America's Scariest Flying Killer That No One Was Prepared to Face

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Like a true force of nature, a new American fighter peeled down from the Icelandic skies on August 14, 1942. The aircraft was chasing a Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor, and the German crew watched in disbelief, as they had never come across such an impressive machine. Its airframe was sleek, but its twin tails gave the warbird a radical appeal.
Before the Germans could react, Second Lieutenant Elza Shahan fired at a rate of 409 rounds per minute from the aircraft’s innovative nose-mounted machine guns, and the Condor was dispatched in seconds.
It was the first successful American engagement with the Luftwaffe during World War 2.
Less than six months later, the fighter was taking advantage of its versatility in North Africa when a lone German pilot surrendered to Allied soldiers at a camp near Tunisia. Agitated, he pointed to the sky and grumbled over and over: (QUOTE) “Der Gabelschwanz Teufel.”
He was referring to the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, and called it “The fork-tailed devil.”
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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

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1 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 2,1 тыс.

@kentswan3230 2 года назад

My father flew P-38L's out of Sicily escorting B24's on the Polesti Oil Field raids. He was shot down on his first mission by flac and escaped back to allied lines subsequently flying over 30 combat missions before returning to the US as a fighter instructor. He loved the airplane. One of his favorite assignments was chasing german trains into tunnels in Italy then skip bombing into the tunnel. His accuracy was apparently legendary. He retired in 1964 as a full colonel commanding a F100 fighter bomber squadron.

@RivetGardener Год назад

Your dad is a hero of heroes!

@localcrew Год назад

That’s outstanding.

@herodlowery9923 Год назад

What a great man your dad is! Fantastic story.

@theshoeman7044 Год назад

Hi Kent. My Dad flew the P-38 out of England on Photo Reconnaissance (F-4 and F-5 models). Flew alone. Tree-top level. No guns: just cameras. Climb to altitude. Takes pictures. Run like crazy back to England. Shot down at least once (maybe twice). I was told the French helped him escape to fly another day. I have seen and heard one in low level flight once. Two growling Allisons. Beautiful aircraft.

@kentswan3230 Год назад

@@theshoeman7044 Concur opinion on P38. I can appreciate what your Dad did. This was a tough, dangerous, and essential assignment. From your description of your Dad's experiences, I just recalled one of the details Pop told us about his shootdown. Apparently, they too were on a low-level penetration run when he caught flac that took out enough that it was time to walk. He said he rolled the P38 inverted, released the canopy, and dropped out, pulling the rip cord immediately. He said that after the chute opened, he swung left then right and hit the ground on the back side of a hill. His airplane went over the hilltop and ended up crashing into a farmer's barn. Until the day he left us he apparently still had a bit of shrapnel in him from that event. While this could have been an embellished war story, I would tend to believe it happened just that way. Partisans helped him escape back to Allied lines. Pop's hand-eye coordination, better than 20-20 vision, and 3-dimensional awareness were almost preternatural. When he was flying the F100, he showed us his bombing range score sheets where he typically would place an over-the-shoulder thrown dummy nuclear weapon onto a target. Those score sheets showed that he would normally be within the innermost target ring most of the time. During air-to-air gunnery practice, they would make him go last when making a gun pass at the towed dart targets. This was because, after his run, the remains of darts would be pretty much not there. I do miss him even though he's been gone for many many years now.

@andrewtaylor940 2 года назад

One misconception. The Lightning wasn’t really intended to be a dog fighter. In fact it was designed from the ground up to be an anti-dog fighter. It was designed to come in incredibly fast and kill on a pass or closing encounter. And to not get into a twisting turning fight. Strike, gain distance, climb come around and strike again. Don’t play the Messerschmidt or Zero’s tight turning game. It didn’t need to. It had superior speed, climb rate, weapons range and weapon power. It infuriated the Japanese and German pilots because it didn’t play their game. And they really had no good defense against it.

@tariqsyed445 2 года назад

Agreed !

@contraposto2861 2 года назад

It sure was a good and very neat looking fighter bomber - but in die ETO the P38 definitely hat its problems, notably as an escort fighter: “It was useless. We told Doolittle that all it was good for was photoreconnaissance and had to be withdrawn from escort duties” RAF-legend Eric “Winkle” Brown reported to U.S. Eighth Air Force-Commander Doolittle about the P38 after testflying the type. And in terms of the Germans having „no good defense against it“ - well, sometimes die Lightning had no good defense against them: 23 Luftwaffe-pilots shot down 5 or more P38s. Its suitability for the vast dimensions of the pacific was not the only reason why the Lightning was used primarily there. In Europe it was - despite its undoubted qualities and great looks - of limited use.

@andrewtaylor940 2 года назад

@@contraposto2861 That was more due to the early stupidity of the Bomber Mafia insisting that the escort fighters fly with the bomber formations, rather than either clearing the skies ahead or shadowing from above. Tying the fighters to the bombers that way made them easy pickings for alerted Luftwaffe pilots who had plenty of time to gain an altitude advantage and could drop on the formations at their leisure. Once Bomber Command allowed the fighters to do their job properly they became much more effective and a much harder kill. Doolittle almost certainly dismissed Brown’s complaints out of hand. The Lightning was Doolittle’s favorite plane to fly. He knew it’s capabilities better than most. It’s what he personally flew on D-Day. Most Lightnings lost were lost in the earlier campaigns over North Africa and the Mediterranean. They were used heavily as low level ground attack and anti shipping roles there. And yes they were vulnerable if another fighter caught them at low level. It was another example of using an extremely capable plane in its less than ideal role. Doing low level attack when you don’t have air superiority and the enemy is still operating freely in the air is one of the most punishing mission profiles in Military aviation to this day. Just ask the Russian Air Force.

@contraposto2861 2 года назад

@@andrewtaylor940 Yes, Doolittele called the P38 "the sweetest-flying plane in the sky" and according to ace Robin Olds all novice pilots were eager to fly the Lighting since it looked so sharp. But he also stated: "We were defeating ourselves with this airplane". The Lightnings Allison engines were notoriously unreliable (this is not even mentioned in Darks Skies video), according to many testimonies the P38 was too complicated to handle for most pilots when confronted with Me109s and Fw190s. So i'm under the impression that the P38 was not just hampered by some tactical misconception. It was not good enough for the ETO - except as a fighter bomber after other types had secured air superiority. US units in europe knew why they wanted to get rid of their Lightnings and see them replaced with P47s and P51s asap. In the Pacific the P38 fared better since the opposition was technically inferior. Nevertheless - if i was an pilot and had the privilege to fly one US WWII airframe, i guess i would opt for die P38 , cause it looks so sharp . In this regard i'm just like those novices in WWII.

