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P-38
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That is one purty aeroplane.
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The fork-tailed devil..the last thing Yamamoto's pilots saw.
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My uncle flew one in Alaska and got a couple of kills and then transferred to Mustangs and went to the Pacific. He took me for my very first airplane ride in a cub when I was6-7 and threw up his hands and said you got it...
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Was he in that other Alaska that's not on the Pacific? :wink:
Sorry...couldn't resist.
Sorry...couldn't resist.
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North American liked the concept for the Twin Mustang too, but skipped the center cockpit pod.
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Sorry Mike: I should have said Aelutian (sp?) islands which are also Pacific but doesn't the use pf "Pacific" in a WWII context refer to the island hopping that accompanied all the great carrier battles while we tried to secure airfields to get closer to Japan.
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We certainly should. They were a vital source of intelligence
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I was amazed to learn that the P-38 could out-turn a Bf 109 at low and medium altitude.
Every WWII combatant fielded a twin-engine fighter (or tried to). But the P-38 was the ONLY one that achieved any real success as a clear weather air combat day fighter. That's pretty amazing right there.
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I have a DVD made in WW2 by the army air force describing, and showing the various workings and operations of the P-38. I was impressed about how complex the plane was for a WW2 prop fighter. The pilots had to know their stuff!!!!
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The P-38 had many problems and in the early war the production board wouldn't let Lockheed fix them, because it was the only high performance fighter the US had.
Gas mileage was awful, you could put many more P-51s over a target for the same fuel as four P-38s. Logistics.
In Europe the chain of command planned missions based on a spec sheet, not reality and the P-38 and it's pilots suffered.
Geoff
Who notes the complete failure of USAAF to conduct operational testing, until the end of WW2.
Gas mileage was awful, you could put many more P-51s over a target for the same fuel as four P-38s. Logistics.
In Europe the chain of command planned missions based on a spec sheet, not reality and the P-38 and it's pilots suffered.
Geoff
Who notes the complete failure of USAAF to conduct operational testing, until the end of WW2.
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And, as soon as P-51s were available, starting very late in 1943, that's exactly what they did. But up till then, the P-38 was the only fighter we had that could "go the distance" (literally).
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The P-38 also has the only engine-out kill ever recorded. On August 25th, 1944 Captain (later Brigadier General) Robin Olds was making an attack on a Bf-109 when both engines flamed out from fuel exhaustion (he'd neglected to switch from external to internal fuel). He had the Messerschmitt in his sights, so he pressed the attack in dead stick mode. He scored the kill, then managed to get both engines re-started before rejoining the fight.
He got a total of four kills that day, but only three with the engines running:
https://sierrahotel.net/blogs/news/col-robin-olds
He got a total of four kills that day, but only three with the engines running:
https://sierrahotel.net/blogs/news/col-robin-olds
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No longer remember the source, but the P61 supposedly could turn very tightly also. I seem to recall something about leading edge slats/slots.
Decades ago, built a model of one. It had a 3 man crew, but I'm fuzzy about what the "other 2 guys" did. IIRC, the night fighter version had radar and the glass at the back hints at least some of the time, someone could be "checking the 6".
4 fifties and 4 20 mm made a potent armament package.
Decades ago, built a model of one. It had a 3 man crew, but I'm fuzzy about what the "other 2 guys" did. IIRC, the night fighter version had radar and the glass at the back hints at least some of the time, someone could be "checking the 6".
4 fifties and 4 20 mm made a potent armament package.
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