is progressing nicely. The outboard door skins have been ready for some time now, and are awaiting the completion of both interior frameworks.

Tail Wheel Steering

Both tail wheel steering mechanisms are now final-installed, less tensioning. A number of moving parts are required to turn the two tail wheels left and right.

Brakes

The machine shop is currently 3-D modeling both brake calipers. These brake assemblies fit only the XP-82 and subsequent Twin Mustang production models. They have a unique, anti-skid design and worked extremely well according to pilot reports.

Authentic Interior Cockpit Furnishings

The restoration is heavily involved with completing the internal parts for each cockpit: gun sights, gun camera, oxygen regulators, gauges and blinkers, original radio heads, heater and defrost controls, exterior ADF ring antennae, etc., etc.

VIP Visitor

The project had the honor of a visit from WWII Army Air Force veteran Col. Robert Thacker, now 98 years young. He is famous for piloting the P-82B named “Betty Jo” on its non-stop flight from Hawaii to LaGuardia Airport in New York on February 27th, 1947. Tom Reilly was amazed by how sharp and alert Col.Thacker is for such an advanced age. He still remembered every detail that went into the record-breaking flight’s preparation – the test flights, the additional fuel tanks installed inside the fuselages, and the exterior drop tanks … as well as why three of the four drop tanks could not be jettisoned (the sway braces were over-tightened by a ground crewman which prevented the release hooks from operating). One of the tanks did drop leaving the other three under the wings,  creating a dramatic yaw condition which required a substantial amount of rudder trim drag.

Col. Thacker described, in detail, the additional 150-gallon fuel tanks installed behind each pilot seat and the 60-gallon tank installed in the gun bay. He even distinctly remembered a plug being inadvertently left in the gun bay tank vent line during one of the test flights, resulting in the tank collapsing and a replacement having to be manufactured.

The P-82 had a total of 1,860 gallons of fuel at lift off, including the 600 gallons of production center section and wing tanks, two 300 gallon and two 150 gallon wing drop tanks, and the 360 gallons of additional internal tanks added for the long flight.

Total distance from Hawaii to New York – 4,899 statute miles. 14.5 hours total flight time. Average cruise speed – 338 miles per hour. Taking tail winds into consideration, that’s 300+ mph cruise.

Tom Reilly hopes his own memory of the details Col.Thacker related during his visit three weeks ago is as good as his memory at 98 years young!

Concorde Battery

Tom Reilly also wished to offer special thanks to Mr. Don Grunke of Concorde Battery Corporation. Concorde contributed a brand new battery for the XP-82 project. The quality of their batteries is outstanding, according to Reilly, with one of their units lasting nine years in his B-25 Mitchell!

And that’s all of the news for November, 2016!

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Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for the update! You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in January, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia. Here’s what they’ve been up to this past month!

Fuselages

The team has spent a lot of time final-fitting the rotating carburetor air temperature mechanisms, along with the air intake lips and the four side panels.

As mentioned last month, all of the lower and side engine cowling panels are now completed. The final shrinking/stretching, English wheeling and Yoder hammer forming of the top two, right-hand engine cowlings will be completed during January. The left-hand, top panel for the right-hand engine is now final-formed and fitted. The right-hand top panel still needs a little more stretching and wheeling.

Trying to find the original routing of the oxygen system tubing was a challenge, as all of the available plans show extremely stylized drawings which contradict each other. Thankfully, the restoration crew was able to locate the drilled holes in some of the rejected original side ribs, allowing them to determine the proper location for the line clamps. They were in dramatically different locations to those shown in the stylized drawings. Reilly was also able to source some New Old Stock, four-way Schrader check valves to install, which will help maintain the authenticity of the O2 systems.

Team members are currently working on how to install the gun sight in the left-hand cockpit and the gun strike camera in the right-hand cockpit, but it is a slow process. Trying to put everything back into this XP-82 exactly as it was on day of its first flight, April 15th, 1945, is excruciatingly time consuming.

Gear Doors

The preliminary forming dies for the main gear center section doors are now complete. The internal pressed skin for each door is a mirror image of the other side. Many hours of machine shop computer work went into these press die patterns. These two center section gear doors are two of the last four major items to complete on the XP-82’s restoration.

Control Surfaces

The final balancing of all the control surfaces – the four ailerons, two rudders and one elevator – is now complete. Aircraft control surfaces must be precisely balanced – in accordance with the XP-82 Erection & Maintenance Manual – equal weight forward and aft of the centerline of the hinge points. If they are not balanced properly, they can flutter in flight – much like a flag in heavy wind – and this can lead to catastrophic failure of the part. The restoration team needed to add supplemental leading edge weights to each control surface, because they had replaced all of the hinges, trim tab fittings and trailing edge strips using a much stronger and heavier weight 7075 T6 aluminum alloy in place of the lighter original cast-magnesium components. Trim tab fitting failures due to fluttering in high speed flight have lead to fatal accidents, so getting the correct balance is essential.

Wingtips

Three of the four formed wingtip skins are now finished, with the fourth due due for completion this week. When the parts are ready, the project’s professional welder in Florida will TIG weld (tungsten inert gas) each pair of wingtip halves together. He will match exactly the TIG welding bead pattern of the original wingtips.

And that’s all of the news for December, 2016!

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Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for the update! You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in February, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia. Here’s what they’ve been up to this past month!

