v1.2.1 / 01 jul 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* The P-38 Lightning was one of the most important American fighters of the Second World War. Although its operational record was somewhat mixed, in general the P-38 was a fast, powerful, and capable aircraft that performed well in a wide range of roles. This document provides a short history of the P-38.
* The Lockheed P-38 was designed in response to a 1937 US Army Air Corps (USAAC) specification designated "Project X608" for a fast high-altitude twin-engine interceptor, capable of 580 KPH at an altitude of 6,100 meters (360 MPH at 20,000 feet). Five companies -- Consolidated, Curtiss, Douglas, Lockheed, and Vultee submitted proposals.
The Lockheed team was under the direction of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, who would eventually design a string of famous aircraft up to the SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3 spy plane. Johnson's initial concepts for the new fighter covered a range of configurations, but the Lockheed team finally decided on a scheme with twin booms to accommodate the engines, and with the pilot and armament in a central nacelle. The aircraft was designated the "Lockheed Model 22". The engines were to be supercharged 12-cylinder, vee-inline, water-cooled Allison V-1710 engines.
When Johnson selected the Allison, it had not been rated at even 746 kW (1,000 HP), but it was really the only large inline engine available in the US at the time. The propellers would rotate in opposite directions to eliminate the effect of torque. The General Electric B-1 superchargers were positioned in the booms, behind the engines. Armament was to consist of four machine guns in the nose of the nacelle, clustered around a cannon. The design featured tricycle landing gear, making the aircraft one of the first with such a feature.
The Lockheed submission won the competition on 23 June 1938, and the company was awarded a contract to build a single "XP-38" prototype. The XP-38 was rolled out in December 1938 and first flew on 27 January 1939, with USAAC Lieutenant Benjamin Kelsey at the controls, who by no coincidence had helped drive Project X608 in the first place. Kelsey found he couldn't retract the flaps and thought of bailing out, but he managed to get back down on the ground safely. The problem was quickly fixed and later flights went much better, demonstrating the impressive performance of the type.
The XP-38 was powered by "handed" Allison V-1710-11 and V1710-15 engines with 716 kW (960 HP) each. With Kelsey at the controls, the XP-38 set a cross-continental speed record by flying from California to New York on 11 February 1939, in 7 hours and 2 minutes, including two fuel stops. The initial purpose of the flight was simply to transfer the aircraft to Wright Field in Ohio for USAAC evaluation, but extending the flight provided an opportunity to show the world what the latest American fighters could do. General Henry "Hap" Arnold, commander of the USAAC, approved the flight, on the condition that the aircraft be checked out on its "pit stop" at Wright Field to see if it should go the rest of the way. Unfortunately, due to carburetor icing while in the final landing pattern, the prototype landed short of the runway in New York and was wrecked. Kelsey was unharmed.
* Despite the setback, partly on the basis of the record flight the Air Corps ordered 13 "YP-38" evaluation aircraft in April 1939. Unfortunately, manufacture of the YP-38s proved troublesome, and the first didn't roll off the production line until September 1940, with the last delivered in June 1941. Although they looked much like the custom-built XP-38, they were substantially redesigned and differed greatly in detail. They were lighter and featured changes in engine fit, most particularly in that the direction of propeller spin was reversed, with the propellers rotating up towards the cockpit instead of down as had been the case in the XP-38.
The YP-38s were powered by Allison V-1710-27/29 engines with 858 kW (1,150 HP) each and improved GE B-2 superchargers. Although weapons were not fitted in most of these aircraft, they were designed to be armed with two 12.7 millimeter (0.50 caliber) Browning machine guns with 200 rounds per gun, two 7.62 millimeter (0.30 caliber) Browning machine guns with 500 rounds per gun, and an Oldsmobile 37 millimeter cannon with 15 rounds.
* The USAAC ordered 66 production aircraft in September 1939, after the beginning of the war in Europe, and would follow that order up with more. The French and the British ordered 150 examples in April 1940, with a "Model 322F" for the French and a "Model 322B" for the British. Each of these variants had unique minor equipment fits tailored for their respective air arms, such as metric measurements on the flight indicators for the French aircraft, but they both shared a major change from all other P-38 variants that were ever made: the superchargers were to be deleted, and the left-handed and right-handed engine arrangement was to be changed to twin right-handed engines.
Since superchargers were a new technology, the Anglo-French purchasing commission that ordered the fighters was concerned that the superchargers might lead to delays, and felt that since the aircraft were intended for medium-altitude combat, the superchargers would not be needed. The requirement for the sole use of right-handed engines was for commonality with the large numbers of Curtiss Tomahawks both nations had on order. Lockheed engineers protested strongly against this decision, and privately labeled the variant the "castrated" P-38.
