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The Lockheed Corporation designed the P-38 in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Circular Proposal X-608 was a set of aircraft performance goals authored by First Lieutenants Benjamin S. Kelsey and Gordon P. Saville for a twin-engined, high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at ...
The aircraft is named after the Second World War vintage Lockheed P-38 Lightning, with which it shares its dual tail layout. [1] [2] The aircraft is made from aluminum tubing, with the wing leading edge made from birch plywood, supported by foam and wooden wing ribs. The wings and tail surfaces are covered in doped aircraft fabric.
The 475th was perhaps the best known of the theater's Lockheed P-38 Lightning groups since its personnel included the top flying aces in the Pacific: Richard I. Bong (40 kills) and Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. (38 kills), both Medal of Honor recipients. By the war's end, 38 other pilots from the 475th had achieved ace status in P-38s.
— The famous P-38 Lightning Fighter plane flown by World War II ace of aces Richard I. Bong — and decorated with a photograph of its namesake "Marge" — was discovered last week nose-down in ...
Colonel Charles Henry "Mac" MacDonald (November 23, 1914 – March 3, 2002) was a United States Air Force officer and a fighter ace of World War II. [1] [2] MacDonald commanded the 475th Fighter Group for 20 months in his P-38 Lightning, "Putt Putt Maru", and became the third ranking fighter ace in the Pacific during World War II.
The P-38 and the much lighter North American P-51 Mustang were the first two American fighters over Berlin in March 1944. [ 34 ] The only other American heavy fighter to serve in great numbers during WWII was the Northrop P-61 Black Widow , which was also the United States’ first dedicated night fighter, in addition to being the first ...
Turret fighters were expected to work together to coordinate fire on unescorted bombers (due to limits of German fighter range), able to attack from all quarters, and not be limited by the brief firing opportunity of a single seat fighter in a high speed attack. [1] The P-38, a small, single-crewed example of the bomber destroyer type, was ...
Toggle P-38 Lightning subsection. 1.1 Kirill Lokshin. 1.2 PocklingtonDan. 1.3 Rockfall. Toggle the table of contents.