The team has been very busy this past month working to complete the hundreds of small “to-do” tasks that needed finishing, which included the gun sight, completing the 90˚ periscope for the gun strike camera, making heat and defrost, repairing or remaking electrical switch panels, bomb arming panels, fairings that surround the throttle quadrants, a second mounting panel for the oxygen quantity gauge, blinker and diluter valve mechanism, two induction trunk carburetor filtered air boxes, one last 28-volt power supply harness going to the circuit breaker panel, preliminary location for the shielded wiring of the microphone and headset jacks, modifying the shelf underneath the oxygen diluter mechanism to fit the new Garmin radio package, along with the avionics electrical harnesses, etc., etc., etc.

All of these cockpit panels, which Tom Reilly’s restoration crew had to repair or make new, have been shipped off to the printer for silk screening the correct verbage on each panel.

Garmin Radio Package

The project’s avionics specialist came to Douglas with the Garmin radio mounting tray and fitted it into the righthand cockpit underneath the oxygen diluter panel. With a small modification to one rib, the package slotted in perfectly. The microphone and headset jacks will mount in the original locations in the adjoining switch panel to the left of the Bendix Radio panel. And, in the co-pilot’s cockpit, they will mount in the original radio switch panel with the addition of one newly-drilled hole for the headphone jack.

Bendix Remote Control Unit

With much searching, Weezie was finally able to locate this Bendix Remote Control Unit with a collector in California. An extremely rare unit, the last time the team saw one change hands was back in 2006. They were able to purchase this unit only with the express proviso that it was going to be installed in the XP-82.

Filtered Air Boxes
The last major work ongoing firewall forwards is the manufacture of the two filtered air boxes seen below. The rotating carburettor air valves located under the spinners have four selectable positions: ram air, hot air, half-hot air and filtered air. These are complicated boxes with many angles and shapes that hold the filters for cleaning the air. It will still take two team members about two weeks to complete and fit both units.

Internal Press Dies for the Main Gear Door Skins
The team’s machinist in Michigan has completed the two huge (350 lbs. each), mirror image press dies shown below, and personally delivered them to Douglas, Georgia on his trip to Florida. Tom Reilly did not want to trust these critical items to a shipping company, as they were very expensive to 3D design and machine, not counting the cost of the two 40” square x 3” thick aluminum plates. The team will take these dies to Atlanta to press-form the gear door skins as their own rubber press is not large enough to handle the exterior dimensions.

And that’s all of the news for January, 2017!

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Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for the update! You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in March, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia. This update is a couple of weeks later than usual, as they’ve had a lot on their plate finishing up all of the small, but still-hard-to-do details. So here’s what they’ve been up to this past month and a half!

Lower Cowlings

The final spot-welding on all of the lower cowls is now completed, and the interiors are now painted in the appropriate color.

Filtered Air Boxes
The filtered air boxes are now also completed and permanently riveted to each forward induction trunk. These filter boxes hold carburetor air inlet filters just in case the aircraft is operated off a dusty or unimproved runway. The filtered air position is selectable by either pilot. Of course, the chance that this XP-82 will ever operate off such a rough strip is probably less than zero, but for authenticity, they had to be installed. (Please note that the camera white balance isn’t quite right in these images, and distorts the true color somewhat.)

Antennae
Both the MN-26C Radio Compass ADF Loop and the AN/ARC-3 Radio Antenna Mast are now installed. Tom Reilly wishes to thank Larry Kelley and Bill Saunders for contributing these rare items.

Wing Tips
The four wing tip panels, two top and two bottom, are now final fitted. They are just awaiting the welding of their center seams and mounting screw holes and the installation of tip lights and strobes.

Cockpits
Both the pilot and co-pilot oxygen regulator/blinker panels, along with the gun sight rheostat are installed. All of the oxygen bottles are now stenciled with the original markings and reinstalled in both fuselages.

The K-14 computing gun sight and gun strike camera are now permanently installed. The strike camera presented a problem because the 90º top periscope interfered with the center armor glass since the glass had more sweep back than the P-51 windscreen. The periscope had to be shortened by a ¼” for clearance, as the later camera version had.

Main Gear Doors
The frameworks for the main inboard gear doors are now being formed to fit the curvature of the press dies for the inboard door panel. These two inboard doors are one of the last two complex hurdles the team must complete on their XP-82 restoration project.

Brakes
The last complex items are the two brake calipers. These two brake calipers are now being machined and are expected to be delivered in about two months.

Walter & Margaret (Peggy) Soplata
With much sadness we must announce the passing of Margaret (Peggy) Soplata. Walter (who passed six years ago) and Margaret Soplata from Newbury, OH, were the husband and wife team, along with their five children, who saved countless extremely rare warbirds and priceless artifacts from the smelter.

All of the warbird community owes them a debt of gratitude for saving these precious, historic artifacts for us and future generations to enjoy.

A small list of some of the aircraft and parts that the Soplata family saved:
• 2 F4U Corsairs, one 4360-powered FG1
• 2 North American B-25s
• 1 B-36 Peacemaker
• C-97 and C-82 Fuselages
• 1 A-26 Invader
• 2 TBM Avengers
• 1 P-63 King Cobra
• 1 AD4 Skyraider Prototype
• 2 F86 Sabres
• 1F7U Cutlass
• 2 T-28s
• 1 Victor Cockpit
• 1 SNJ – 7
• 1 XP-82 Twin Mustang Prototype/1 F-82E Twin Mustang
• 1 BT-13
• A rare snow-ski configured P2V Neptune that is the lone survivor of an epic
Navy expedition to explore Antarctica in the 1950s
• 1 partial F4U fuselage
• T-33 and F100 cockpits
• A number of V-12 Merlins, Allisons and radial engines
• Numerous cutaway display engines
• Countless propellers, starters, generators, magnetos, and antique WWII radios
• Countless other aviation-related artifacts

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in April, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress!