After the fall of France in June 1940, the British took over the entire order. Three of the castrated Lightning Is were delivered to the UK in March 1942, to be unsurprisingly and promptly given a thumbs-down. They "redlined" at 480 KPH (300 MPH) and had nasty handling characteristics. The entire order for Lightning Is was cancelled, as was a follow-on order for 524 "Lightning IIs" that would have had superchargers but not handed engines.
147 (some sources say 140) Lightning Is on the British order were completed for the US Army Air Forces (USAAF, which superseded the USAAC in June 1941). They were fitted with handed engines but still lacked superchargers, and were given the designation of "RP-322". These aircraft helped the USAAF train new pilots to fly a powerful and complex new fighter. The RP-322 was actually a fairly hot aircraft at low altitude and satisfactory in the training role. The other positive result of the RAF fiasco was to give the aircraft its name: "Lightning".
* 30 initial production "P-38 Lightnings" were delivered to the USAAF in mid-1941. Although not all these aircraft were armed, when they were they were fitted with four 12.7 millimeter Browning machine guns, instead of the pair of 12.7 millimeter and pair of 7.62 millimeter weapons of their predecessors. The 37 millimeter cannon was retained. They also had an armor glass plate behind the windscreen, cockpit armor, and fluorescent cockpit controls. One was completed with a pressurized cabin on an experimental basis and designated "XP-38A".
The 30 P-38s were part of the initial USAAF order for 66, but in light of feedback from the war overseas, the remaining 36 in the batch were fitted with various small improvements such as self-sealing tanks and enhanced armor protection to make them "combat capable". For some obscure reason, the USAAF specified that these 36 aircraft were to be designated "P-38D". As a result, there never were any P-38Bs or P-38Cs. Early Lightning production variants are a confusing subject.
* None of these aircraft ever saw combat. Their main role in the story of the P-38 was to work out bugs and give the USAAF experience with handling the type.
Tail flutter was quickly found to be a problem. As a fix, small weights were attached to little booms in the middle of the elevator. Kelly Johnson was contemptuous of the "fix", regarding the weights as useless, and in fact the buffeting eventually proved to be due to the straight connection of the wing root to the fuselage pod. A few aerodynamic changes, most particularly the addition of a wing-root fillet, solved the problem, but the little weights were a feature of every P-38 built from then on.
A more serious problem was "compressibility stall", the tendency of the controls to simply lock up in a high-speed dive, leaving the pilot no option but to bail out. The tail structure also had a nasty tendency to fall apart under such circumstances, and in fact this problem killed a YP-38 test pilot, Ralph Virden, in November 1940. A USAAC major named Signa Gilkey managed to stay with a YP-38 in a compressibility lockup, riding it out until he got to denser air, where he recovered using elevator trim. This feat led to experiments that would eventually resolve the problem.
Kelly Johnson later recalled: "I broke an ulcer over compressibility on the P-38 because we flew into a speed range where no one had ever been before, and we had difficulty convincing people that it wasn't the funny-looking airplane itself, but a fundamental physical problem. We found out what happened when the Lightning shed its tail, and we worked during the whole war to get 15 more knots more speed out of the P-38. We saw compressibility as a brick wall for a long time. Then we learned how to get through it."
That would not be until later, however, and the new P-38 had other defects. The most dangerous problem was that if one engine failed on takeoff, "asymmetric power" would flip the aircraft over and slam it upside-down into the ground. Eventually, procedures were devised to allow a pilot to deal with the situation: reduce power on the running engine, feather the prop on the dead engine, and then increase power gradually until the aircraft was in stable flight. This took a skilled pilot. An unskilled pilot died. The P-38 went into combat with a bad reputation.
* The first Lightning to go to war was the "P-38E", which featured:
Interestingly, while the machine guns had been arranged symmetrically in the nose on earlier variants, they were "staggered" in the P-38E and later versions, with the muzzles sticking out of the nose in the relative lengths of roughly 1:4:6:2. This was done to ensure a straight ammunition belt feed into the weapons, since the earlier arrangement had led to jams.
The first P-38E rolled out of the factory in October 1941. 210 P-38Es were built. They were followed, starting in April 1942, by the "P-38F", which featured Allison V-1710-49/53 engines with 988 kW (1,325 HP each); an SCR-522 or SCR-535 radio; and racks inboard of the engines for fuel tanks or a total of 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of bombs. 527 P-38Fs were built. Some P-38Fs were modified to familiarization trainers by yanking the radio and putting a second seat in back; the back-seater had to scrunch forward to fit and spending any major amount of time in that position would have almost certainly led to back injuries, but it was a useful expedient for showing new pilots the ropes before they tried to take up a P-38 on their own.