@andrewtaylor940 2 года назад

@@contraposto2861 The P-38 was not a great plane for novice pilots. While it was quite agile, it could have some strange characteristics and was not the most forgiving ride out there. The early Allison Engines were crap. But they mostly had them well sorted by ‘43. Similarly most of the quirky handling characteristics were largely ironed out in the more refined later models. The planes that hit North Africa were largely the pre-war production models. The ones later in Europe proper and most of the Pacific were largely the more refined 1942 and beyond variants. It was one of the few planes that was produced and flew for the entire length of the war, and kept it’s position near the top of the heap without being outclassed or obsoleted. The only other planes that can really be said of are the Spitfire and the PBY Catalina.

@billneal8995 Год назад

My mother was a machinist at Lockheed during the war making parts for the P38. Bless her soul.

@peterharrison5833 Год назад

Bless your mom and thank her for her service. My mom (still alive today) was a parts inspector for Pratt and Whitney in in Hartford. There were a lot of folks who made sure that the aircraft could fly.

@peterharrison5833 Год назад

@playlist55 Год назад

I was blessed to know a couple "Rosie the Riveters". Very independent women both of them. Loved them to death. I don't know how we could have won the War without them. Bless all their souls.

@peterharrison5833 Год назад

@@playlist55 Agreed.

@davidgrant7018 Год назад

@@peterharrison5833i8 I 88 ii I kiu7i88

@kerosoldier 2 года назад

I have granduncle who flew a P-38 in the pacific. He, along with his four brothers, all returned home from the war.

@asnrobert 2 года назад

The P-38 was also pretty durable. In one book I used to have on the P-38, it had an account of these two P-38s in North Africa that were strafing a truck convoy when one of the pilots inadvertently flew into the ground. His wingman circled overhead to see if by some chance the pilot had survived. To his surprise, as the dust cleared, the airplane appeared airborne again, with tail booms askew and one engine out. He was able to fly to 8,000 feet to clear some mountains, and made a wheels-up landing at base. The pilot walked away without a scratch.

@jacktattis Год назад

I doubt that Source please

@ponyboy481 Год назад

@@jacktattis he said was in a book he read maybe you should look it up

@brianwilcox3478 Год назад

@@jacktattis I read that too. I still have that book. If I can just find it 😕 only 1 propeller hit the ground. the other was fine. p-38s often flew home with one "Fan"

@jacktattis Год назад

@@ponyboy481 No I asked him for the Source

@3wbdriver Год назад

@@jacktattis Fork Tailed Devil, The story of the P-38 Lightning, by Martin Caiden. I remember reading the book in the 1970's before keyboard warriors poo-pooed people from the safety of their basements.

@oifiismith 2 года назад

My neighbor worked on building the P-38 in California during WW2. He is 97 and not in good health right now. Prayers for this man, that was part of the "Greatest Generation" and a good man, would be appreciated.

@TheGoddamnBacon Год назад

Prayers.

@playlist55 Год назад

Definitely the greatest generation. Men and Women knew how to work and were not afraid to do it. SMH when thinking about the last couple Generations... Blessed to have had guidance from some of them.

@sonofizzy Год назад

I hope that he is still with us and doing well. My Dad was a WWII Veteran and would have been over 100 if he were alive today. He died almost exactly 23 years ago, but I still miss him. Here's to you, Dad!

@oifiismith Год назад

@@sonofizzy Mahalo, Sadly he died on May 22, 2022. He was a great man and will be missed. Sorry to hear about your father. May they all be up there sharing stories and a few drinks.🤙

@sonofizzy Год назад

@@oifiismith I join in your wish, and offer my sincere condolences for your loss. Thank you for your kind words regarding my Dad. Stop by anytime!.

@kenjackson6256 2 года назад

In 1999 I was working at a Kinko's copy store and this short, older bald guy comes up to the counter and puts down a color photo of a P-38 in flight, saying "I want a business card with this as the background." Picking it up, I recognized the plane and said "A P-38. Wasn't it one of these that shot down Yamamoto's plane?" He looked at me, his eyes twinkled as he smiled, saying "Yep. I met that guy!" He proceeded to tell me about a fighter pilot's convention in San Diego where an old friend said "Hey Bill, c'mere, I want you to meet someone." And it was that guy. TWO degrees of separation and I would never have know if I didn't know enough history to ask him that question. Thanks Dark, for all the wonderful videos.

@beachbum433 7 месяцев назад

I'm an Aussie, born in January 1944. I could never work out why my parents had 10 seconds of passion in April 1943. They already had 3 kids & it was wartime & they're on struggle street. I worked out they were celebrating the downing of Yamamoto. They disliked the Japanese intensely, the whole time they were alive... My parents were both in Darwin, Australia, 19 February 1942, when it was attacked by aircraft from the same carriers that hit Pearl Harbor 2 months prior, masterminded by Yamamoto...Interesting story, Ken. Thanks!!!

@katierscott8771 2 года назад

I think it's interesting that probably the two most flexible, adaptable, fastest and brilliant aircraft of WWII were both twin engined aircraft, ironically initially designed for differing roles, but both capable of the same roles. The other aircraft being, of course, the DH Mosquito, designed initially as a bomber but became an excellent intercepter, and both aircraft ended up excelling at a multitude of roles. Probably the first two, true, multi-role aircraft ever built.

@yourgrandmasalzheimerpills1143 2 года назад

I always thought the mosquito was just so good but then I learned about it’s bigger brother the De Hornet. Incredible aircraft that and the p-38k.

@b.chuchlucious5471 2 года назад

The Mosquito was awesome, another great contribution from our English cousins.

@iamsick5204 2 года назад

Also dual fuselage mustang

@katierscott8771 2 года назад

@@iamsick5204 an interesting aircraft but not multi-role, it was always an intercepter of some sort.

@iamsick5204 2 года назад

@@katierscott8771 it had many roles but wasn't in WWII. I just wonder what would have happened if the idea caught on sooner. Imagine dual fuselage biplanes.

@zacheryzietlow2848 2 года назад

My grandfather worked for the Skunk works his whole life and help build the engines for the SR-71. I miss him. The scramjet was a game changer.

@ReDevil2_2A 2 года назад

I love the P38 and think that It is the MOST UNDERRATED FIGHTER AND ATTACK AIRCRAFT OF WWII!!!

@narabdela 10 месяцев назад

Yet another RU-vid 'underrated' jockey. 🙄...and you really need to get that caps lock unstuck.

@ReDevil2_2A 10 месяцев назад

@@narabdela a "RU-vid underrated jockey...?" So lemme guess, your one of those people that knows it all and anyone that gives an opinion you have to make a comment.

@Harley-D-Mcdonald 2 года назад

The P-38 is an outstanding fighter bomber but only a mediocre can opener.

@aerialcat1 2 года назад

Mediocre yes, but beats the hell out of using your teeth.

@alanmydland5210 2 года назад

It could really open cans at a high rate

@Harley-D-Mcdonald 2 года назад

@@aerialcat1 they come in handy in a pinch I always try to keep a couple new ones in my bags. They're super cheap for a box of them.

@kkarllwt 2 года назад

The only can opener I have ever used . One on my key ring. ( makes a good screwdriver ) and one by my sink. Same one for 40 years. A perfect piece of engineering.

