Lockheed P-38 'Lightning'
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.
Development
Designed by Lockheed in 1937, the P-38 was the company's attempt to meet the requirements of the US Army Air Corps Circular Proposal X-608 which called for a high-altitude interceptor capable of 360 mph and reaching 20,000 ft. within six minutes. Bell's response to this proposal was to build the Bell P-39 'Airacobra'. Both proposals required liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines with turbo-superchargers and both gave extra points for tricycle landing gear. Competing against designers from Bell and Curtiss, Hall Hibbard and Kelly Johnson at Lockheed produced a radical design that was unlike any previous fighter. Believing that two engines were necessary to meet the USAAC's requirements, they created an aircraft that placed the engines and turbo-superchargers in twin tail booms. The cockpit and armament were located in a central nacelle connected to the tail booms by the aircraft's wings. Powered by a pair of 12-cylinder Allison V-1710 engines, the new aircraft was the first fighter capable of exceeding 400 mph. Designated the Model 22, Lockheed won the USAAC's competition on June 23, 1937. Moving forward, Lockheed built the first prototype which was named the XP-38.
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The Lockheed design team, under the direction of Hall Hibbard and Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson, considered a range of twin-engine configurations including both engines in a central fuselage with push-pull propellers. Lockheed won the competition on 23 June 1937 with its Model 22 and was contracted to build a prototype XP-38. It was the first American fighter to make extensive use of stainless steel and smooth, flush-riveted butt-jointed aluminum skin panels. It was also the first fighter to fly faster than 400 mph (640 km/h). Construction began in July 1938 and the XP-38 first flew on 27 January 1939 at the hands of Ben Kelsey. The aircraft achieved fame when it set a new cross-continent speed record the following month after flying from California to New York in seven hours and two minutes. Regardless, development continued in what was already a promising aircraft design amidst rising costs and its inherently complicated technological nature.
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Thirteen pre-production evaluation aircraft were then delivered as YP-38s with the first one flying on September 16th, 1940 under power from V-1710 series piston engines. That same month, the USAAC placed an initial order for 66 P-38s. Production fell behind due to the expansion of Lockheed's facilities even though the USAAC had ordered 66 initial production P-38 Lightnings, 30 of which were delivered in mid-1941, but not all these aircraft were armed. Those that were armed had 1 x 37mm cannon and 4 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns. However, all was not as planned in the P-38s development for there remained a recurring issue encountered along the tail surfaces during high speed dives. As testing progressed, problems with compressibility stall were noticed when the P-38 entered steep dives at high speed. It was partially resolved with the introduction of the P-38D and its revised tail section. 36 of the type were produced and these also incorporated self-sealing fuel tanks. Engineers at Lockheed worked on several solutions, however it was not until 1943, that this problem was completely resolved. The P-38 was therefore formally accepted into service in August of 1940 with serial production of the initial model - the P-38E - beginning in September. At least 210 of this version were delivered by Lockheed and now modified with 1 x 20mm cannon and 4 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns.
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Into Service
USAAC
Pacific
The P-38 entered service in 1941, with the US 1st Fighter Group. With the US entry into the war, P-38s were deployed to the West Coast to defend against an anticipated Japanese attack. The first to see frontline duty were F-4 photo reconnaissance aircraft which operated from Australia in April 1942. P-38s were sent to the Aleutian Islands where the aircraft's long range made it ideal for dealing with Japanese activities in the area. On August 9, the P-38 scored its first kills of the war when the 343rd Fighter Group downed a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K flying boats. On April 18, 1943, the aircraft flew one of its most famous missions when 16 P-38Gs were dispatched from Guadalcanal to intercept a transport carrying the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, near Bougainville. Skimming the waves to avoid detection, the P-38s succeeded in downing the admiral's plane as well as three others. 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. No fewer than 27 squadrons were fielded in this theater and seven of the top eight aces in the Pacific all flew P-38s. American ace, Richard Bong, earned his legacy while flying the P-38. His 40 air kills (all gained while flying the Lightning in the Pacific Theater) made him the top scoring ace of all American pilots in the war. By the end of the war, the P-38 had downed over 1,800 Japanese aircraft, with over 100 pilots becoming aces in the process. It was nicknamed (Ni hikoki, ichi pairotto) meaning "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese.
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Europe
Lockheed received an order for 667 P-38s from Britain and France in early 1940. The entirety of the order was assumed by the British following France's defeat in May. Designating the aircraft the 'Lightning I', the British name took hold and became common usage among Allied forces. By June 1941, the War Ministry had cause to reconsider their earlier aircraft specifications, based on experience gathered in the Battle of Britain and The Blitz. British displeasure with the Lockheed order came to the fore in July, and on 5 August 1941 they modified the contract such that 143 aircraft would be delivered as previously ordered, to be known as 'Lightning (Mark) I', and 524 would be upgraded to US-standard P-38E specifications with a top speed of 415 mph at 20,000 feet guaranteed, to be called 'Lightning II' for British service. Later that summer, an RAF test pilot reported back from Burbank with a poor assessment of the 'tail flutter' situation and the British cancelled all but three of the 143 Lightning Is. After entry into the war, P-38's along with the P-40 'Warhawks', were to equip the first squadrons of the USAAC in Europe. Through the middle of 1942, the majority of P-38 squadrons were sent to Britain as part of the Operation 'Bolero'. Others were sent to North Africa, where they aided the Allies in gaining control of skies over the Mediterranean. Recognizing the aircraft as a formidable opponent, the Germans named the P-38 'Zwieselsteißteufel'(Fork-Tailed Devil). The P-38 remained active in the Mediterranean for the rest of the war. However, it was in this theatre that the P-38 suffered its heaviest losses in the air. On 25 August 1943, 13 P-38s were shot down in a single sortie by JG 53 Bf109s without achieving a single kill. On 2 September 10 P-38s were shot down, in return for a single kill.
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Withdrawl from Europe
The P-38Hs of the 55th Fighter Group were transferred to the Eighth Air Force in England in September 1943, and were joined by the 20th, 364th and 479th Fighter Groups soon after. P-38s soon joined Spitfires in escorting the early Fortress raids over Europe. A little-known role of the P-38 in the European theater was that of fighter-bomber during the invasion of Normandy and the Allied advance across France into Germany. Assigned to the IX Tactical Air Command, the 370th Fighter Group and its P-38s initially flew missions from England, dive-bombing radar installations, enemy armor, troop concentrations, and flak towers. After evaluation tests at Farnborough, the P-38 was kept in fighting service in Europe for a while longer. However, even if many of the aircraft's problems were fixed with the introduction of the P-38J, by September 1944, all but one of the Lightning groups in the Eighth Air Force had converted to the P-51 'Mustang'. The Eighth Air Force continued to conduct reconnaissance missions using the F-5 variant. In the ETO, P-38s made 130,000 sorties with a loss of 1.3% overall, comparing favorably with ETO P-51s which posted a 1.1% loss, considering that the P-38s were vastly outnumbered and suffered from poorly thought-out tactics. The majority of the P-38 sorties were made in the period prior to Allied air superiority in Europe when pilots fought against a very determined and skilled enemy.
Some 10,038 P-38 Lightnings were ultimately produced with nearly 4,000 of these being the P-38L model.
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P-40 Warhawk
P-47 Thunderbolt
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A-20 Havoc
A-26 Invader
B-17 Flying Fortress
B-24 Liberator
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