preliminary Twin-Mustang patent

[Tophe]

I have found a Schmued patent of 1944/46 representing the XP-82 Twin-Mustang (at http://www.adventurelounge.com/aircraft/design/087.html and http://www.adventurelounge.com/aircraft/full/design/087.html ) but I am not sure:
- if the canopy is the same as the P-51D/P-82, this would be a tiny Twin-Mustang (left below)
- if the engine/nose is the same as the P-51D/P-82, this would be a Twin-Mustang with giant canopy (right below)
Dimensions or details would help but I do not find the 3 pages patent both at Google Patents and at Espacenet… May someone help me?

 

[Tophe]

The explanation may be the big canopy of the XP-51F/G/J that would have been considered also for the P-82, before prefering the P-51D/H:

 

[CFE]

In the case of the P-82 Twin Mustang, it's important to note that the Twin shared far more in common with the P-51H than the P-51D. The lightweight Mustangs (F/G/J/H and P-82) used a new airfoil shape, new wing planform, and essentially represented an all-new airplane (aside from the powerplant.)

 

[Tophe]

Thanks for this detail, while the canopy size issue remains the same D/H/82-size or F/G/J?

 

[Steve Pace]

Three different XP-82 design patents. -SP

 

[kitnut617]

I had always wondered about the large canopy the XP-51F,G & J got, until I saw some photos of them a while ago that explained a lot. It would seem they raised the cockpit up about 6 or 8 inches so needed a bigger canopy over it as the fuselage used was basically the P-51D fuselage (except the 'J' got the 13" extension that is familiar on the P-51H). On the P-51H, it still had the raised cockpit but then had built up fuselage sides and a regular P-51D canopy installed. The XP-82/P-82 had an almost identical fuselage to the P-51H, only the natural top and bottom profile lines where just continued to the rear so they merged at a point further back.

Below is a comparison between a P-51H and F-82 fuselage, keep in mind the Allison engine installation on the F-82 was deeper on the F-82G/H than the Merlin arrangement on the P-51H

The lower picture is of a P-51D/P-51H comparison so you can see that the 'H' was much bigger. I've used the new tool Airfix P-51D kit and a High Planes P-51H in this comparison, I've also been using the Airfix kit so I can build an XP-51F or G so I've cut the rear canopy fairing out (if anyone is wondering)