@richardcranium5839 2 года назад

it is a highly desirable pistol too

@Jim-fe2xz 2 года назад

As a kid in the 50's there were a few reconnaissance versionP38s parked at the then Lockheed Air Terminal (now Burbank). I always thought they were cool - still do! My dad squeezed in behind Tony Levier for a test ride while they were in production. Great story!

@gregwilson825 2 года назад

Amazing! In the same era but in Minot ND my dad drove us to the airbase to see one. It was something that changed my little mind imagining what else an airplane could look like.

@kdrapertrucker 2 года назад

That would be the original F-5. Pre 1947 the F prefix was for photo recon aircraft, while fighters known then as Pursuits were given the P prefix. When the air Force was made it's own service pursuits were redesignated "Fighters" while recon sir craft were given the R prefix combined with the prefix of whichever type the air frame was originally designed as. Such as RP-80, RB-47, etc.

@andrewrehnert4997 2 года назад

@@kdrapertrucker that’s the word that I was looking for “pursuit”, I had forgotten what the “P” stood for…..thank you 👍🏻

@georgesheffield1580 Год назад

The USAF also operated a few out of Panama and ce tral and South a.erica in a join mapping exercise of the OAS .

@itsapittie 2 года назад

I've always loved this aircraft for it's unique and elegant look.

@shenmisheshou7002 2 года назад

An interesting story is that in 1944 during WW2 Charles Lindbergh taught the P-38 pilots how to greatly increase their range by learning how to use the best fuel leaning, manifold pressure, and RPM. Lindbergh flew the P-38 in combat and is credited with one kill in that type. He flew other combat missions with Marine pilots also helping them with techniques to improve takeoff performance of the Corsair so that they could carry more ordinance.

@fldon2306 Год назад

Deja vu… my apologies for repeating your comment!

@ryanupchurch9683 Год назад

But do you know why he figured out those a/f settings? He ran out of fuel on the runway and was embarrassed by it because he blocked the runway from the rest of the flight to land. He overheard someone asking who was the “ sumnbitch “ that blocked the runway

@franktreppiedi2208 Год назад

Too bad Lindbergh was a N@zi sympathizer. He definitely helped defeat the Japanese.

@twill9278 Год назад

Lindberg was able to coax ungodly air time out of that plane,which made it possible to shoot Yamamoto out on the sky

@shenmisheshou7002 Год назад

@@twill9278 It is not a well know history story, but yes, it is I think an important one. People know about the Atlantic crossing, but that was something he did for himself. The aid to the P-38 pilots was something he did for his country.

@Michael-Philip Год назад

We built machines for a war that needed to be fought.. Today we build machines for wars that should not be fought.

@mrbaab5932 4 месяца назад

Wrong, look up history child 🧒. USA was attacked on 9/11/2001. Ukraine 🇺🇦 was invaded by Russia 🇷🇺. Gaza invaded Israel 🇮🇱 on October 6, 2023. Also learn WWII when Democrats Nuked Japan twice after they got intercept communications from Japan 🇯🇵 asking the Soviets what the American terms of surrender were.

@Triznac52 2 года назад

Awesome! One of my favorite planes; happy you guys finally did a video about it! I am surprised you didn't go into the nose armament in more detail, as it was a very dark inclusion for the enemy on the receiving end. With 4 machine guns and a cannon (the caliber and setups were changed throughout the years), the 38 devastated enemy forces. Also, Charles Lindbergh, who was overseas helping pilots get more out of the 38, went out on a mission and was credited with a kill. He was soon sent back home, lol!

@crankychris2 2 года назад

The 'Lightning' could also accelerate to transonic speeds in a dive [550 mph] the first production aircraft With all that firepower, the Nazi's feared it.

@twentypdrparrott694 2 года назад

Lindberg got 2 Zeros His wingman were Thomas McQuire and Col. Charles MacDonald. My father fed him his meals while he was staying with the 475th FG.

@twentypdrparrott694 2 года назад

Lindberg taught the 475th how to get the P-38 into overdrive. This increased their mission flights by 4 hours. Mission times increased from 8 hours to 12 hours. Missions from New Guinea to Vietnam were made. It was a group secret for a long time.

@twentypdrparrott694 2 года назад

None of the intact P-38's survived the war. They were either scrapped and buried at Clarke Field or Kimpo Field. 2 have been salvaged from the jungles of New Guinea Scarlet Scourge undergoing restoration to flying status in England and White 44 restored to flight status at Colorado Springs. Both aircraft flew with the 475thFG.

@jacktattis Год назад

@@twentypdrparrott694 Mossie PR34 3500miles

@martinpennock9430 2 года назад

Always loved the P38. Built lots of model kits of it as a kid. Still have a couple in my stash! Great videos as always! God bless you and yours and thanks again for all you do! 👍😊🇺🇸

@joelmerrill 2 года назад

I'm still a model builder. I have 70 of them hanging over my head as I write. I've built two 1/48 scale P-38s. I still have one.

@joelmerrill 2 года назад

@Shawn 🏴‍☠️ Stafford I don't remember which version my first one was. I built it 50 years ago. The last on I built was that Marge version and I used the Marge decals. It's getting hard to get models now and they are too expensive.

@jacobsteele7138 2 года назад

Bet the bitches are always trying to get ahold of your P-38 stash.

@wmsollenberger8706 2 года назад

My maternal grand parents both worked at Lockheed specifically on the P-38 throughout the war, always a source of pride!

@shawn081082 Год назад

My father, a minister, had a gentleman in his church that was one of the test pilots involved with the P-38. I loved the P-38 as a young man, still do. I think it is one of, if not the most, beautiful aircraft ever built. He loved telling me about this plane, saying, "Nothing in the sky could touch it. It was nothing less than the great white shark of the sky."

@AshGreen359 Год назад

One of my favorite planes, wish they were still around

@mikewebster8224 2 года назад

The P-38 was told to be a terrifying aircraft to bail out from. The concept they taught in training was to crawl out of the cockpit, climb out onto the wing to clear the vertical stabilizers, and bail. In practice I've read pilots preferred to get the thing upside down and simply "fall" out of the cockpit.

@D-B-Cooper 2 года назад

My father in law was a p38 pilot and was shot down in Germany. He always said rolled it over to bail out. He started at 18 and went through all the jets until the 60s. Died a couple years ago at 94.

@rfcdgaf 2 года назад

Both methods were taught to the pilots lol watch the other p38 documentaries

@stevekaczynski3793 Год назад

Turning upside down and dropping out was the preferred method with single-engine fighters, although it depended on still having some control of the plane. Hans-Joachim Marseille was killed attempting this - he struck the tailplane after rolling his plane on its back.

@charlesdudek7713 Год назад

Bailing out right side up would be a bit scary. The idea of getting sliced in half by the horizontal stabilizer would not be a happy thought.