The forming of the fuselage-to-wing/center section and trailing edge fairings has just got underway.

Screen-printed Panels

All of the screen-printed panels have now been fitted with their switches, rheostats, lights, push buttons, etc., and mounted in their respective positions in each cockpit.

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in May, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress!

Electrical

The restoration team is in the last phases of testing each electrical circuit. These are quite complicated systems in the XP-82 and also the first twenty B-model Twin Mustangs, which all had full dual controls. Each pilot had the ability to switch all electrical controls back and forth between each cockpit, i.e. boost pumps, fuel shut-offs, cross-feeds, all lighting, electronic mixture controls, coolant door motors, carburetor air temperature motors, generators, bombs, rockets, guns and superchargers. The transfer of electrical control was effected by selecting certain switching relays.

This unique ability to switch electrical control from pilot to co-pilot or vice versa was necessary because the Twin Mustang had a 12-hour plus range with external fuel. It allowed pilots to take turns resting on long missions. As an example of extreme endurance in a Twin Mustang, Col. Robert Thacker flew ‘Betty Jo’, a Merlin-powered P-82B, non-stop from Hickam Field, Hawaii to LaGuardia Airport, New York in 14.5 hours on February 27th, 1947. Thacker is still living today at the tender age of 100!

Tom Reilly finally found the last of the two electrical components necessary to complete the original radio installations. The impact detonator switches are now installed in both cockpits. These devices could be activated by either pilot prior to bailing out in order to ensure destruction of the then top secret IFF radios when the abandoned aircraft crashed.

Fuselage Fairings

Most of the months of April and May have been spent English-wheeling skins for the fuselage-to-center section and fuselage-to-outboard wing trailing edge and wing fairings. Quite a number of complicated special curvatures had to be wheeled into the trailing edge fairings that do not show in the pictures. All four fairings are temporarily fit prior to final trimming.

The team has just started forming the four compound curved leading edge fairings that go from the fuselages to the center section and fuselages to the outboard wings.

Top Engine Cowling

Prior to spot-welding, the tack riveting of the top right cowl for the right-hand engine is now being completed. The solid rectangular line of clecos shown in the picture is holding in the stainless exhaust trough. These will be filled with rivets as spot-welding will not attach stainless steel to aluminum. The opposing left-hand top cowling panel requires refabrication.

Hydraulic System

The hydraulic system tests for the landing gear and flaps should be completed by the end of June.

Control Systems

The final rigging of range movements for the primary flight control cables for both the elevator and rudders is now completed, along with their associated trim tab systems.

When the outboard wings are fully attached, the final rigging for the ailerons and trim tab will take place.

Firewall Forward

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in June, 2017 for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress!

Since the project is coming very close to completion, there are fewer and fewer major accomplishments that can be photographed. Therefore project updates will now come every two or three months following this edition.

Top Engine Cowlings

Casey Hill, one of two English wheel subcontract wizards working on the project, came down for three days to help on the fairings. Tom Reilly pointed out the non-fitting top right-hand engine cowl to him and asked if he could do anything with it. It took him and Paul a day, and the two of them had it fitting perfectly. The team should have this left-hand top cowl completed within the next two weeks.

Fuselage Fairings

All of the outboard fuselage-to-wing fairings, from leading edge to trailing edge, are now complete. The team finished the final seam welding of the two outboard forward fairings this past week. Only the two lower halves for the inboard side of each fuselage-to-center-section fairing still need work.

Paul, the project’s lead sheet metal team member, has done a wonderful job by learning these English wheel and Yoder hammer sheet metal techniques, with the help from Rick Reeves, the XP-82’s other English wheel subcontract wizard. These have been very difficult pieces to form, but they have come out beautifully. In one more week, Paul will have the two bottom halves completed, awaiting seam welding. Then all of the XP-82’s fairings will be done.

Lower Chin Cowl to Air Induction Trunk Adapters

Randall and Paiden have accomplished in two weeks what Tom Reilly expected would take at least a month: forming the two adapters that join the chin cowls to the air induction trunks as well as the adapter covers to rubber seal these two removable joints. The parts have extremely complex compound curves, which is what makes them so difficult to replicate by hand, but they are now almost ready for final installation. The only remaining thing to do is to install the rubber for the seals (presently on order).

Electrical

Two team members have been completing and checking out each electrical system, one circuit at a time. Every circuit is now proven, except for one wire on one coolant door motor, two rotating beacon resistors, and the entire up/down landing gear circuit. Within the next two weeks Tom Reilly expects to have the remainder of the electrical system completed.

Exhaust Fairings

When Tom Reilly collected the XP-82 from Walt Soplata’s farm, he found only two of the four exhaust fairings required. These secondary stainless steel exhaust fairings only fit the P-51 H Mustang and the first 22 Merlin-powered P-82s. The restoration team has scoured the earth, and surrounding planets, for a spare pair of these exhaust fairings, but none could be found. There are only three H-model Mustangs still flying, and their owners have no clue where extra fairings could be sourced.

Remanufacture of these fairings is very difficult in part because of the complex shape, but also due to the heavy gauge (.050″) of the sheet stock required and the very sharp-edged detail around each exhaust port. Thus the project has had to have to have a pair of aluminum male and female press dies (four) machined to form the replacement fairings. The team has sent one of these two mirror image exhaust fairings to a subcontract machine shop to have it 3D printed, as the computer can easily flip the orientation of the virtual part to create its mirror for 3D printing.

