ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2019 - 44

Photos courtesy of U.S. Air Force and Bill Shaner

AVIATION HISTORY

RIGHT: An F-82 in flight.
Note that the aft fuselage
is fatter to carry more
internal fuel and longer
to give the tail surfaces
more aerodynamic leverage
in the case of engineout flight, and the noses
were extended to keep
everything in balance.

ABOVE: The P-82 Betty Jo that flew nonstop
from Hawaii to New York. It is now in the U.S.
Air Force Museum.
LEFT: An F-82 loaded for bear, carrying two
1,000-pound bombs under the center wing,
plus 10 5-inch rockets and two 500-pound
bombs outboard. A close look at the propeller
blades shows that the two engines are built to
turn in opposite directions, canceling adverse
gyroscopic and aerodynamic propeller effects.

One impressive record-breaking flight took place
in February 1947 when a P-82 named Betty Jo flew
nonstop from Hawaii to La Guardia airport in New York.
that made the record flight from Hawaii
to New York. When NACA was finished
with it, it went to the USAF Museum at
the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in
Dayton, Ohio, and is on display there
in its Betty Jo paint scheme, along
with a second F-82 formerly owned
by the Commemorative Air Force in
Midland, Texas.
Of the remaining three F-82s that
were with NACA, one was scrapped
and the remaining two were sold
to individuals who hoped to have
them restored. By coincidence,
44

* T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F I S TAT

the restoration of one of them was
completed just as this Aviation History
column was being drafted. It had
been bought by Tom Reilly of Douglas,
Georgia, in 2008. After an estimated
200,000 labor hours. it was flown on
28 January, 2019, flying for the first
time since 1949. Reilly's full story is
expected to appear in the April issue
of Air Classics magazine.
One other F-82 was acquired by
the former USAF History and Traditions
Museum - now the USAF Airman
Heritage Museum at Lackland Air Force

Base, near San Antonio, Texas. You can
see this F-82, painted black, on outdoor
display, by zooming in on Google Earth
coordinates 29° 23.606 N, 98° 37.158
W, just off Goodfellow Road. You can
also see a photo of it in the museum's
photo gallery.
The company, North American
Aviation, is no longer a household
name, but its history goes back to
1928. It was acquired by General
Electric in 1933. From then until 1967,
as an independent GE entity, NAA
produced an amazing variety of aircraft,
including the P-51, F-82, F-86 and
F-100 fighters, B-25 and XB-70
bombers, T-6 and T-28 trainers, and
the X-15 rocket planes. The company
was acquired from GE by Rockwell
International in 1967, and in 1996
Rockwell's aviation assets were sold
to Boeing.
ISTAT Jetrader - Summer 2019

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