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The question that jumped out at me was, why this and not the P38: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning

It's like this was just slapped together with spare parts, while the p38 could have been upgraded with better engines.

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While F-82 and P-38 shared the exact same engine, the F-82 had higher top speed, higher cruising speed, longer range, and could carrying 1500lbs more at take off. Apart from ceiling high, the F-82 beat the P-38 in almost every measure.

It was also based on the legendary P-51 which remained in service into the 50s, where as aircraft like the P-38 were immediately drawn down after the war.

Yeah, the P-38 was a decent design, but it's very much a 1930's era plane with its oval pattern wings and control surfaces. The P-51, despite technically only be a couple years newer than the P-38, incorporated a LOT of improvements, most notably those in the 1940 NACA study data. The laminar flow wing alone pushed the P-51 well beyond anything else produced previously. The P-51 was arguably the first line fighter to be designed with aerodynamics based on hard science, rather than seat of the pants "this seemed to work before" design practices.

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