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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 P-38 was quickly declared obsolete in 1946 and the last USAF flight was in 1948. This was an extremely complicated aircraft to maintain. The P-38 Lightning has been consistently on the civil registry since 1946 since the first aircraft were released from the military.
They were equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft in February and trained until May 1944 when the group entered combat. Their missions consisted of dive-bombing radar installations and flak towers, and escorted bombers for attacks on bridges and marshalling yards in France as the Allies prepared for the invasion of Normandy. [3]
Lockheed P-38 Lightning of the 394th Fighter Squadron wearing D-Day invasion markings, June 1944. Having trained on single engine aircraft, the squadrons's pilots were surprised to find Lockheed P-38 Lightnings sitting on Stoney Cross's dispersal pads. [7] Only members of the advance party had any experience flying the Lightning.
The squadron used Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft photo-reconnaissance variant F-5 throughout the war. The F-5 and F-5A were used from the summer of 1943 until the summer of 1944 when F-5B, F-5C, and F-5E Lightnings were brought in. All P-38 Lightning variants were used for the remainder of the war.
— 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 ...
The first P-38 of the Compañía de Aviación Air army arrived in Santiago on 30 March 1947. It was its first modern aircraft. The air force of this small Latin American republic employed 11 Lightnings, mostly not armed. Dominican Republic was one of the last P-38's users until late 1950, when the remaining Lightnings were cut up and dumped. [3]
392d Fighter Squadron P-38 [note 5] Having trained on single engine aircraft, the group's pilots were surprised to find Lockheed P-38 Lightnings sitting on Stoney Cross's dispersal pads. [9] Only four group pilots, members of the advance party, had any experience flying the Lightning. These pilots had flown combat sorties with the 55th Fighter ...