99 photo-reconnaissance machines based on the P-38E and designated "F-4" were built as well, with the guns replaced by four K-17 cameras in a modified nose. The F-4 was the first Lightning to see combat, beginning operations out of Australia and then New Guinea in April 1942. Three of the F-4s were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force in this theater for short period, beginning in September 1942. 20 "F-4As" based on the P-38F were built as well.
By June 1942, P-38s were operating in the Aleutians as well. The fighter's long range made it well suited to the campaign over the almost 2,000 kilometer (1,200 mile) long island chain, and it would be flown there for the rest of the war. It was one of the most rugged environments available for testing the new aircraft under combat conditions. More Lightnings were lost there due to weather and other conditions than enemy action. There were cases where Lightning pilots, mesmerized by flying for hours over gray seas under gray skies, simply flew into the water.
The P-38 still scored successes. On 4 August 1942, two P-38Es, operating at the 1,600 kilometer (1,000 mile) end of a long-range patrol, bounced a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" flying boats and destroyed them. They were the first of many Japanese aircraft to be shot down by the Lightning.
In the meantime, Lightnings were ferrying themselves across the Atlantic via Iceland to England, though most of them made the trip on freighters. On 15 August, a P-38F and a P-40 operating out of Iceland shot down a Focke-Wulf 200 shipping raider over the Atlantic. This was reputedly the first Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed by the USAAF.
The Lightnings sent to England were part of the force being built up for the invasion of North Africa. The invasion took place in November 1942, and Lightning pilots, including those of a photo-reconnaissance unit under command of Colonel Elliot Roosevelt, the American president's son, then began acquiring familiarity with operating under "austere conditions" and matching their skills and aircraft against the enemy.
The Lightning proved surprisingly maneuverable at low altitudes. The contra-rotating props had the benefit of eliminating the effects of engine torque, and on occasion a Lightning could even out-turn smaller fighters. However, maneuverability wasn't its strong suit, its major virtue in close combat being a "terrific zoom climb" that would leave pursuers in the dust.
Luftwaffe pilots also quickly learned not to make head-on attacks on the P-38, since its concentrated firepower made such a tactic suicidal. Although not the best dogfighter, the P-38 was a formidable interceptor and attack aircraft, and in the hands of a good pilot it could be dangerous in air-to-air combat. The P-38 remained a force to be reckoned with in the Mediterranean for the rest of the war.
The Lightning proved ideally suited for the Pacific theater, since it combined excellent performance with very long range required for operations over wide reaches of ocean. While the P-38 could not outmaneuver the Zero and most other Japanese fighters, its speed and climb gave American pilots the option of choosing to fight or run, and its focused firepower was even more deadly to lightly-armored Japanese warplanes than to the Germans. Jiro Horikoshi, who headed the design team that build the Zero, wrote: "The peculiar sound of the P-38's twin engines became both familiar and hated by the Japanese all across the South Pacific."
General George Kenney, commander of the USAAF Fifth Air Force operating in New Guinea, could not get enough P-38s. This could be seen as limited praise since Kenney otherwise had to rely on serviceable but inadequate P-39s and P-40s, but Lightning pilots began to compete in racking up scores against Japanese aircraft, including one of the most famous missions of the war, the airborne assassination of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on 17 April 1943.
Yamamoto was the architect of Japan's naval strategy in the Pacific. American codebreakers found out that he was flying to Bougainville Island to conduct a front-line inspection. It was not normal US military policy to deliberately assassinate enemy leaders, since it invited retaliation in kind and there was usually no saying that the replacement might not be more effective, but Japan had few military leaders of Yamamoto's stature. 16 Lightnings were sent on a long-range flight to intercept him. The mission went off perfectly, the Lightnings met Yamamoto's Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber and escorting Zero fighters just as they arrived, and the G4M was shot down over the jungle. The admiral was killed, leading to a long-standing quarrel among the pilots as to who was due the "honors".
* The P-38F was followed in early 1943 by the "P-38G", with Allison V-1710-51/55 engines that offered no increase in power but some technical improvements, but went back to the older SCR-274N radio. 1,082 P-38Gs were built. They could carry triple-tube "bazooka"-type launchers for the M-8 rocket on the bomb pylons, but the M-8 was not a very accurate weapon. Some sources claim that late model P-38Gs could carry triple M-8 rocket tubes on each side of the nose, but if so this fit does not seem to have been used much in practice.
The P-38G was followed in turn by 601 similar "P-38Hs", with further uprated Allison V-1710-89/91 engines with 1,065 kW (1,425 HP) each, an improved 20 millimeter cannon, and a bomb capacity of 1,450 kilograms (3,200 pounds). There was never a "P-38I"; the USAAF didn't use the "I" designation since it looked like a "1".
