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Subject: Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Date: 1 Aug 2016 22:16:42 -0700
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American piston-engined fighter
aircraft. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had
distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and
armament. Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil
(German: 'der Gabelschwanz-Teufel') by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot"
(2????1????? Ni hikoki, ippairotto?) by the Japanese, the P-38 was used for
interception, dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo
reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions
and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks
under its wings.
The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the
China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the aircraft of America's top aces,
Richard Bong (40 victories), Thomas McGuire (38 victories) and Charles H.
MacDonald (36 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the
primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance
of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs, toward the end of the war.
The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the
turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving and could be mishandled in many
ways but the rate of roll in the early versions was too slow for it to excel as
a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production
throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over
Japan Day. At the end of the war, orders for 1,887 more were cancelled
The Lightning figured in one of the most significant operations in the Pacific
theater: the interception, on 18 April 1943, of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the
architect of Japan's naval strategy in the Pacific including the attack on Pearl
Harbor. When American codebreakers found out that he was flying to Bougainville
Island to conduct a front-line inspection, sixteen P-38G Lightnings were sent on
a long-range fighter-intercept mission, flying 435 miles (700 km) from
The Lightnings met Yamamoto's two Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" fast bomber transports
and six escorting Zeros just as they arrived at the island. The first Betty
crashed in the jungle and the second ditched near the coast. Two Zeros were also
claimed by the American fighters with the loss of one P-38. Japanese search
parties found Yamamoto's body at the jungle crash site the next day
Role
Heavy fighter
National origin
United States
Manufacturer
Lockheed
Designer
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson
First flight
27 January 1939
Introduction
July 1941[2]
Retired
1965 Honduran Air Force[3]
Primary users
United States Army Air Forces
Free French Air Force
Produced
Number built
10,037
Unit cost
US$97,147 in 1944[5]
(equivalent to $1,305,883 in 2015[6])
Developed into
Lockheed XP-49
Lockheed XP-58
The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific theater,
where it proved ideally suited, combining excellent performance with exceptional
range and the added reliability of two engines for long missions over water. The
P-38 was used in a variety of roles, especially escorting bombers at altitudes
Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF fighter.[4] Freezing cockpit temperatures
were not a problem at low altitude in the tropics. In fact the cockpit was often
too hot since opening a window while in flight caused buffeting by setting up
turbulence through the tailplane. Pilots taking low altitude assignments would
often fly stripped down to shorts, tennis shoes, and parachute. While the P-38
could not out-turn the A6M Zero and most other Japanese fighters when flying
below 200 mph (320 km/h), its superior speed coupled with a good rate of climb
meant that it could utilize energy tactics, making multiple high-speed passes at
its target. Also its focused firepower was even more deadly to lightly armored
Japanese warplanes than to the Germans'. The concentrated, parallel stream of
bullets allowed aerial victory at much longer distances than fighters carrying
wing guns. It is therefore ironic that Dick Bong, the United States'
highest-scoring World War II air ace (40 victories solely in P-38s), would fly
directly at his targets to make sure he hit them (as he himself acknowledged his
poor shooting ability), in some cases flying through the debris of his target
(and on one occasion colliding with an enemy aircraft which was claimed as a
"probable" victory). The twin Allison engines performed admirably in the
Pacific.
Specifications (P-38L)
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m) (11.53 m)
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m) (15.85 m)
Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m) (3.91 m)
Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
Empty weight: 12,800 lb[135] (5,800 kg)
Loaded weight: 17,500 lb[135] (7,940 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm [136] each
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268[135]
Aspect ratio: 8.26[135]
Performance
Maximum speed: 414 mph (667 km/h) on Military Power: 1,425 hp at 54 inHg, 3,000
rpm at 25,000 ft (7,620 m)[citation needed]
Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h) (170 km/h)
Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) combat (1,770 mi / 3,640 km)
Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,000 m) (13,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s) maximum
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5
Armament
or
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