Avionics Package (Garmin)

The Garmin radio package has arrived and the team will begin installation sometime in July.

Man (and woman) hours spent on the XP-82 restoration to date

Tom Reilly states that his team of workers, subcontractors and volunteers, etc. has put over 173,000 hours of labor into the XP-82’s restoration over the past nine years. In contrast, North America Aviation’s engineering and fabrication teams put 1,462,190 hours into the design and manufacture of the first XP-82 up to and including its first flight. That aircraft was 44-83887, the very same Twin Mustang which Reilly and his team have been working so hard to bring back to life…

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Although we are not exactly sure when the next formal update will come, please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in a couple of months for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress! As we mentioned in our last update in early July, since the project is coming very close to completion, there are fewer major accomplishments that can be photographed, which means that our usual monthly reports will happen more infrequently, hence the two month gap since the last posting. This does not mean that plenty isn’t happening on the resurrection of XP-82 Twin Mustang 44-83887, just that only some of it can be documented easily. This restoration update will mostly consist of a photo-essay with captions to show which areas have been receiving attention most recently.

Cockpit Instrument Panels

Wingtip Lighting

Gear Doors – Two Main & Four Tail

A job that Tom Reilly thought would be very difficult, pressing the two inside waffle skins, turned out to be a very quick and efficient job that came out perfectly within three weeks. Two team members completed all of the interior framework, including the installation of the up-lock latch forgings (two per door) along with the two flat exterior skins.

Reilly took the two main gear doors, along with the four tail wheel doors to Kermit Weeks’ facility in Polk City, Florida for spot welding. With these six doors completed, that completes 99.9% of the sheet metal work on the XP-82. The only remaining sheet metal items are the two outboard gear doors and the adjoining lower engine close-out fairings that cannot be completed until the team ascertains the exact curvature and pattern off each outboard door. The project is waiting for these two outboard doors to be delivered.

Pat Harker supplied the project with four tail gear door interior pressings. Within a few days these two team members had them fitted to the eight installed hinges with the newly formed outside skins. These outside skins are now spot welded to the inside pressings.

Engine Exhaust Fairings

Carburetor Air Induction System

The final installation of the rotating barrels, located underneath each spinner that control the air induction temperatures, and all of the induction trunks back to the carburetor inlets are now completed. The only thing to remaining to be done on these induction systems are the rod and lever mechanism adjustments that open the hot air doors for carburetor heat.

Engine Run

In a major restoration landmark, Tom Reilly and his team pulled the XP-82 out onto the ramp, tied down both tails and chocked both main wheels and started both engines simultaneously for the first time. Reilly initially ran them at idle for about two minutes, until the oil and coolant temperatures rose, and then he brought both engines up to a little over 1000 rpm (not fast enough to check generator or propeller functions). All of the fuel, oil, tachometer and associated temperature gauges worked as expected.

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Although we are not exactly sure when the next formal update will come, please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in a couple of months for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress!

Firewall Forwards:
Two team members were able to successfully press both exhaust fairings, trim-to-fit and punch out the twelve exhaust port openings. With a small amount of final hand forming, they had them fitted, drilled and attached to both right-hand engine cowlings. They were able to use the project’s 200-ton rubber press machine to initially press the .050″-thick stainless steel and finish detail using the newly-machined, 300lb male and female press-dies.

Carburetor Air Temperature Hot Air Door Controls:
Mounted in the back of each induction trunk is a door that opens to control the pilot-selected amount of carburetor heat (anti-icing) into each carburetor. Either pilot can adjust the position of these doors electrically from “closed,” to “half hot” to “full hot,” depending on the outside air temperature and humidity conditions during any point in the flight.

The hookup from the electric motor that rotates the air intake barrel back to the slide mechanisms, then down through two 90-degree arms, to a cable, then through a 90-degree pulley and back to the door arm was a difficult geometry puzzle to make them work on each induction trunk.

Inboard Gear Doors:
Both inboard gear doors are completely finished now, including painting the interior surfaces, and trimming. With new hinges attached, both of them are now fitted to the center section. Both doors have been hydraulically retracted, snapped into the hydraulically controlled up-lock latches and successfully released and extended numerous times.

Tail Gear Doors: 
All four tail gear doors are now completely finished, with their interiors painted. All eight hinges and four retract rods are attached, and the assemblies final fitted into each of the two tail wheel bays. Tom Riley and the team are awaiting two small brackets that mount on the two tail wheel lower arms that the pull/push rods attach to for retraction and extension.

Aileron Bellcranks:
The team installed the aileron bellcrank boxes, one in each wing. These two boxes have a large cable sector with a lever arm that attaches to a push rod coming from the bottom of each stick. The movement of each synchronized stick (left or right) rotates the cable sector that has two cables attached to it that go out through the wing via two 90-degree pulleys and then back to another sector and arm that is attached to the ailerons.

Wings/Center Section Fuel Tank Testing:
The center section has two 95-gallon fuel tanks, one located underneath each cockpit floor outboard of each gun bay. Each outboard wing holds 205 gallons of fuel and has provisions for two drop-tanks holding a total of 450 gallons under each wing. Each drop tank has the ability to be air-pressurized from the vacuum pump discharge air through a cockpit selector to air-force the fuel back to the inboard center section 95-gallon tank. Total internal fuel capacity is 600 US gallons.

In December, the team completely filled all six tanks with fuel to test for leaks.