@janetchennault4385 Год назад

My father said that the P-38 bail instructions gave him a good reason to stay with the plane and land it. He flew it in the Aleutians, where twin engines came in real handy.

@edgaraquino2324 2 года назад

Thanks for the video! One of the few twin engine fighter - bombers(among its many configurations) that was flown with a yoke as opposed to a stick...see also the Mossie...beautiful aircraft!

@wheeljork 2 года назад

Agreed. P-38 is my favorite aircraft in terms of looks. Skeeter (yeah I know, just poking a little) looked pretty sexy too.

@Troubleshooter125 2 года назад

I always wondered why it was that the P-38 Lightning didn't have the presence in numbers that the P-47 or the P-51 had, especially in the European theater. This video, with its details about its manufacture, neatly answered that question. Many thanks!

@smithy2389 2 года назад

Not quite true. It was also due to cost. You could get 3 P-51s for the one p-38. It was a bit sluggish in a manoeuvring dogfight compared to german single engine fighters.

@aquablue6301 2 года назад

@@smithy2389 Yes, the 38 was an expensive bird.

@BogeyTheBear 2 года назад

The P-38 was built in only one city, Burbank, while the P-51 was built in two (Inglewood and Dallas) while the P-47 had three manufacturing sites (Long Island, Evansville, and Buffalo). Every effort to develop the next generation version of the Lightning (the P-49 and P-58) were thwarted in part by the Army's refusal to let Lockheed sacrifice any floor space on the P-38 assembly line to make its successors-- there was simply no more room to increase their numbers per month.

@CBB-dg9jy 2 года назад

Two planes One pilot. War is a numbers game. That said they were worth the money but couldn't be the primary.

@daleslater6999 2 года назад

Cost. It cost almost twice as much money as a single-engined fighter. The US government absolutely knew this and was hesitant to spend so much on a single fighter.

@cliffloy 2 года назад

My dad got hired at Lockeed in the late 30's. He was a riveter on the tail boom section. He told me that back then they needed to have another person "buck" the rivets from the inside of the boom which ment crawling inside the boom to get the job done. Since there wasn't a lot of room in the boom they had to use midgets. The midget (little person) would have a rope tied around one ankle so they could get pulled back out in case they got stuck (which happened).

@edwardpate6128 2 года назад

Lockheed-Martin? Sorry no such company then, it was Lockheed.

@tedball3138 2 года назад

Please do not forget Charles Lindberg (Spirit of St Louis fame). He Flew the P-38 in the Pacific, and revised flight procedures to increase the P-38 cruising range by 20%. He also flew many missions and is credited with enemy kills.

@mattperson7293 2 года назад

Let's also not forget that Lindberg didn't want the US to enter the war, didn't want the US to even send aid to Britain and made anti-semetic remarks and was likely a fan of Adolf. He was also not the first person to cross the Atlantic in an airplane.

@Happy11807 2 месяца назад

He also claimed the US could never compete with German Aircraft!

@little_black_raincloud 2 года назад

The P-38 is definitely in my top 5 favorite WWII planes. It looks amazing, and is extremely deadly to those who oppose it.

@haidozo4732 Год назад

When I was a kid, and model building was my passion, The Lightning was my undisputed favorite, I built a flying model that was of the "built-up", rubber band-powered type (framework of sticks and pieces of balsa wood covered with water-shrunk tissue, or silkspan if you could afford it). It had a 38" wingspan and I painted it in a classic WWII camo scheme. I was so proud of that thing that I kept it for years and never flew it for fear of wrecking it. After I got out of the USAF, my folks asked me to "do something with it" because it was just taking up space at their house. So, because I had long passed my model building stage and I didn't have any room for it, I decided to give it a "Viking Funeral". I took it to the top of a hill, overlooking a creek, sprayed it with a little lighter fluid, set it aflame and launched it. It glided gracefully down toward the creek until enough of the paper covering had burned off and it lost sufficient lift and stability. It spiraled down, trailing flames, into the creek. Such was the end of my P-38; but, I'll never forget it, and the Lightning still rules as my favorite aircraft. Oh, the pilot survived...

@davepaisley7675 Год назад

This! And the Mosquito!

@jacktattis 7 месяцев назад

Not really in the ETO it was an easy target for the Germans and had the worst Tactical Mach of the 3 US fighters

@jakethomson2991 2 года назад

Lockheed didn't buy Martin Aerospace until the early 1990's. Back when they designed and built the P-38 they were just Lockheed Aerospace.

@jacktattis Год назад

It never terrorized the Luftwaffe They loved it, it was easily out- manoeuvred by the Bf109 and Fw190 Source: Mike Spick Fighters page 226

@stewarts8597 2 года назад

Loved the twin boon fighter planes and the P38 was my fav. The P61 Black Widow a close second

@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz 4 месяца назад

Love them both. Such great planes. The P-61 was one of the first models I ever made.

@waynep343 2 года назад

In the early 80s my bosses friend was a former p30 flight commander . One story that brought him to tears was flying bomber escorts to the Romanian oil fields. He told of 21 p38s with belly tanks . As soon as they saw the enemy fighters the command to drop tanks was given.. they were beyond the fuel tank range and they all knew it. Only 7 out of 21 made it back..he was as proud as hell of his pilots but mad as hell at kelly for pilots bailing out were killed by the rear wing. I never got the chance to ask him why they did not pump fuel from the belly tanks to keep their main tanks full. Maybe they did. My boss was a PB5 flight engineer. My other life time friend was a B29 pilot. It would take me an hour to type out his stories from flight training to toggling a bomb and dropping it in the imperial palace in Tokyo. Ended up flying B29 photo ships including one that took pictures after the first bomb. I saw his photo collection from the personal cameras carried on that mission. .

@nathanfisher1387 Год назад

When operating reserve tanks, fuel is ALWAYS taken from the reserve tank first. Only when it's critically low do they switch the source to the internal tanks and drop the belly tank. His problem there was likely that they were simply too far away to get home on just full internal tanks. (minus what they'd lost during any dogfighting after dropping)

@ravenkahne8484 2 года назад

As a GenXer growing up, you remember WW2 weapons simply by their image. And this is one of the most iconic. :)

@w.reidripley1968 4 месяца назад

Us boomers may have gotten it from plastic model kits. And the smell of toluene. Took us a bit before we had cyanoacrylate glue, like for the canopies.

@cavemanbum 2 года назад

0:30 - 409 round per minute? The .50 caliber BMG fired at a rate of 850 rounds/minute. And the P-38 had FOUR of them, in addition to a 20mm cannon.

@MySmokingToaster 2 года назад

The true rate of fire is around 4000 rounds per minute, but of course not that much ammunition was available.

@Pacheenee7 2 года назад

.50 BMG is the round, not a gun.

@BogeyTheBear 2 года назад

14 bullets a second is the metric anyone really needs in this context.

@russhoffman6301 Год назад

It was the plane that the highest scoring US aces flew. Richard Bong had 40 victories and Thomas McGuire had 38 victories.

