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P-38 Lightning
The P-38 Lightning was a twin engine heavy fighter powered by two Allison in-line piston engines.
The aircraft was the result of a US Army order placed in 1937 for a high performance aircraft capable of operating at high altitude.
The P-38 had a difficult birth, the first prototype crashing a couple of weeks after it first flew in early 1939. The early Lightnings also suffered some aerodynamic problems which caused buffeting.
Development over a number of prototypes cured the problems with the plane, and the way was made clear for the P-38 to make it's mark in aviation history.
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The Lightning was an unconventional design for a fighter aircraft. It had a twin boom fuselage each with an Allison engine in the front, a large 52ft span straight tapered wing with the cockpit mounted in the middle and a high aspect ratio tailplane stretched between the booms at the rear.
The armament was mounted on the nose in front of the cockpit.
This strange but elegant looking aircraft was nicknamed 'forked tailed devil' by the opposing forces.
First major production variant of the Lightning was the P-38D, this aircraft entering service during 1941. The P-38D was powered by two 1,150hp engines, had a top speed of 395mph
and had a heavy nose armament consisting of a single 37mm cannon plus four half inch machine guns. The cockpit provided armoured protection for the pilot and the fuel tanks were self sealing.
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Lightnings were heavily used in both the European and Pacific theatres. When equipped with the new drop tanks range was such that it could provide long range escort to bomber formations over Germany and when operating off the many Pacific islands the aircraft could cause havoc over a great radius of ocean.
It was Lightnings that shot down the flight of the Japanese Admiral Yamamoto.
There were many marks of Lightning that saw action. The P-38J was a particularly important variant with some 2,970 being manufactured. This version had two 1,425 Allison engines for power and could maintain 414mph in level flight. The nose of the P-38J carried a 20mm cannon and four half inch Brownings.
P-38 Lightnings were a major type used for aerial photo reconnaissance during ww2, around 1,400 aircraft were used for this purpose. When converted for this role the P-38 was redesignated F-4 or F-5.
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| P-38J Lightning |
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| Engine | 2x Allison V12 piston engines
1,425hp each |
Top Speed | approx. 414mph |
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| Weight | 17,500 take off |
Wingspan | 52ft |
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| Length | 37ft 10 inches |
Weapons | One 20mm cannon
Four 0.5 inch guns.
3,200lb ordnance |
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| Country | USA |
Crew | one |
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For a model of the P-38 Lightning take use the link below;
P-38 Lightning model aircraft
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