Cross-flow Check Valves:
There are two cross-flow check valves, one mounted above the belly scoop under each fuselage. These check valves control the fuel flow from the fuel tank boost pump located in each outboard wing and the fuel flow from the inboard 95-gallon tank boost pump to each engine. These valves prevent the outboard fuel being transferred to the inboard tank and vice versa. Boost pump fuel coming from either tank through the check valve housing will only go forward to the engine.

Fuel Shut-off/Cross-feed Valves:
These electronic shut-off and cross-feed valves have been final-tested and had the associated hoses attached. These valves are Whittaker guillotine-style valves that have a chrome-plated sliding plate that electro-mechanically opens and closes off each port.

Flaps:
The two flap hydraulic cylinders are now attached to the flap arms. The team hydraulically actuated them to test their functionality, and also adjusted the flap up-and-down stops accordingly.

Flap Follow Up Mechanism:
This mechanism is mounted on the left-hand cockpit floor underneath the flap actuator handle. It is a device that synchronizes the movement of the flap handle, the flap hydraulic actuator and the position of the three flap panels.

Aileron Trim:
The team has completed, installed and tested the aileron trim bellcrank and chain/cable mechanism.

Tail Wheel Unlocks:
The restoration team was able to manufacture the two missing tail wheel steering unlocks. These unlocks release the tail wheel steering when either stick is pushed all the way forward. They are actuated by the down-elevator cable, one in each rear fuselage.

Leading Edge with Six .50 Caliber Gun Ports:
The center section leading edge has been left off in order for the restoration team to make the final adjustments on the gear door up-lock mechanisms. Now that these adjustments have been made, Tom Reilly has been final fitting the leading edge. Its installation will be completed by the end of next week.

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Although we are not exactly sure when the next formal update will come, please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in a couple of months for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery!

WarbirdsNews has received the latest XP-82 Twin Mustang restoration update from Tom Reilly at his workshop in Douglas, Georgia, and we thought you would all be pleased to see the latest progress!

The end of the ten-year XP-82 restoration project is in sight, and as Tom Reilly noted…  the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train! The team is down to a rather short punch list with another ten weeks to go. A few of the outstanding items could have precluded the Twin Mustang prototype from making Oshkosh this year, but thankfully these potential problems have been solved.

Outdoor Gear Doors:

Both inboard pressings were delivered to the project about three weeks ago. Tom Reilly thought the fitting of these doors was going to be extremely difficult and time consuming, but Paul had them installed perfectly within a week. The internal framework is also now fitted and both components have been completed with the addition of the spot-welded, outside skins.

Tailwheel Doors:

The two tailwheel door retract brackets have been completed and attached. The four doors are mechanically retracted by rods attached to the tailwheel arm structure(s). The two tailwheel assemblies are not retracted by hydraulics but rather by a 3/16″ stainless steel cable running the full length of each fuselage up to a set of pulleys attached to each main landing gear retract arm. When each main gear retracts, each tailwheel is drawn up into its up-locked position along with the doors. On extension of the main gear, both tailwheel assemblies unlock, gravity-extend and cable-latch the down lock. This is a unique North American Aviation, factory-installed retract system.

Landing Gear Retractions:

The restoration team has completed the landing gear retraction tests and timing valve adjustments that sequence the inboard gear doors opening and closing. Following both the gear-up and gear-down operations, the main inboard undercarriage doors are at rest in the closed position. Timing valves sequence the proper opening and closing of these doors for the gear to pass. It is a  straight-forward NAA design that works extremely well. The following photos show how the process works, starting with retraction, and then extension. The gear starts to retract in image 1. It locks in the up position in image 3, following which the main gear door closes in images 4 – 7. Image 8 shows the beginning of the reverse process. The door starts opening, and has completed the process by image 11, when the main gear starts extending. Once the main gear is down and locked in image 13, the door begins folding back up into the closed position.

Brake Assemblies:

The last two major items that the team has been awaiting to complete the XP-82 are the brake calipers. Interestingly, this style of brake assembly was unique to the XP/F-82 Twin Mustang series, thus they were unavailable on the surplus market.

The most serious of these missing brake items were the two small pressure check valve boxes. Pictures are attached. The team’s main machinist, John, expects to have both calipers completed within the next week. John was able to make a 3D print using the non-airworthy, magnesium caliper example that the team recovered from the Alaskan wreck site as a reference. He is well into completing the machining of both new aluminum calipers. BUT, the team had no samples of the small pressure check valve boxes to copy. The big problem was that the entire brake assembly was manufactured by Goodyear and the XP-82 parts books did not give any breakdown or part numbers of any of the associated Goodyear brake parts. Thus the restoration team had nothing they could take apart and copy to replace the two missing pressure check valves.

However, in a stroke of great fortune, John Soplata, the grandson of Walter and Margaret Soplata, discovered a complete XP-82 brake assembly WITH one pressure check valve. John Soplata had already come to the rescue once previously, when he discovered the elusive second main wheel in the cellar of the family home.

The entire brake and check valve assembly arrived at the XP-82’s present home in Douglas, Georgia via FED EX. Now that the team has both brake assemblies, they can salvage all of the original pistons, springs, depth indicators and slave cylinders for the project. The two original calipers are magnesium castings though, and due to corrosion issues, they could not be made airworthy. So, along with the two new calipers currently under manufacture, all that remains to complete the brake package is the duplication of the one small check valve box. This will be completed within two weeks. Not having these pressure check valves would have ground the project to a halt, and thus a time-consuming and costly bump in the road has been avoided.