@johnhadley7715 6 месяцев назад

Aaaannnd the very same bird that “got” Yamamoto….

@LordHawHaw100 4 месяца назад

And probably would have had a lot more but were ordered out of combat to train new pilots…..german pilots fought until they died or were shot down and captured. Hence were able to rack up dozens and dozens, even hundreds,9of kills in 6 years of war by fighting almost daily.

@ArnieD17 2 года назад

From 1966 to 1968 worked with an ex-fighter pilot at Randolf airforce base. Once asked him what his favorite fighter was and why. He said the P-38 because it was very comforting to have two engines when flying long distances over water. His first confirmed kill is often shown. Because of the wet and humid conditions the cameras often failed to record usable footage. You needed camera footage or a visual conformation to get a credit. He said he was so frustrated for not getting credit for his kills that he followed the Zek to the deck and then flew through the water spray to finally got his first confirmed.

@LeonardBottleman 2 года назад

The Erikson Aircraft Collection in Madras Oregon has a P38 that flies in the airshow each year. They also have a P40, P47, P51, and F4U in the collection in the same hangar as the P38, and it is striking how much larger the P38 is than these other pursuit aircraft from the same time.

@bo0tsy1 Год назад

Well, it was between fighter, and bomber, multirole

@quintessentialtravel1966 Год назад

I have been to the Erikson Aircraft Collection three times, over the years. The P38 is huge, but the P47 appears even more massive. Erikson used to have a Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa there, which is amazingly tiny. Until you see the planes in real life, sitting next to each other, you don't realize how different they are in size.

@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz 4 месяца назад

The P-47 is huge, absolutely massive.

@BuShips Месяц назад

@@quintessentialtravel1966 I was there on May 1, 2023 and it was there. I plan to go back to Madras as it was a great trip. 3 hours away.

@projectinlinesix 2 года назад

YES!!! Finally!!!! Thank you!!! My favorite plane of all time!

@jacktattis Год назад

Gee low standards have we?

@projectinlinesix Год назад

@@jacktattis Writes the troll in response to someone's comment from 9 months ago lol

@jacktattis Год назад

@@projectinlinesix Well you answered These old vids come up and I go and see what I missed I even go back 9 years to see what was posted then I have corrected Wilbur Finnigan numerous times

@AGPullen 2 года назад

This plane is my favorite of all the WWII warbirds! Such a sexy design and lethal platform.

@michaelharmon3351 7 месяцев назад

My father flew P-38's during the war in the Pacific, stationed on several different islands. During the last year of the war, he became a training squad leader in California for new pilots for the P-38. I don't think subsequent generations can really appreciate the sacrifices of our war time parents. A generation of peace time has certainly made me appreciate them all.

@bobbys4327 3 месяца назад

I suppose it depends on how you define peace in your lifetime.

@thornehx 6 месяцев назад

My uncle was a P38 pilot. He was shot down over Germany but escaped after 3 days behind enemy lines. I have the telegraph sent to my aunt stating he was MIA. He lived to be 91. A real cool flyboy until the end.

@Bdady74 2 года назад

Algorithm appeasement comment!

@Shrkn8r 2 года назад

Still one of my favorite aircraft of all time.

@АлександрКулагин-э1ф Год назад

Красивый самолёт.В далеком 1986 году купил и собрал модель,,Lightning,, В СССР времён ,,холодной войны,, большую часть западных самолётов представляли модели ,,Tempest,, и ,,Tunderbolt,, с декалями.На Р-38 такого не было,раскрашивал вручную.

@mirandarights5566 Год назад

My Mom and my Aunt built the center wing section of this beautifully deadly aircraft

@williamstyers4264 Год назад

One of the first examples of Kelly Johnson genius at the Skunk Works. I often wondered if the formidable Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was ever tested on this airframe. That would, in my non-professional mind, have been an awesome upgrade.

@AndrewBrown-fq6vp 2 года назад

When I was a young lad I got into building scale models. This aircraft was the first one I built, so it holds a special place in my heart.

@trollwholivesu7258 2 года назад

Just got into scale modeling this year, and it’s been fun! No p38s yet though

@tobiashaas1465 2 года назад

Me too! It was the first 1:72 scale model I build back in the middle-seventies with my now deceased father! And when I got back to modelling again 15 years ago I managed to achieve a Matchbox-kit as we had back then! It was like time traveling, and my father sat by my side! Awesome!

@scottmccloud9029 2 года назад

Same here.

@scottmccloud9029 2 года назад

@@trollwholivesu7258 Be sure to put weights in the nose. My first one sat on its tail. Lol.

@Joze1090 2 года назад

I just finished the Tamiya p38 1/48 scale. It was a dream to put together:)

@rmcdudmk212 2 года назад

The thing that always pissed me off about the P-38 is the fact the British decided they knew better then the designers and pulled off the superchargers then felt the need to bad mouth it because of their own foolishness.

@RaderizDorret 2 года назад

As I understand it, the Allison engines used turbochargers and those were under export restrictions per the US Government at the time due to turbos being new tech at the time.

@rmcdudmk212 2 года назад

@@RaderizDorret from what I have read from the British themselves it had more to do with making the P-38s more parts swappable with their P-40 Kittyhawks. They wanted to be able to swap engines if needed due to wear. They were trying to save a buck and it made them look like fools.

@Section20Ul 2 года назад

@@rmcdudmk212 Fools that already had the Mosquito, which was arguably a better plane. And those fools also knew better about sticking a Merlin engine into the severely underpowered P51 turning into an actual great fighter. Wasn't about saving a buck but filling a gap that needed filled.

@Jezza_One 2 года назад

@@Section20Ul The British had real war experience the Americans were Johnny come lately types.

@TheStig_TG 2 года назад

@@Jezza_One We only came 3 years late and fought 3- 3/4 years... also our planes were still amazing

@joegordon5117 2 года назад

Loved this aircraft since I was a kid and seeing them in comic book stories - such a distinctive appearance, matched by its incredible performance, it can take its place with pride alongside the likes of the Mosquito for its engineering innovation, style, performance and service record.

@WindCatcherRC Год назад

The P-38 is one of my most favorite aircraft of all time. Such a beautiful plane!

@fredemny3304 Год назад

This is nonsense. The P38 was judged to be a failure in the European theatre of war and was eventually withdrawn from service there. It never terrified the Luftwaffe, but it redeemed itself in the Far East where its capabilities were more suited to the way the air war was conducted there.

@wor53lg50 Год назад

Yep, the reason they changed it into a night intruder in europe with co-pilot for radar... In fact it wasnt that much more agile than the bf101, and even in the far east, the zero could and did murder it.. It was used more for taking out torpedo or dive bombers also getting behind kamakazi's on the way to their targets or other twin engined fighter bombers, wasnt it a p38 they took down yamomotso or whatever his name was..

@bobsakamanos4469 6 месяцев назад

Well said.