180 "F-5A" reconnaissance machines based on the P-38G were built, featuring an improved camera fit; 123 similar "F-5C" machines based on the P-38H were built as well. There was also a single "XF-5D" conversion of an F-5A, which featured a transparent nose for a camera operator lying prone, with a camera flanking him on each side and two guns above.
* The definitive "P-38J" was introduced in August 1943. The twin booms of previous Lightnings featured a sleek, art-deco streamlining. However, the coolant system that had been housed in the inner part of the wings had proven vulnerable to combat damage and was inefficient anyway, and so engine fit was rethought. The most noticeable feature of the new fit was that the radiators were placed under the prop hub at the front of the booms, forming a "beard" that made the P-38J visibly different from its predecessors. The space left open in the wings was replaced with fuel tanks, further increasing the aircraft's long range. The revised engine fit made cooling much more efficient and improved both performance and reliability; the V-1710-89/91 engines of the P-38H were retained. Some 2,970 P-38Js were built.
The "P-38J-10" production block featured a new armor-glass flat windscreen, replacing the curved glass windscreen backed up by an armor glass plate. The "P-38J-25" production block finally overcame the compressibility problem through the introduction of minor aerodynamic changes. The most significant of these changes was the addition in later production of a set of small dive flaps just outboard of the engines, on the bottom centerline of the wings, to help the aircraft pitch back up in a dive. With these improvements, a USAAF pilot dived one to a terminal velocity of almost 970 KPH (600 MPH) and recovered in one piece.
The P-38J-25 also featured power-boosted ailerons, making the P-38J one of
the first service aircraft to have such a feature. This improvement did much
to improve the Lightning's roll rate and maneuverability. With a truly
satisfactory Lightning in place, Lockheed ramped up production, working with
subcontractors across the country to produce hundreds of Lightnings each
month.
LOCKHEED P-38J LIGHTNING:
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spec metric english
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wingspan 15.85 meters 52 feet
wing area 30.42 sq_meters 327.5 sq_feet
length 11.53 meters 37 feet 10 inches
height 2.99 meters 9 feet 10 inches
empty weight 5,797 kilograms 12,780 pounds
max loaded weight 9,798 kilograms 21,600 pounds
maximum speed 676 KPH 420 MPH / 365 KT
service ceiling 13,410 meters 44,000 feet
range, no drop tanks 1,891 kilometers 1,175 MI / 1,022 NMI
range, with drop tanks 3,627 kilometers 2,260 MI / 1,965 NMI
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
The 5,000th Lightning built, a P-38J, was painted fire-engine red, and had
the name "YIPPEE" painted on the underside of the wings in big letters. This
aircraft was used by Lockheed test pilots Milo Burcham and Tony LeVier in
remarkable flight demonstrations, performing such stunts as slow rolls at
treetop level with one prop feathered to show that the P-38 was not the
unmanageable beast of legend. Their exploits did much to reassure pilots
that the Lightning might be a handful, but it was no "widow maker".
There was a single "P-38K", an experimental version with improved Allisons and wide-chord propellers, but its performance was little better than that of the P-38J, and so the next production version was the "P-38L", which was generally similar to the P-38J but featured still more powerful Allison V-1710-111/113 engines with 1,100 kW (1,475 HP) each.
The P-38L was the most heavily produced variant of the Lightning, with 3,923 built. 113 of the total were built by Consolidated-Vultee in their Nashville plant; the contract was for 3,000, but it would be cut short at the end of the war. Lockheed production of the Lightning was distinguished by a suffix consisting of a production block number followed by "LO", for example "P-38L-1-LO", while Consolidated-Vultee production was distinguished by a block number followed by "VN", for example "P-38L-5-VN".
The P-38L was fitted to carry the 12.7-centimeter (5-inch) "high velocity air rocket (HVAR)". Initial trials featured seven HVARs on pylons beneath each wing, but this meant too many manufacturing changes, and so the production solution was ten HVARs on each wing on "Christmas tree" launch racks. The P-38L also had strengthened stores pylons to allow carriage of two 900 kilogram (2,000 pound) bombs or 1,140 liter (300 US gallon) drop tanks.
200 "F-5B" reconnaissance aircraft based on the P-38J were built, while 605 "F-5E" reconnaissance machines based on the P-38J and P-38L were built as well. Some P-38Ls were modified with a different camera installation to the "F-5F" standard; a few more P-38Ls were converted to the "F-5G" standard, which featured a distinctive big bulbous nose. Small numbers of P-38Ls were field-modified to become two-seat "TP-38L" familiarization trainers, with no radio and the cramped seat in back.