Original Radios:

The restoration team was able to find the seven radios of the correct types that were originally installed in the XP-82, along with all of their associated Cannon plugs. For authenticity, Tom Reilly has duplicated the exact colors for the wires that were soldered back into the original-style plugs. To complete the original installation suite, the team still has one more Cannon plug remaining to solder, along with the antenna wires that plug into the radios and tie ups.

Ailerons:

All four ailerons are now permanently attached. Randall has set the balances, movement ranges, cable tensions and stops to match each cockpit stick.

Rudders and Elevator:

Both rudders and the elevator are now permanently installed. Movement ranges, balances, cable tensions and control movements are now set and synchronized between each cockpit’s stick and pedals. This was quite a time consuming job getting all four pedals matched to each other and to both rudders, but now they are completely done. All safety wiring for the turnbuckles is now completed.

Leading Edge with Gun Ports:

The entire leading edge is now totally attached. This job took Paul and Randall a complete week to finish due to the final riveting and the hundreds of screws and nut plates throughout the forward spar which had to be fastened.

Starrett Level:

Right forward of the left-hand tail wheel there is a 3” round hole in the left side of the fuselage that houses a mounted Starrett level that is visible to set the pitch (tail up/tail down) of the two fuselages when doing a weight and balance measurement. The 1944-dated North American Aviation XP-82 plans show a detailed picture of the level with part its number and the mounting structure. Tom Reilly instructed Weezie to contact Starrett to see if they had one of these levels in their museum that the team could acquire for installation in the XP-82 to make the restoration as original as possible. Within a few hours, she found an identical, brand new example in stock at Grainger in Orlando. What were the chances of finding a Starrett level absolutely identical to the part identified in the 74-year old parts book drawing!?

Outboard Wings:

Both outboard wings are now totally bolted down and appropriately torqued. There were 300+ internal-wrenching bolts in all. All of the fuel feed and vent hoses are also now installed. The restoration team filled the tanks with fuel and tested all of the connections and pumps for leaks.

Pitot Static Systems:

The pitot (air speed) and static (neutral air pressure) systems going to both cockpits are now completely hooked up and pre-tested for leaks. A technician from an FAA-approved repair station facility will visit the restoration shop to verify and sign off the required accuracy checks for the altimeter, transponder and encoder (tells ground controllers your altitude, air speed, etc.), pitot instrument and static air going to each air speed indicator, climb and altimeter instruments. Reilly cannot do these final checks and sign-offs himself, as an independent, FAA-licensed avionics facility must perform them.

Engine/Prop Test Runs:

Since October last year, the restoration team pulled the XP-82 outside again twice further for engine and propeller test runs. For each trial, the team would lash each tail to strong tie-down anchored rings, and add sand bags to the top of the horizontal stabilizer to prevent the tail from lifting during hard run-ups.

So far, Tom Reilly has brought the power up on each engine to 1500 rpm, about half power, and test-cycled the props. He will start the prescribed three-hour run-in schedule dictated by Vintage V12s, the company that overhauled the Twin Mustangs two Merlin engines. To date, the XP-82 has clocked 1.5 hours of ground run and system checks on each engine, with no squawks.

Weight & Balance (W & B):

A few weeks ago, a weight and balance company from Lakeland, Florida came to perform the required W & B on the XP-82. The wood underneath the propeller hubs (in the picture) is not supporting anything; its’s just there for safety to help prevent a nose-over.

Indicators:

The restoration team was able to locate two NOS ID-42A/APS-13 radar indicators. These were installed just below the pilot and co-pilot’s cockpit glare shields. When the light comes on, it lets you know that an uninvited guest is on your tail!

Items on the “to complete” punch list:

1. After this coming week’s hard two-hour engine and propeller run-ins (no problems expected), the entire XP-82 airframe will be lightly washed down with aluminum etch and a soft Scotch Brite pad to blend out any small scratches. This will highlight the color differences between the three different aluminum alloys that had been used to skin the XP-82. If one looks closely at the original pictures of the aircraft during its first flight, these color changes are definitely noticeable.

2. The restoration team has received the stencils for all of the painted markings that are scattered over the airframe. The restoration team will apply them after the etching process.

3. The XP-82 restoration has consumed in excess of 202,000 man-hours, but is finally in the end-game. So if nothing goes ‘bump in the night’, Tom Reilly hopes to have the Twin Mustang prototype at Oshkosh this July… with time to spare.

And that is all for this month’s report.

Many thanks again to Tom Reilly for this update. You can learn more about the project on their blog HERE. Although we are not exactly sure when the next formal update will come, please be sure to check back with WarbirdsNews in a couple of months for the next installment in the story following the XP-82′s road to recovery…. who knows, the next update may include details of a first flight!

We have been following the restoration of North American XP-82 Twin Mustang 44-83887 at Tom Reilly’s workshop in Douglas, Georgia for some years now, with updates on the project coming on a near-monthly basis during this time. This past year has seen a slowdown in these reports due to the complex and unpredictable nature of every restoration as it comes close to completion. The restoration team had hoped to have the aircraft ready to fly just before EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018, but didn’t quite make the deadline. Now with more time to prepare for the first flight, Tom Reilly has decided to replace the original, magnesium alloy wheel rims on the aircraft with newly fabricated examples manufactured from aluminum. There are many practical reasons for this choice, and Tom Reilly explained them very well in a recent letter (see below) which we thought our readers would enjoy reading…

After much thought I have chosen a warbird restoration facility and specialty machine shop in Cameron Park, CA. Chuck Wahl, the owner, has been specializing in making replacement wheels for warbirds for a number of years. I ran my decision past John Eiler, our main machinist for your XP-82, and he agreed with my decision. Chuck has been making 32″ x 8.8″ wheels for F4U Corsairs and SBDs for a number of years.