@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245 2 года назад

“The pilot pushed the fighter into 420 mph.” Nice

@rmcdudmk212 2 года назад

The general said don't spare the horses and smoke that bad boy 🤣

@sisquack 2 года назад

The old war birds are the most beautiful. The P-38 is my favorite.

@mrfriz4091 2 года назад

Thank you, Dark Skies! My favorite aircraft of all time. Beautiful, graceful and so deadly!

@andibonfim1284 Год назад

Excellent work, very much information. Thanks ❗👍🧐

@mphil3051 Год назад

My Dad was shot down over Italy in a P-38, 42 nd mission and a POW in Germany for two years. He always said he loved that plane.

@tacticalrabbit308 2 года назад

There is a flying P-38 here in Minnesota in a museum south of me at the Granite falls airport

@w.reidripley1968 4 месяца назад

I've seen five Lightnings in a flyover.

@Ronin4614 2 года назад

What a marvelous airframe and weapons platform the P-38 was. She was stunning not only in appearance but her performance as well. The German pilot described her rather well. Thank you for another great video.

@richardgilman4602 2 года назад

P-38, a lesson in multi-mission serendipity during the Army Airforce's exercise of the art of air warfare.

@kellyherald1390 2 года назад

I've seen the P-38 in person - the 23 Skidoo. For having 2 engines that plane is surprisingly quiet. It is truly a remarkable and beautiful plane.

@Zuloff Год назад

The exhaust is ducted back to the turbos on top of the booms above the wing. The exhausts are not short open stacks like on most other WWII aircraft. Not that the long ducting is intended to be a muffler but it takes the sharp snarl out of the exhaust note.

@michaelmoorrees3585 Год назад

Note, just Lockheed at that time. The merger with Martin, didn't occur until 1995, 40 years after WWII ended.

@PanzerChicken69 2 года назад

Hey, thanks for the doc. P-38 is my favourite warbird! Keep them video's coming, much appreciated!

@JSFGuy 2 года назад

Oh yes, the fork tale devil.

@jacktattis Год назад

Post war propaganda

@robertleverette6298 2 года назад

My great uncle flew the lightning out of North Africa , commanding the 37th fighter squadron, 14th fighter group. Was leading his squadron to provide fighter cover for a Royal Navy operation off the Dodecanese Islands in the Mediterranean and is credited for downing seven Stuka dive bombers during that mission (Oct 1943). The final tally for squadron that day was 16 Stukas and 1 JU-88. “Aces Against Germany” by Eric Hammel

@joegatt2306 Год назад

According to available Luftwaffe records, however, no more than seven Ju-87D fell to fighter attack that day. Another Ju-87D of 6/StG.3 made an emergency landing at Rhodes. In addition, a Ju-87D fell to AA fire and a Ju-88A-4 was lost much further away to the south of Kos, due to engine trouble. At about the same time that the 37th attacked the dive bombers, three RAF Bristol Beaufighters of No. 252 Squadron also reached the convoy, only to be attacked from above by three P-38s. One Beaufighter was hit in both engines and crash-landed on returning to Cyprus. This must have been the 'Ju-88' claimed by the 37th.

@jacktattis Год назад

@@joegatt2306 The USAAF was infamous for that It was one of the reasons that the RAF/Friends stayed clear of the USAAF area of operations

@rogeranderson6668 2 года назад

One of my favorite fighters from world war II. The lightning what a phenomenal fighting platform for our pilots.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

@jerryvolpini7987 2 года назад

The P-38 has always been one of my favorite aircraft - fast, heavily armored, able to fly long distances, capable of carrying a large payload - she was one hell of an interceptor aircraft! Early versions though, had serious flaws including flight controls that would lock up in steep climbs (often with fatal results) and temperamental engines that required great care to operate. The British actually cancelled their order of Lightnings and German pilots held the Lightning in low regard, contrary to that hapless German pilot who coined the phrase "Fork-Tailed Devil". The Lightning did not typically perform well at higher altitudes and could not maneuver with the ME109 nor the FW190. The Lightning was much more successful in the Pacific Theatre where combat occurred at lower altitudes and the plane's devastating firepower made minced meat of lightly armored Japanese aircraft. Speaking of kills, I have serious doubts that the P-38 had more victories than other iconic fighters like the Hellcat and Corsair (Pacific) or the P-51 and Thunderbolt (Europe) as stated in the video but, maybe? Still, one of the most beautiful and sleek fighters ever built, and a devastating platform that was one of the most versatile American aircraft ever built! A great aircraft, thanks for the video 👍

@jstephenallington8431 Год назад

I'm afraid that you have the Lightning's flaws reversed. Due to it's unique twin boom design, and it's elevators situated between the two booms, the aircraft suffered what was called a "Compresabilty Problem". The issue was that above a certain speed, the air flowing back from the main wing would actually flow beneath the elevator and push up on it, causing the Lightning to pitch into a nose-down attitude, and fall into an ever steepening dive from which it could not recover. Lockheed designed a speed brake to be retrofitted under the wings, between the main nacelle and the booms to slow the aircraft down to a more manageable dive however the transport aircraft with a cargo bay full of the speed brakes was shot down by a German fighter before reaching Europe. Many years later, when the same problem arose again only this time with jet powered aircraft. The solution was to articulate the entire elevator so that it could catch enough airflow to remain in control of the aircraft's pitch, but this design required advanced control surface fly-by-wire hydraulically controlled elevators, something that had to wait for much improved fly by wire hardware to maintain pilot control of the aircraft.

@jerryvolpini7987 Год назад

@@jstephenallington8431 🤦‍♂️ (exactly what I said!)

@jacktattis Год назад

When a plane can do 5740ft/min that is an interceptor

@jacktattis Год назад

It always was a lousy diver That never changed. The RAF cancelled their orders because the plane shown to them in the test flights was NOT the one that Lockheed tried to sell them I think the P38 kills in the ETO were about the same as the Hurricane. I have no idea what the Kills were in the Pacific

@paulbantick8266 Год назад

"The British actually cancelled their order of Lightnings and German pilots held the Lightning in low regard, contrary to that hapless German pilot who coined the phrase "Fork-Tailed Devil" The phrase "Fork-Tailed Devil" was coined by the US media, not the German Luftwaffe. Same goes for "Whispering Death (Bristol Beaufighter)" and "Whistling Death (F4u Corsair)"

@Oneshot8242 2 года назад

Interesting detail on the "Operation Vengeance": Imagine you're flying at 400+ mph, your target is doing 200+. How's your marksmanship? When they recovered Yamamoto's body, there were two wounds from a .50 cal gun; one through his eye, and one through his heart.

@johnhadley7715 6 месяцев назад

Rex Barber was ( by his own admission ) just a farm boy who wanted to fly. Like many of us farmers, when the crops are in, the next thing up is hunting season. There is a reason he was in the ‘killer’ (?) section.

