US Lockheed P38 ''Lightning'' Fighter

By Crusader1307

The Lockheed P-38 Fighter was a high performance aircraft, using a revolutionary aerodynamic frame. This design featured a twin tailguns boom and central nacelle fusilage. The P-38 was also one of the first all flash riveted, steel non-paint finished combat aircraft deployed. Featuring a 400 mph airspeed with a 29,000 foot operational ceiling, The P-38 was 37 feet long with a 52 foot wingspan. Armed with 4 nose cap mounted (Quad) Browning .50 caliber Machine Guns, it also mounted twin 20mm wing Cannon. Many were sent to Great Britain in 1942, where their speed earned them the nickname, The "Lightning". However, The US Army Air Corps. was not pleased with over all air combat maneuvering. Several Squadrons were deployed to The Pacific Theater of War against Japan, but they were primarily a European Theater Fighter. The initial problem was with The P-38 not having powerful enough engines. Great Britain corrected this problem and The "Lighting" became a lethal adversary to the German Luftwaffe. Production of twin boomed Fighters stopped in 1945. Several Squadrons were still maintained by British into the early 1950s.