Yesterday I sent him the lower spindle leg off of the crashed Alaska F-82 for fitting purposes, along with one of the original magnesium brake calipers. I had previously sent a non-airworthy wheel to John Eiler to copy and he is forwarding that wheel out to Chuck Wahl.

Chuck manufactures his wheels out of 7075-T6 aluminum and they have been tested to failure at over ten times the strength of the original magnesium wheel. He will be able to identically duplicate our wheel for authenticity.

The total price for these two wheels will be approximately $19K with a 3-4 week delivery period.

What were the chances of our wheels failing, probably less than zero percent. But, after two known failures of this style wheel, one on an F7F Tigercat at Oshkosh and more recently, one on a TBM Avenger, I had no choice but to make this decision.

We have had countless comments (now over 300) on our website and Facebook page, every one agreeing with my safety decision. If I were to have a wheel failure on our XP-82 the public backlash would be catastrophic; if we didn’t totally lose the airplane due to an uncontrollable magnesium fire.

Many thanks to Tom Reilly for providing these details. Like everyone, we look forwards with great anticipation to the first flight of the XP-82, and wish the entire team great success in the endeavor!

TOM REILLY AND THE XP-82 TWIN MUSTANG 

By: Alan Armstrong 

The Genius – Tom Reilly 

A genius is a person who displays exceptional intellectual ability or creative productivity. Tom Reilly has amply demonstrated these characteristics in the course of his decades-long career restoring vintage military aircraft, and has earned his place as a legend in the warbird community. Perhaps no project better illustrates Tom’s genius than the magnificent efforts he and his team have made in resurrecting North American XP-82 Twin Mustang 44-83887. A crowning achievement to Tom’s career, the XP-82 Twin Mustang is a remarkable specimen of aeronautical design and technology. Her restoration is a testament to the dedication and resolve Tom has demonstrated in completing this remarkable project that has spanned more than a decade from inception to completion. 

The Specimen – Tom’s XP-82 Twin Mustang 

The first thing that strikes anyone when approaching the XP-82 is her sheer size. She is a mammoth beast in comparison to any contemporary fighter aircraft of the day! The massive four blade propellers project skyward, and the twin fuselage structures tower above you. The wing leading edge sits at head-height, rather than meeting your shoulder. In short, the Twin Mustang is imposing, and projects her true nature as a complex, purpose-built killing machine. The center wing section houses six fifty caliber machine guns. Originally conceived to escort B-29s on extreme-range bombing missions, her 604 gallon internal fuel capacity reflects this capability. Outer wing hard points were available for drop tanks, if additional range were needed too. The Twin Mustang was fast as well, with a max true airspeed at altitude of around 440 miles per hour.

The electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems are complex in comparison to other WWII fighters, and mark a transition point in period technology. Tubing, wiring and hoses are routed throughout the wing and fuselage structure. Everything about this aircraft is robust, sturdy and purpose-built for service and combat in harsh conditions. The left and right cockpits are very similar, except for the center console on the left side. Also, the left cockpit is the only one with a gunsight, while the right side has a gun camera in its place. Switches and circuit breakers abound to the right of the pilot’s left hand seat. Because of the aircraft’s significant size, its control surfaces are commensurately large, which places a higher demand on the pilot’s strength for maneuvering than contemporary piston-powered fighters. Rudder forces, however, were light. The pilot has two throttle, mixture and propeller governor controls to the left. With its twin fuselage and tail wheel configuration and considering its massive propellers with the associated torque and P-factor they must generate on takeoff, the prospect of an engine failure at rotation is not something any pilot would relish. However, the aircraft’s engines (and propellers) rotate in opposite directions, much like those of the P-38, which helps mitigate any gyroscopic effects during normal operation.

The Quintessential XP-82 Twin Mustang 

The level of detail and authenticity in Tom’s XP-82 restoration is extraordinary. Every system, component, placard, stencil, etc. that appeared on the factory-fresh aircraft back in June, 1945 appears in Tom’s restoration. Even a small factory fabrication mistake has been replicated in this aircraft; the pitot static vent was incorrectly positioned initially and then repositioned during her original manufacturing process. As a result, the restored XP-82 has preserved this tiny historical detail by replicating the holes for the incorrectly located static air port in the left fuselage and plugging them, in exactly the same way.

Mike Nixon’s Vintage V12s in Tehachapi, California overhauled the super-rare Packard-built Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650-23 (right-turning) and -25 (left-turning) engines for the project. The carburetors, generators, and other components are all New Old Stock and/or freshly overhauled. The only significant deviation from the original design must be the propellers, of which airworthy originals were unavailable at any price. MT Propellers in Germany manufactured composite replicas for the project. The tires are new. The wheels are new. The brakes are new. A mountain of yellow tags and FAA 8130 Forms verify the pedigree of this magnificent aircraft. The radio equipment is installed, just like the radios the aircraft had when she was built. Even the shade of yellow primer paint used on the interior structures has been painstakingly researched and matched.