Late model Lightnings were delivered unpainted, as per USAAF policy established in 1944. At first field units tried to paint them, since pilots worried about being too visible to the enemy, but it turned out the reduction in weight was a minor plus in combat.
15 P-38Js and P-38Ls were flown by the Nationalist Chinese late in the war, and after the war they also received a similar number of F-5Es and F-5Gs.
* The new Lightnings were operated by the US Army Eighth Air Force in Europe beginning in 1943 for long-range escort missions, but did not achieve great success in this role. This was partly because it was harder to fly than a single-engine aircraft and, since it had no engine in front of the pilot to keep him warm, was an "icebox" during high-altitude missions. It did have one clear advantage: there were relatively few "friendly fire" losses, since the Lightning's configuration was so distinctive that it was hard to confuse it with anything else. Some Eighth Air Force pilots would do well enough in the P-38, however: Captain Robin Olds, at the beginning of a stellar and famous career, became an ace in the Lightning
The Eighth operated F-5 recon variants with more enthusiasm and success, though they were better at low-altitude tactical reconnaissance than high-altitude work. They were also operated by a Free French squadron, which worked as part of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force, and in fact the French would continue to operate the type up to 1952. Unfortunately, since F-5s operated alone, when their missions went wrong they generally disappeared without a trace. The noted aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery vanished in an F-5 while on a reconnaissance mission over Lyons, France, on 31 July 1944. A French scuba diver found the wreckage of a Lightning in the Mediterranean off Marseille in 2000. The engine serial number matched that of Saint-Exupery's aircraft, and the remains of the aircraft were raised in 2004.
Despite its mixed career in Europe, the Lightning remained an outstanding success in the Pacific. Freezing cockpits were not a problem in the warm tropics. In fact, there was no way to open a window while in flight, since it caused buffeting by setting up turbulence through the tailplane, and it was often too hot; pilots would fly stripped down to shorts, tennis shoes, and parachute.
P-38 pilots racked up big scores against the Japanese. Richard Ira Bong and Tom McGuire of the USAAF competed for the top position, a rivalry made interesting by the contrast in personalities of the two men. Both Bong and McGuire were unbelievably aggressive and fearless in the air. After dogfights, their P-38s -- Bong's was "Marge" after his girlfriend, McGuire's was simply "Pudgie" -- would be warped out of shape by overstress. On the ground, they were completely different men. Dick Bong was a modest, quiet, almost shy man, while the egotistical McGuire was "an unpleasant individual with a talent much bigger than he was," as one of his colleagues remembered him.
The famed Charles A. Lindberg, working in the South Pacific for Lockheed as an operational test pilot, where he shot down a few Japanese aircraft with his P-38 while "testing his guns", shared a tent with McGuire. Visitors recalled McGuire ordering Lindberg around, telling him to run errands as though he were a servant.
Bong was rotated back to the States as America's ace of aces, after making 40 kills. He was killed on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, when his P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter flamed out on take-off. McGuire had been killed in air combat in January 1945, over the Philippines, after racking up 38 confirmed kills, making him the second-ranking American ace. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor. The seventh-ranking American ace, Charles MacDonald, also flew a Lightning against the Japanese, scoring 27 kills in his famous aircraft, the "Putt Putt Maru".
The P-38 fought all around the Pacific, from the Aleutians to New Guinea to Burma and China. A P-38 is said to have been the first American aircraft to land in Japan after VJ-Day, when a pair of them set down on Nitagahara, with the pilots later claiming they were "low on fuel".
* Although the Lightning didn't do so well in the air-to-air combat role in Northern Europe, it was regarded as an excellent strafer and light fast bomber aircraft. To capitalize on this capability, a number of P-38Js and P-38Ls were field-modified in the UK as formation bombing "pathfinders", fitted with a glazed nose with a Norden bombsight, with the machine guns and cannon deleted and a hatch under the nose for the bombardier. They were called "Droop Snoot" machines. A Droop Snoot pathfinder would lead a formation of other P-38s, each overloaded with two 900 kilogram (2,000 pound) bombs, and the entire formation would release when the pathfinder did. The rest would then go on to strafe the target.
The initial pathfinder raid was performed on 20 April 1944 against a Luftwaffe airfield in France. Results of pathfinder raids were good, but optical bombsight bombing was only possible in clear weather, which was not always the norm for Northern Europe. As a result, a number of pathfinders were built with an H2X radar "bombing through overcast" nose. The H2X, also known for some lost reason as "Mickey", was a crude targeting radar by modern standards, only able to pick out targets marked by lakes or confluences of rivers, but it was better than nothing.