@daveb.4268 2 года назад

Rex Barber had to do the Yamamoto mission in a barrowed P-38 (Miss Virginia). His plane, Diablo, got three feet of left wing taken off when hitting the superstructure of a Japanese destroyer he was strafing accompanied by some Marine Corps Corsairs several weeks prior. I'm sure he was reprimanded for it, but, was still allowed to fly becuse he was one of the best pilots they had with actual combat experience.

@jimcole2016 4 месяца назад

I had the honor of several conversations with Mr. Barber when I was a young man and even got to fly with him once over the Cascade range. He was a quiet soul who enjoyed farming and family in central Oregon. I asked him why he thought we won the war. He said,” our equipment was better”, and with eyes of resolve said further’ And we were right…”. That one sentence said everything to me about why America is great and the men who served and continue to serve are the reason we have our freedoms.

@thedungeondelver 2 года назад

It was the F15E of its day. It could intercept, it could dogfight, it could precision strike. God what an aircraft.

@jacktattis Год назад

p38 CLIMB RATE 2960ft/min just a little better than the Hurricane1 but they did improve never in the same field as the Spitfire

@RealNotallGaming Год назад

Cant dogfight 😂 Is a cow Bf and zero would eat It Just max speed plane

@thedungeondelver Год назад

Do you know what the loss rate of the BF109 and Zero was during WW2@@RealNotallGaming ? 100% The Allies won. The P38 shot down Japan's most important Admiral. The day the Japanese surrendered, P38s were still flying. No Zeros were. The day the Germans surrendered, P38s were still flying. No BF109s were.

@RealNotallGaming Год назад

@@thedungeondelver 1) loss rate is counted on LOST planes not grounded planes because the war finished 2) p38 killed admiral in a bomber ... 3) p38 cant have more losses respect axis LoL BF109 = 34000 built P38 = 10000 built so even if all planes was lost p38 couldnt be called worse :))) simple trick, build less so future fanboys can brag about less losses .... stupid 4) interceptor will have always advantage respect escort\fighter planes because more speed and more weapons + good positioning before attack war is not a game, just the fact you can fly freely and change position before charge against enemy , meanwhile escort need to stay in formation and low speed ... is almost free kill ... 5) if you want to see 1vs1 in arena match Bf is basically auto winner in every game ... because better plane IRL the roles are different so basically those 2 planes are not comparable + 2 facts (p38 had max speed problems in dive so alt advantage is useless against Bf, Bf had always fuel capacity problems so P38 can win just forcing Bf to stay in combat zone and finish his fuel LoL) war is chess and plane superiority is relative, is the pilot that count

@apersondoingthings5689 Год назад

@@RealNotallGamingactually it can dogfight. One of the measures 109 pilots made were to flick roll because they could simply not out turn a P38. They had to use diving and rolling in order to get away. If caught in a traditional turn fight a 109 or Fw 190 simply gets beat up by a P38. Zeros in dogfights were mincemeat to really and mid war US fighter. The zeros simply lost every advantage they had after F4Us, F6Fs, and P38s arrived. All they had left was super slow turn rate and that’s it. It lost its high speed turn rate and medium speed turn rate advantages in a instant. The zero by 1943 was quite dog crap and obsolete

@44hawk28 2 года назад

Wasn't until 1943, very early in 1943, that Charles Lindbergh actually was in the South Pacific and flew several missions with the P38 and had almost caused an accident when he ran out of fuel on the runway. Overnight he reconfigured the method by which they could make the plane, by trimming the fuel back during long hauls, go twice as far as it was going under military directive and instruction. He even flew the very first mission to prove it. They took the engines apart and found that there was virtually no damage to the engine which the mechanics claimed would certainly occur running it as lean as he claimed he was. That information was used in order to shoot down and kill Yamamoto. A close friend of mine's father was on that mission. And he didn't even find out about it until his father's funeral where the Air Force insisted on sending an honor guard to his funeral and held up the funeral for 2 hours after they found out about it that morning. Every pilot that was on that mission, 18 of them in total. Was honored in pretty much the same fashion. The details of that mission, although some reporters did find out about it was kept secret until well after the war. They did not want the Japanese to know that that plane was capable of round trip missions that exceeded their Zero by several hundred miles.

@ksman9087 Год назад

Wrong. Lindbergh did not get to the Pacific war until April of 1944. Yamamoto was shot down in April of 1943.

@Pudentame Год назад

2:02 It was only Lockheed back in WW2. It didn't merge with Martin Marietta to become Lockheed Martin until 1995.

@tombillard5264 2 года назад

one of my fave designs

@TomMcD71 2 года назад

The P38 was always one of my airplane models growing even after I went to the aircraft museum in Germany back in the 80s

@pspboy7 2 года назад

Just something about WW2 aircraft. Such great elegant designs!

@mikepech6822 Год назад

When I was about 12 years old, myself and a friend were biking. I'm Canadian. We went by a lot at Malton Airport which was the main airport in Toronto at that time. It had a whole bunch of P38's in it. Even at 12, I knew what a P38 was. I asked the guard why they were there because they were American planes. They were there to be dismantled. I asked if we could see them because they are my favorite plane and he gave us a tour and let me sit in one. I'm 77 years old and remember it like it was yesterday and sitting it could just imagine what my hero flyers may have flew in that one. It is still one of my fondest memories and at time couldn't thank guard enough. Times have changed and now kids would never be allowed to look at something like that.

@AmericasChoice Год назад

Great story.

@ervillewright6284 Год назад

My dad was an aircraft mechanic on the 38 in North Africa, during WW2

@stankygeorge 2 года назад

When a mere boy, I saw an old wooden model of the P38 and thought it was the coolest and most interesting airplane that I had ever seen, from that day forward it has always been my favorite WWII plane.

@jessestrauss 2 года назад

I've been waiting for you to make a video on this plane! easily my favorite WW2 plane!

@donwillhoit6866 2 года назад

My father worked for Lockheed producing the P-38. As shown in the video the airplanes were moved outside into two lines for final basic fitting and tweaking. My father was in charge of one of the lines. When an airplane was "finished" an Army Air Corp representative would sign off for the military and my father would sign off for Lockheed. My father said from there they were flown off to war. I recently found that they were most likely flown to Dallas to have additional equipment installed. I think the WWII aircraft were the most beautiful aircraft ever created. Call me biased but I tend to think the P-38 was the best but not by much.

@josepablolunasanchez1283 2 года назад

Any design has advantages and disadvantages. Its large wing surface makes it very good to have lift at high altitude. It was not great for banking, so for turning battles it would be vulnerable. It was fast. So the best use was to fly high, descend, make a pass and go up again, very much like it happens with an F-4 Phantom.

@raggum1052 Год назад

>Be me, Admiral Yamamoto >Want to fly in friendly airspace >Fly in friendly airspace >Look inside >Enemy interceptors

@wayneaaron1094 4 месяца назад

My uncle was a B17 engine mechanic in England during the war. After hearing a challenge race between a P 51 pilot and a P 38 pilot the base watched the P 38 outclimb the P 51 on only ONE engine. Truly a great plane.

