Lockheed P-38 Lightning

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, the P-38 was used in a number of roles, including dive bombing, level bombing,ground-attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance missions,and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.

The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the mount of America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers ofP-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war.

The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving, and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in the early versions was too slow for it to excel as a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m) (11.53 m)
• Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m) (15.85 m)
• Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m) (3.91 m)
• Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
• Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,800 kg)
• Loaded weight: 17,500 lb (7,940 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Allison V-1710-111/113 V-12 piston engine, 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm  each
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268
• Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 8.26

Performance

• Maximum speed: 414 mph (667 km/h) on Military Power: 1,425 hp at 54 inHg, 3,000 rpm at 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
• Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h) (170 km/h)
• Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) combat (1,770 km / 3,640 km)
• Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,000 m) (13,400 m)
• Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s) maximum
• Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
• Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5

Armament

• 1× Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
• 4× M2 Browning machine gun 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg.

• 4× M10 three-tube 4.5 in (112 mm) rocket launchers; or:
  • Inner hardpoints:
    • 2× 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks; or
    • 2× 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or drop tanks, plus either
      • 4× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or
      • 4× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs; or
    • 6× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
    • 6× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
  • Outer hardpoints:
    • 10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity Aircraft Rockets); or
    • 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
    • 2× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs