Warbird Tech - P-38 Lightning.pdf - 07. Lockheed P-38 Lightning(1) - lancastrian

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LOCKHEED

I VOLUME 2 I

•

• Early British Version

• Ground-Breaking Designs

• Gun and Cannon Configurations

·"Night Lightning" Fighters

• Droopsnoot Ver~;ions

• Photo Reeon Models

VOLUME 2

LOCKHEED

By FREDERICK A. JOHNSEN

Published by

Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers

11481 Kost Dam Road

North Branch, MN 55056

United States of America

(612) 583-3239

Distributed in the UK and Europe by

Airlife Publishing Ltd.

101 Longden Road

Shrewsbury

SY39EB

England

ISBN 0-933424-65-5

•

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any

information storage and retrieval system,

without permission from the Publisher in writing.

Material contained in this book is intended for historical and

entertainment value only, and is not to be construed as usable

for aircraft or component restoration, maintenance or use.

•

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING

FOREWORD •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4

By ANTHONY W."TONY" LEVIER

PREFACE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 5

ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE

CHAPTER 1: FIGHT FOR THE AIR •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 6

P-38 PROPELLED AIR CORPS INTO MODERN FIGHTERS

CHAPTER 2: LIGHTNING LINEAGE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 20

MADE IN THE USA

CHAPTER 3: LIGHTNING STRIKES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 46

DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR THE AXIS

SPECIAL FULL COLOR SECTION: KODACHROME COLLECTION ••••••••••••••••• 65

THE LIGHTNING IN LIVING COLOR

CHAPTER 4:THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 76

To SEE OR NOT TO SEE

CHAPTER 5: DROOPSNOOT ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 86

NICKNAME FOR A KNOCKOUT-DROPPER

ApPENDIX A: SERIAL CONVERSION LIST ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 98

ARMY AIR FORCE TO LOCKHEED SERIAL NUMBERS

ApPENDIX B: EIGHT MAJOR SECTIONS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 99

PRIMARY ASSEMBLIES FOR THE LIGHTNING

SIGNIFICANT DATES ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 100

KEY DATES IN THE HISTORY OF THE P-38 LIGHTNING

WARBIRDTECH

FOREWORD

taken into Kelly Johnson's

Experimental Flight Test

Division in mid-1942. Shortly

after, I was invited to participate in

the P-38 compressibility dive pro-

gram using a new device called a

"compressibility dive flap." Milo

Burcham (my boss) and I con-

ducted those tests with great suc-

cess and the rest is history.

I am proud to say I contributed to

the P-38 program, both at home

and overseas. This was a sophisti-

cated airplane that pioneered con-

cepts and solutions to problems of

high-speed flight, as well as combat

suitability. The P-38 did much to

establish the reputation of the

Lockheed company, and designer

Kelly Johnson.

skin" of the P-38 by using technical

art from the manuals to illustrate

details of the Lightning. The text

relies heavily on official Air Force

and Lockheed documents to tell

the P-38's story, along with some

stories from guys like me who are

loyal to the Lightning to this day. In

these ways, the reader can under-

stand what we went through in

wartime to perfect the P-38 and

keep it in fighting trim right to the

end of the war.

We at Lockheed knocked our-

selves out trying to solve all the

crazy things that happened to our

very great P- 38.

As complex and lengthy as the

Lightning's development and

deployment was, its history has

been approached from many

angles. This book "gets under the

ANTHONY W. "TONY" LEVIER

1996

LeVier in the cockpitofa P-38 somewhere in England. He was the only flying tech. rep. in the u.K. at the time, and

was some sort ofoddity because he wore an Air Corps officer uniform but no insignia ofrank. Forever trying to

explain his position, he became an expert at"saluting everyone." (Tony LeVier)

WARBIRDTECH

I was one of four pilots to be

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