@juliusfucik4011 2 года назад

I have always loved your videos, but this one takes the cake. It is even better than previous ones. The timing. The presentation. It is all extremely good!

@mustralineabsorbine5082 2 года назад

Thanks for showing the P-38. My dad flew them in Italy and North Africa. Great to see what they were really like. :)

@conradmcdougall3629 2 года назад

Beautiful plane.

@mattcombs8778 Год назад

My father, a WW2 and Korean War Vet, loved the P-38. I remember him telling me how awesome that plane was. He bought me a toy P-38, and I loved playing with it. Good memories.

@Eric_Von_Yesselstyn Год назад

You forgot to mention how Charles Lindbergh "TAUGHT" the fliers in the Pacific theatre how to extend their range "astronomically" by just adjusting their flaps, RPM and fuel... Before the drop tank modification, this was a game changer and didn't put extra wear on the engine, as was predicted by the ground crews, who were proven wrong.

@tmike4160 2 года назад

One of the most iconic planes of all time and you did it justice. Well done

@MegaDxxn 2 года назад

Have you heard about the Fokker G1 design? It premiered on the Paris salon of 1937 and was one of the first to use the twin boom concept. They were all shot down in the first days of the war in the Netherlands. The P38 was a lot more powerful and successful in the end.

@Cuccos19 2 года назад

Strange yet beautiful lines, my all time No.1. favorite aircraft!

@tiredlawdog Год назад

Many years ago I attended an air show put on by the Confederate Air Force in San Marcos Texas. I was always intrigued by the P38, but when it flew over then took off straight up, that blew me away. It's like it never stalled out. Damn, what a plane.

@billyrock8305 8 месяцев назад

Topgun fighter. Fast, deadly, incredible ceiling, twin engines, incredible climbing rate, massive range, powerful supercharged engines, huge .50 cal guns. With extra fuel tanks we got over 1,000 mile range. Excellent recon plane. Forktail Devil is what our enemy called it. We escorted B-24’s during the Italy campaign. Rommel despised it in North Africa too. We also loved the Canadians and Brits twin engine marvel the Wooden Wonder… the deadly and insanely fast Mosquito

@badian37 2 года назад

Beautiful aircraft! I was always impressed that it had a yoke and not a stick! It had a control wheel like a transport or a light bomber!

@ACF6180T 2 года назад

This is & will be my favorite fighter from WW2 period ! as a kid from the 50's I always marvel at these planes ! The majestic P-38 Lightning ! & my 2nd would be P-47 that stayed into service well into the Vietnam war .Thanks for the video.

@TonyTorius 2 года назад

Of all American aircraft built in WW2, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning was far one of most appreciated by many aircraft lovers and pilots who flew it. And it's one of my favorites. Few things to add it into the video. The P-38's design were quite unique compared to other heavy fighters, despite the Focke-Wulf FW 189 and the Savoia-Marchetti SM.91 having the same building type (two long nacelles housing the engines connected into the pilot's cockpit). Still, one of the problems occurred to the P-38 was the high speed compressibility issue - a problem when the air mass accumulated in the aircraft's horizontal flight controls, becoming it inoperative - forcing the pilots to choose between bailing out or regaining the controls. Kelly Johnson solved this issue by installing dive flaps underneath the wings for the P-38J and L models. And, as a bomber escort plane and bomber, the P-38 proved to be troubling for the Americans, especially after the bombing raids over Germany, Italy and Romania. Still, it proved to be an incredible aircraft during the initial combats in WW2 (although the results varied for a series of factors like pilots and aircraft performance) and in the Pacific Theater. Also, Robin Olds was one of the few American aces in the European Theater to score downed BF 109s in his P-38 Lightning - the Scat III, and his plane almost crashed when he forgot to use the main fuel tanks after jettisoning his external fuel tanks; and Louis Edward Curdes (the US pilot who shot down an American plane) scored his first German down planes and an Italian Macchi C.202 in North Africa - also, flying a P-38 Lightning.

@ABQRT Год назад

In my years of working in the medical field and WW2 Vets I'd mention the P-38 as my father-in-law was 9th USAAF, 474th FG, 428th FS, he was a specialist for the turbo superchargers and also would go forward with a the group to seek new forward bases to support Patton. Everyone of the combat Vets I spoke with either ETO or ATO stated they loved the sound of the P-38 and knowing it was coming to help them.

@jacktattis Год назад

It was never solved because in Jun 44 at Wright field its ILDS was still only 420mph

@jonathanpersson1205 Год назад

The P 38 suffered the same problem in europe that the ME109 did in the battle of Britain. It was a little less manuverable than its opponents and was best used by zooming in shooting up and scooting off not getting into turning dogfights. By forcing it to fly close escort to the bombers it gave the initiative to the enemy and prevented it from using its correct tactics.

@RustySax1949 Год назад

My parents met on a blind date at a USO show being held at Langford Lodge airfield outside Belfast, Northern Ireland, in early 1943. When I was old enough to start modeling, my dad brought home a Revell P-38 for me to build one day. That's when my mom told me about seeing the P-38s being towed up the Crumlin Rd where she lived on their way between the docks in Belfast Harbor and the USAAC air base at Langford Lodge, where my dad was stationed. They both shared that for shipping, the wings were removed outside the engine nacelles, turned on end and strapped to the inside of the tail booms for protection while on board the freighters. I'm sure it must have been an impressive sight, sadly they didn't think to take any photographs. . .

@johnhadley7715 6 месяцев назад

I’m an old Merchie (US), Academy-trained 1969-73 - when they were still teaching yard-and-stay booms/ cargo handling. That shipping prep sounds awesome, but the length of those tail booms - ugh! Even worse on the lift, if there were flawed swivels on the rig and the plane began trying to swing in the wind…

@77Avadon77 Год назад

My grandpa did the structural engineering on the P-38 Lightning when he worked at Lockheed. He had some of the original plans and stuff in his study. He passed about ten years ago. I remember one time I showed him a model I had made of the P-38 where I had clipped the wings and changed the vertical fins. He said to me "You can't just do that!" I said "Of course I can, it's my model" lol 😅

@marvinmartion1178 2 года назад

A plane that was ahead of its Time! Always my favorite ww2 fighter! It's a work of art! The nose guns always impressed me!

@harcovanhees394 2 года назад

Check out the Fokker G1. It was ready in 1936

@derektaylor6389 7 месяцев назад

the mosquito could out fly out gun it and out manovour it

@Greg_Davis 2 года назад

Best sounding airplane ever. If it's flying for your side, of course.

@jacktattis Год назад

Merlin Merlin Merlin

@timf2279 2 года назад

2:03 It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. When the aircraft was designed and built it was just Lockheed.

@drstrangelove4998 Год назад

This is nonsense, the Lghtning didn’t ‘terrify‘ the Luftwaffe. In fact it wasn’t particularly successful in Europe. It was better in the pacific campaign.