What Made the Lockheed P-38 Lightning So Special?

[Aloha_Shooter]

Good short article covering the P-38

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/re...special-173415

Winston Groom covered Lindbergh's contribution to the Pacific theater (and FDR's opposition to him) much more thoroughly in "The Aviators". If I had completed my flight training (aero club got shut down when I was about 2 flights away from soloing due to 9/11 and I've never been able to make time to pick it up again since then), the P-38 is one of the aircraft I'd desperately want to get a certificate on.

[rondog]

Well, there was outright badassery.....

[Hoser]

Because they look cool. Because they sound cool. Lots of guns *and* a 20mm cannon.

And Kelly Johnson designed it. Everything he touched was gold.

It is a shame they dont race them in Reno anymore. Always the coolest plane out there along with Gary Levitzs' P-51, Miss Ashley II.

One of my first flight instructors was the first guy to successfully bail out of a P-38. Somewhere in North Africa in the early part of WWII. Two days later he was back it.

P-38, P-61 and Mosquito. They dont get cooler.

Below is one of my favorite prints. Bought it in Normandy France 2004. Once I started doing my own framing instead of paying out the nose for it, the number of airplane prints in the house started going up...

[OldFogey]

Because they look cool. Because they sound cool. Lots of guns *and* a 20mm cannon.

And Kelly Johnson designed it. Everything he touched was gold.

It is a shame they dont race them in Reno anymore. Always the coolest plane out there along with Gary Levitzs' P-51, Miss Ashley II.

One of my first flight instructors was the first guy to successfully bail out of a P-38. Somewhere in North Africa in the early part of WWII. Two days later he was back it.

P-38, P-61 and Mosquito. They dont get cooler.

Kelly Johnson and the Skunk works. Hellz yeah! Ok, DeHavilland did a superb job with mosquito. Doggone plywood aircraft.

[To Bear Arms]

My Grandfather built P-38's back in the day. It's a shame he did not ever really tell many stories. One cool thing he told me was everyone would sign their name somewhere on the inside of the parts they were assigned to build. He built the left tail booms. He passed last year at 97.

[earplug]

They were cool because the cockpit was far away from the engines.

[XJ]

There are some great exhibits at the BUR airport, unfortunately I can not link to any of them because the locals have sold out to Zuckbook

[flogger]

Because they look cool. Because they sound cool. Lots of guns *and* a 20mm cannon.

And Kelly Johnson designed it. Everything he touched was gold.

It is a shame they dont race them in Reno anymore. Always the coolest plane out there along with Gary Levitzs' P-51, Miss Ashley II.

One of my first flight instructors was the first guy to successfully bail out of a P-38. Somewhere in North Africa in the early part of WWII. Two days later he was back it.

P-38, P-61 and Mosquito. They dont get cooler.

Below is one of my favorite prints. Bought it in Normandy France 2004. Once I started doing my own framing instead of paying out the nose for it, the number of airplane prints in the house started going up...

Very nice Print! Are those pilot's signatures? Air & Space mag had a nice article on P-38 aces earlier this year.

Great Plane with a sweet history!

[BlasterBob]

P38 Lightning was my favorite fighter back when I was a kid. Also the B29 and B17 bombers were also my favorites especially to build with our Strombecker brand model aircraft kits.

[Bailey Guns]

The P-51 got most of the fighter glory in WWII...and deserved most of it.

I always liked the P-38 and the P-47. The Lightning just looked like an aerial victory waiting to happen. Beautiful and graceful with just hint of beastly brawn under "the hood" when you looked at the barrels coming from the nose.

The P-47 looked like a street brawler...ready to beat somebody's ass at any given moment. The Jug was a true badass.

I would've gladly gone to war during that time...especially if I could've flown any of those fighters.