* A number of Lightnings were modified as night fighters. There were several field or experimental modifications with different equipment fits that finally led to the "P-38M Night Lightning" night fighter.
75 (some sources give 80) P-38Ls were to be modified to the Night Lightning configuration, painted dead-black with flash cones on the guns, an AN/APS-6 radar pod below the nose, and a second cockpit with a raised canopy behind the pilot's canopy for the radar operator. The headroom in the back cockpit was limited, and radar operators were preferably of short stature.
The additional external clutter imposed surprisingly little penalty on the P-38M's performance, and in fact it was faster than the purpose-built Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter. Four Night Lightnings saw some combat duty in the Pacific towards the end of the war, but with the end of the war they were no longer needed and that was the end of the program. It is unclear how many P-38M conversions were actually performed, but all the machines slated for the program were scrapped.
* Lockheed also built two sister designs to the P-38: the "XP-49" and the "XP-58 Chain Lightning".
In the spring of 1939, the Air Corps issued a request for an advanced twin-engine long-range escort fighter, to be derived from an existing type and fitted with advanced high-performance engines. Lockheed responded to the request with the "Model 222", which was much like a P-38 except that it had a pressurized cabin and was to be powered by 24-cylinder inline Pratt & Whitney X-1800-SA2-G engines, which were in development and expected to provide over 1,490 kW (2,000 HP). The Model 222 was to be armed with four 12.7 millimeter and two 20 millimeter guns.
The Model 222 won the competition, with the Air Corps ordering a single prototype as the "XP-49" in October 1939. Lockheed proposed that production P-49s be fitted with turbocharged Wright R-2160 Tornado radials with 1,715 kW (2,300 HP) each, which would give the P-49 an estimated performance of 800 KPH (500 MPH) at altitude.
Work on the XP-49 went slowly, since Lockheed was caught up in the prewar US military buildup. As development work plodded along, both the Air Corps and Lockheed began to have doubts for various reasons about the powerful engines to be fitted to the aircraft, and so the design was changed to incorporate two Continental XIV-1430-9/11 12-cylinder inverted-vee engines with 1,150 kW (1,540 HP) each for takeoff.
Engine availability further delayed development of the aircraft, and the
XP-49 didn't take to the air until April 1942. The XP-49 looked much like a
P-38, except for increased length and longer nacelles, and in fact the two
aircraft shared about two-thirds of their parts. The aircraft was evaluated
into the summer of 1943, but the Continental engines were troublesome.
LOCKHEED XP-49:
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spec metric english
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wingspan 15.85 meters 52 feet
wing area 30.42 sq_meters 327.5 sq_feet
length 12.22 meters 40 feet 1 inch
height 2.99 meters 9 feet 10 inches
empty weight 7,020 kilograms 15,475 pounds
max takeoff weight 8,505 kilograms 18,750 pounds
maximum speed 737 KPH 458 MPH / 398 KT
service ceiling 12,200 meters 40,000 feet
range 1,287 kilometers 800 MI / 649 NMI
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
Some sources claim that the XP-49 had few if any performance advantages over
existing P-38 production, others cite a test pilot as saying it could "fly
rings around the Lightning", but whatever the case the USAAF abandoned all
plans to put the XP-49 into production. The single prototype was used for
occasional tests, including being dropped from a crane to simulate hard
landings, and was finally scrapped in 1946.
* The XP-58 actually started life in the spring of 1940 as an advanced escort fighter version of the P-38, with the development at the request of the USAAF. Single-seat and two-seat versions were considered, with the two-seat version fitted with additional turret-mounted armament.
The single-seat version was quickly abandoned, and the two-seat version went through a number of radical design changes, particularly with regards to engine fit. With the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the project was more or less put on the "back burner", with most of the staff moved to higher-priority projects.
The USAAF then began to flip-flop on requirements, redefining the XP-58 as a ground attack aircraft, then a bomber, then an interceptor, with a bewildering variety of equipment fits considered. The single XP-58 prototype finally flew on 6 June 1944.
The XP-58 was a substantially more radical departure from the original P-38 design than the XP-49. While the XP-58 had the general Lightning configuration, nobody could have mistaken it for a Lightning. It was a monster, more on the scale of the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter, and powered by two 24-cylinder Allison V-3420-11 inline engines with 1,565 kW (2,100 HP) each.
The XP-58 was to mount four 37 millimeter fixed forward-firing cannon in the
nose; two remote-control barbettes, each with two 12.7 millimeter machine
guns, were to be fitted at the rear of the fuselage. An alternate forward
armament of two 12.7 millimeter machine guns and a 75 millimeter cannon, for
breaking up bomber formations, was also considered, but in reality no
armament was ever fitted.
