doublemated mustang

The Twin Mustang was developed at the end of the prop-driven fighter era and at the dawn of the jet age. Its designed role as a long-range fighter escort was eliminated by the atomic bombing of Japan and the sudden end of World War II. With the rapid draw-down of the armed forces after the war, the newly established United States Air Force had little money for new prop-driven aircraft, especially since jets, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other Luftwaffe fighters, had been faster than P-51 Mustangs in the skies of Germany in late 1944. The completed airframes (less engines) of the P-82 pre-production aircraft already manufactured by North American went into storage, with an uncertain future.