page_title: North American F-82 Twin Mustang
section_title: Far East Air Forces
hierarchical_section_title: North American F-82 Twin Mustang / Operational history / Far East Air Forces
caption_attribution_description: English: F-82G Twin Mustang 46-371, 68th Fighter Squadron, 1951
context_page_description: The North American F-82 Twin Mustang is the last American piston-engine fighter ordered into production by the United States Air Force. Based on the North American P-51 Mustang, the F-82 was originally designed as a long-range escort fighter for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in World War II. The war ended well before the first production units were operational.
  In the postwar era, Strategic Air Command used the planes as a long-range escort fighter. Radar-equipped F-82s were used extensively by the Air Defense Command as replacements for the Northrop P-61 Black Widow as all-weather day/night interceptors. During the Korean War, Japan-based F-82s were among the first USAF aircraft to operate over Korea. The first three North Korean aircraft destroyed by U.S. forces were shot down by F-82s, the first being a North-Korean Yak-11 downed over Gimpo Airfield by the USAF 68th Fighter Squadron.
context_section_description: After World War II, the Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) main interceptor. However, a lack of spare parts and maintenance issues made it difficult to keep the war-weary aircraft in the air. Until an all-weather jet interceptor became available, the F-82G Twin Mustang was seen as the interim solution. The last operational P-61s were sent by the 68th and 339th Fighter (All Weather) Squadrons to the reclamation yard at Tachikawa Air Base in February 1950, with Twin Mustangs arriving as replacement aircraft.
  In Far East Air Forces, there were three squadrons operating the Twin Mustang, consisting of 45 aircraft. The 4th Fighter (All Weather) Squadron was attached to the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, tasked with providing air defense within the Twentieth Air Force's area of responsibility during darkness and inclement weather. The 68th F(AW)S area would cover southern Japan from their base at Itazuke and the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing, with the 339th F(AW)S covering Tokyo and northern Japan from Johnson Air Base. FEAF had about 40 Twin Mustangs assigned to the command.
  With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the F-82 was pressed into combat duty. At 04:00 on 25 June 1950, 68th Fighter Squadron F-82 aircrews on alert at Itazuke Air Base were told that North Korea had crossed the 38th Parallel. They were ordered to fly to the area and report any activity on the main roads and railroads. They arrived to find overcast conditions, with cloud tops at 2,400 metres (8,000 ft). The Twin Mustangs flew through the clouds using radar and broke out at 610 metres (2,000 ft), heading for Kimpo Airfield near Seoul. The pilots observed huge convoys of North Korean trucks and other vehicles, including 58 tanks, which had crossed into South Korea. The crews flew back through the clouds to Itazuke Air Base, where they were debriefed by a U.S. Army colonel from General Douglas MacArthur's staff. This reconnaissance flight is considered to be the first United States air combat mission of the Korean War.
  With this information, along with other intelligence reports available to them, FEAF confirmed that the Korean People's Army had, indeed, launched a full-scale invasion of South Korea. FEAF's first priority, however, was to evacuate United States citizens. On the morning of 26 June, the nearby Norwegian freighter Reinholte was sent to Inchon harbor to evacuate non-military personnel from Seoul, which lay directly in the invasion route. A flight of Twin Mustangs from the 68th F(AW)S was dispatched to the area, arriving at dawn to provide air protection for the evacuation. Two of the F-82s were dispatched to fly over the road from Seoul, while others flew top cover over the Inchon docks. The patrol went without incident until about 1300, when a pair of Soviet-built aircraft (the exact aircraft type has never been determined) came out of the clouds. Orders given to the F-82 pilots prohibited any aggressive action; however, gun switches were activated when the enemy leader tightened up his turn and peeled off at the F-82s with his wing man in close tail. The F-82s dropped their external tanks, turned on combat power and started a climbing turn towards the North Korean aircraft. For some reason, the North Korean leader fired while too far away, with his bullets falling short of the F-82s which then pulled up into the clouds and above the overcast, putting them in a position to return fire if the North Koreans followed them. However, they did not, and no further contact was made for the rest of the day. The evacuation at Inchon was successfully carried out with a total of 682 civilians being transported to Sasebo, Japan.
  Once the bulk of U.S. civilians had been evacuated out of South Korea by ship, the priority of FEAF changed to a military nature. The 339th F(AW)S received orders from Fifth Air Force to move all available aircraft, along with crews and equipment, to Itazuke Air Base to assist the 68th in providing air cover for the evacuation of Seoul. However, the 339th's complement of aircr
caption: 46-371 of the 68th FS at Itazuke AB.
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