LOCKHEED XP-58 CHAIN LIGHTNING:
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spec metric english
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wingspan 21.34 meters 70 feet
wing area 55.74 sq_meters 600 sq_feet
length 15.06 meters 49 feet 5 inches
height 3.66 meters 12 feet
empty weight 9,070 kilograms 20,000 pounds
max takeoff weight 17,780 kilograms 39,000 pounds
maximum speed 702 KPH 436 MPH / 380 KT
service ceiling 12,200 meters 40,000 feet
range 4,830 kilometers 3,000 MI / 2,610 NMI
_____________________ _________________ _______________________
By the time the prototype flew, the USAAF had completely lost interest in the
project, and the flight test program was short and indifferent. A second
prototype was never completed, and the one flying example was scrapped after
the war. Whether the XP-58 would have been a good idea or not, it still
would have been interesting to see what would have happened if it had
actually hit something with four 37 millimeter cannon!
* There were a number of oddball experimental modifications of the Lightning:
The cartridge wasn't abandoned, with the Americans designing a derivative of the German MG-151 15 millimeter machine gun around it and designating the weapon the "T17", but though 300 of these guns were built and over six million 15.2 millimeter rounds were manufactured, they never worked out all the bugs, and the T17 never saw operational service. The cartridge was "necked up" to fit 20 millimeter projectiles and became a standard US ammunition after the war. The T17-armed P-38L did not go beyond unsuccessful trials.
* The P-38's final report card gave somewhat mixed grades. On the negative side, it was certainly harder to fly than the best single-engine fighters, pilots suffered badly from the cold in northern climates, and its twin supercharged Allisons were particularly temperamental under such climate conditions -- in fact, these two problems were much of the reason why the Eighth Air Force gave up on the P-38 for high-altitude escort missions. Engine problems were not anywhere near as great in warmer climates, though its liquid-cooled engines were regarded as overly vulnerable to combat damage. Later model P-38Ls featured better heater, defroster, and engine fire extinguisher systems that helped reduce such problems.
It did not have a reputation for being maneuverable, though it was surprisingly agile at low altitudes. Its real virtues were long range, heavy payload, high speed, fast climb, and concentrated firepower. Clustering all the armament in the nose meant that Lightning pilots had to be good shots, and Dick Bong would fly recklessly in towards his targets to make sure he hit them, in some cases flying through the debris of his victim. However, the clustered guns also had a "buzz-saw" effect on the receiving end, and made the aircraft useful for strafing as well. The Lightning didn't rank up with the Mustang as an air superiority aircraft, but it got high scores for general versatility.
Over 10,000 Lightnings were manufactured in all, and it was one of the few combat aircraft that had been in production at the beginning of the war that was still in production at the end.
* The end of the war left the USAAF with thousands of war-weary P-38s on their hands, rendered obsolete by the jet age. Fifty late-model Lightnings were provided to Italy and operated for several years, with some fitted with an additional cockpit on an extended nose and used as dual-control trainers, designated "P-38DC". A dozen were also sold to Honduras. The others were put up for sale for $1,200 USD apiece to whoever wanted one, and the rest were scrapped.
Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier was among those who came up with the money to buy a P-38 and run it as an air racer. The Lightning was a popular contender in the air races from 1946 through 1949, with brightly colored Lightnings making screaming turns around the pylons.
P-38s and F-5s were bought by aerial survey companies and used for aerial mapping, with some featuring stretched glass noses. From the 1950s on, however, the Lightning steadily declined, and today only a little more than two dozen exist, with a handful still flying. One particularly pretty example is a P-38L owned by the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, painted in the colors of Charles MacDonald's "Putt Putt Maru."
* One of the most remarkable flying survivors is a P-38 named "Glacier Girl". On 15 July 1942, six P-38Fs and two B-17Es were flying from Greenland to Iceland on a leg of a trans-Atlantic shuttle to Britain when they ran into a blizzard. They turned back to Greenland but the base was socked in, and they were forced to belly in on the Greenland icecap. One P-38 flipped over on landing but none of the aircrew received any serious injuries, and in fact the aircraft suffered very little damage. The aircrew were dropped survival gear and rations and were hauled out by dogsled about ten days later. One pilot threw the keys of his P-38 on the fighter's seat for anyone who wanted to recover the thing later.
The eight aircraft of the "Lost Squadron" forgotten until 1981. Two Americans, an airplane dealer named Patrick Epps JR and an architect named Richard Taylor, were chatting. Taylor owned a Learjet but told Epps he really wanted a P-38. Epps replied that he knew where six were, and said they would be like new. All they would have to do is shovel some snow off them.
