America’s Strangest Plane Destroys an Entire Army

June 27, 1950. Seoul has fallen. At Suwon Airfield, chaos reigns. North Korean fighters scream overhead, strafing the runway and turning transport planes into fireballs. Hundreds of American civilians are trapped, their last hope of escape burning away one aircraft at a time. Enemy tanks are only twenty miles out and closing fast.

Then, radar operators catch something unexpected- five unknown contacts, approaching from the Yellow Sea. The North Korean flight leader peers through his La-7’s canopy, puzzled. The shapes on the horizon don’t make sense. Two fuselages joined together, wings wide and unnatural. It’s unlike anything he’s ever seen. As his squadron, undefeated for three relentless days, races toward Suwon, none of them realizes that 1,527 lives now depend on these strange, twin-bodied American warbirds.

The Korean War started without warning. On June 25, 1950, ten divisions of the North Korean People’s Army launched a full-scale assault on the 38th parallel. Civilians poured out of Seoul in panic, ROK units fell back in disarray, and bridges were blown in desperate attempts to slow the advance. However, it made little difference. In just 72 hours, Seoul was under enemy control.

Half a world away, the United Nations moved with unusual speed. Two days after the invasion, the Security Council authorized military intervention. The US 7th fleet started deploying from Philippine bases while the British Far East Fleet warships took position off Korean waters. As Seoul fell, Suwon Airfield, twenty miles to the south, became the last operational airstrip within striking distance. To protect it, the US Far East Air Forces scrambled fighters from Japan.

The first to arrive were the F-82G Twin Mustangs- low-range, twin-fuselage escort fighters built for the Pacific but now called into action on a very different battlefield. It represented an unusual solution to the problem of the long-range escort. Two P-51 fuselages were joined by a central wing and tail structure, creating a twin-engine fighter with remarkable endurance.

Each fuselage mounts three .50 caliber machine guns, giving the aircraft devastating firepower at close range. It had a top speed of 465 mph and a combat radius of 1,400 miles. It could reach Korea from Japanese bases and still have extra fuel for an extended combat. On June 27th, five F-82s lifted off from Japan. They were to escort four unarmed C-52 Skymaster transports evacuating US civilians.

As the formation neared the Korean coast, radar picked up enemy aircraft closing fast. Moments later, five North Korean Lavochkin La-7 fighters swooped in, their silver wings flashing in the morning light. The escorts immediately broke formation, and the combat had begun.

The F-82s, descendants of the legendary P-51 Mustang, quickly proved their worth. Using their superior speed, heavy armament, and radar-equipped night-fighting capability, they tore through the enemy formation. Lieutenant William G. Hudson, flying with radar observer Lieutenant Carl Fraser, scored the first confirmed aerial victory of the Korean War.

By the time the smoke cleared, three North Korean fighters had been shot down. It was the first air-to-air kills of the conflict. The Twin Mustangs had not only defended their charges but also written the opening chapter of American air combat in Korea, marking the dawn of a new kind of aerial warfare.