Origins of the XP-82 Twin Mustang and Tom’s Prototype 

Tom’s XP-82 flew on April 15, 1945, the first flight for the entire breed. Following their time in flight test for the Twin Mustang program, both XP-82s (44-83887 and ‘886) served as test bed aircraft with the NACA, (precursor to NASA). Some of the testing involved equipping the aircraft with various ordinance configurations, including an eight-gun pod that hung on the center wing and fired between the propellers. A similarly positioned radar pod was also tried. Prototype Twin Mustang ‘887 flew with the NACA until July, 1950 when it was damaged in a landing accident while performing trials on an experimental ram jet. 

Famed warbird preservationist Walter Soplata bought the damaged aircraft soon after it was written off for $300.00 without the engines or propellers. Fast-forwards to half a century later when Tom Reilly was at Soplata’s farm on December 23, 2007 and first discovered the XP-82’s left fuselage hidden under some sheet metal roofing. While Tom was in negotiations with Soplata, he quietly went about the job of finding and purchasing whatever Twin Mustang components he could find to make the project viable. After successfully concluding his purchase of the XP-82, Reilly got working on assessing what he had, what he needed, and then plotting the project out. He did have the good fortune of collaborating with the Harker brothers, who are restoring the only other civilian-owned Twin Mustang in the world, F-82E 46-0256. Ironically, this same aircraft also served with the NACA and later became part of Walt Soplata’s collection. The two teams have co-operated on a number of different aspects of their mutual restorations, including the fabrication of certain parts, such as the propellers. Since the F-82E was substantially complete, it also provided many useful reference details for the XP-82 project, although there are a lot of differences between the two variants.

The Date of the First Flight Approaches 

Jewell Helton and I visited Tom and his partner Weezie Barendse on November 17, 2018. Tom was extremely generous with his time and gave us a complete tour of his facilities as well as  unrestricted access to the XP-82. Reilly had hoped to have the aircraft ready to fly at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this past summer, but the paperwork wasn’t quite signed off in time. Following the landing incident at AirVenture involving the wheel rim failure on an F7F Tigercat, Reilly decided to replace the XP-82’s original wheel rims with newly manufactured units. This has added a little extra time to the restoration, but after ten years of intense labor, the aircraft is essentially ready to go, and is expected to make her first post-restoration flight in the near future. 

Many thanks to Alan Armstrong for his article and photographs!

The moment which every WarbirdsNews reader will have eagerly anticipated since we first started reporting on the project five years ago finally arrived with the first “official” post-restoration flight of Tom Reilly’s North American XP-82 Twin Mustang 44-83887 yesterday in Douglas, Georgia.

This of course follows the brief unplanned first flight on New Years’ Eve, 2018, the details of which are perhaps best left to Tom Reilly who described it in a phone interview with Warbird Digest’s Moreno Aguiari back in early January as follows, “The aircraft wasn’t supposed to fly that day…” In Fact the original plan was to clear the last FAA mandated high-speed taxi test, rotate for a second or two, touch back down, deploy full flaps, and brake to a stop. However, during our phone interview Reilly related that, “It accelerated so fast after the planned liftoff that test pilot Ray Fowler realized that getting it back down and stopping it in the remaining runway would be risky. So, he pushed the power back up and flew for about five minutes.” Nevertheless, the aircraft performed beautifully and “flew hands-off on the first flight with trim at almost zero degrees.”

As most readers will remember, yesterday’s flight had originally been mooted for July last year, but the team were not quite able to get the final paperwork signatures sorted in time to fly before EAA Oshkosh AirVenture2018. As it happened, an incident at Oshkosh involving a wheel failure on a Grumman F7F Tigercat prompted Reilly to further delay the first flight in order to have some brand new wheel rims manufactured rather than risk the XP-82 on her original magnesium-alloy castings. Chuck Wahl’s Vulture’s Row Aviation machined Reilly a replacement set of wheel rims from billet aluminum which, while adding $36,000 to the restoration cost, will provide extra peace-of-mind that a newly-made part usually offers.

Experienced warbird pilot Ray Fowler was at the controls again yesterday as the dual seat, dual fuselage fighter roared down the runway, its two Merlin engines powering counter-rotating propellers which beat the air in the quest for flight. Lift off was smooth as this unique aircraft took to the skies. A small crowd gathered to witness this historic event, chief among them Tom Reilly and his restoration crew who had performed a minor miracle in resurrecting this long-forgotten warbird which sat for decades as a collection of parts on Walt Soplata’s farm in Newbury, Ohio. Great credit must be shown to Soplata and his family for preserving the aircraft, not to mention Tom Reilly and his investors for having the vision – and the fortitude – to restore this magnificent aircraft back to where she belongs.

In a recent phone interview, Tom Reilly told your editor that following the aircraft’s return to flight, Ray Fowler will fly off fifteen hours in the XP-82 to both satisfy the FAA requirements for the airframe’s airworthiness and also for the pilot to qualify for his Twin Mustang type rating. Fowler will become the world’s only currently certified Twin Mustang pilot as a result.

When asked whether he will fly the aircraft himself, Reilly stated that he’s not sure whether he will or not. “I’m a bomber guy, not a fighter guy,” he stated. If he does fly the Twin Mustang, it will only be from the right seat. “It’s been a very fun job,” Reilly continues, ” a team effort, not a Tom Reilly effort.” So after more than ten years, and 207,000 “man and woman hours” as Reilly mentioned, the world finally has a Twin Mustang flying again, and long may it continue to be so. Reilly wouldn’t say exactly what the aircraft’s future will hold, noting it isn’t for sale, although there’s always a “right price” should one be offered.

Click HERE to read our previous articles about this amazing restoration. Check out below the video montage from iPhone clips.

Many thanks to those who supplied us with the images and video clips in this piece.