They mounted a number of expeditions to find the machines, finally locating them in 1988 with ice-penetrating radar. Epps knew they would be buried in ice, but everyone was astounded when they found the aircraft at a depth of well over 86 meters (250 feet)! This was more than Epps and Taylor expected and they were not able to follow up the matter by themselves. Ultimately the project to recover the aircraft passed on to a Kentucky businessman named J. Roy Shoffner.
A series of expeditions used a hot-water drill to bore down through the ice and reach the aircraft. The recovery crew went down to a B-17 first, which turned out to have been crushed by the weight of the ice, but then they tried one of the P-38s and found it in excellent condition. They melted out a cavern around the P-38, dismantled it, and brought it to the surface in August 1992.
The P-38F was transported back to the US and was brought back up to operational trim after 50 years in the deep freeze. Although the airframe had suffered some damage under the ice, about 80% of it was still usable. The aircraft was given the appropriate name of "Glacier Girl" and returned to the air on 26 October 2002. It is the only early-model P-38 in flying condition.
* The following table summarizes Lightning variants and production. There is
some confusion in sources as to the numbers of reconnaissance machines built
new or converted, and so there may be some "double counting" here:
_________________________________________________________________
variant built mod comments
_________________________________________________________________
XP-38 1 Initial prototype.
YP-38 13 Evaluation machines.
Model 322 3 "Castrated" machines for RAF.
RP-322 147 USAAF trainers taken over from RAF order.
P-38 30 Initial production machines.
XP-38A - 1 Pressurized cockpit trials machine.
P-38D 36 P-38 with combat improvements.
P-38E 210 Definitive armament scheme, other changes.
P-38F 527 Bomb racks, other improvements.
P-38G 1,082 Minor update of P-38F.
P-38H 601 Minor update of P-38G.
P-38J 2,970 Introduced "beard" radiator scheme.
P-38K 1 One-off experimental with paddle props.
P-38L 3,923 Minor improvements on P-38J.
P-38M - 4 Night fighter conversion.
F-4 99 P-38E recce variant.
F-4A 20 P-38F recce variant.
F-5A 180 P-38G recce variant.
F-5B 200 P-38J recce variant.
F-5C 123 P-38H recce variant.
XF-5D - 1 F-5A conversion with camera operator & guns.
F-5E 605 P-38J/L recce variant.
F-5F - ? P-38L recce conversion.
F-5G - ? "Big nose" recce conversion.
_________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 10,771
_________________________________________________________________
* I have had a fascination with the P-38 ever since I was a kid, probably
because of its unique appearance. I vaguely recall seeing one overfly a
hydroplane race in northern Idaho when I was little, and also have a vague
memory of a WWII movie that involved Lightnings and left a vivid memory of a
scene where a P-38 was blazing away with its guns and cannon out of the movie
screen.
I found out eventually that this movie was A GUY NAMED JOE with Spencer Tracy, filmed in Florida in 1943, which was remade in 1989 into a movie about A-26 water-bombers with Richard Dreyfuss named ALWAYS.
* One of the things that anybody who tinkers with aircraft history learns to be careful of is aircraft nicknames. The Germans supposedly nicknamed the P-38 the "Fork Tailed Devil", and the nickname's even made it to the titles of books on the Lightning, but this sounds a lot like marketing or propaganda hype. In the absence of any German sources of the time that say such a thing, it should be treated with a great deal of skepticism.
* The story about GLACIER GIRL being found at 86 meters (250 feet) deep in the Greenland icecap was used by some creationists to attack ice-core dating methods, claiming that the rate of ice buildup was so great as to throw estimates of thousands of years of buildup into the dumper. I found this a bit puzzling myself, but the answer turned out to be simple: the layers of ice become compressed and thinner as they are buried more deeply by later layers. Glaciologists are perfectly familiar with this phenomenon, and saw nothing particularly puzzling in the depth of GLACIER GIRL's burial. Sigh, it seems that no matter what I write about, I end up crossing paths with the fringe.
* Sources include:
The v1.3 version of this document also added information found in a detailed online document written by aviation enthusiast Joe Baugher. Most of section 6 was derived from Baugher's work.
* Revision history:
v1.0 / not dated / gvg
v1.1 / 31 jan 97 / gvg / Extensions & tweaks.
v1.2 / 01 jul 98 / gvg / Cosmetic rewrite.
v1.3 / 01 mar 01 / gvg / Rewrite & update.
v1.0.4 / 01 jul 02 / gvg / Minor cosmetic update.
v1.1.0 / 01 aug 03 / gvg / Added GLACIER GIRL comments, reorganized.
v1.2.0 / 01 aug 05 / gvg / General cleanup and update.
v1.2.1 / 01 jul 07 / gvg / Minor cosmetic update.
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