Lightning Strikes
Lightning Strikes

Author: Steve Blake

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2020-10-04

Total Pages: 669

ISBN-13:

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LIGHTNING STRIKES-THE LOCKHEED P-38 tells the full story of one of the most successful and versatile aircraft of the Second World War. The P-38 (including its F-4 and F-5 photo reconnaissance models) eventually served with all the USAAF's numbered overseas air forces, from early 1942 to VJ Day. The book describes the Lightning's design and its technical details as it gradually evolved and improved, from the original XP-38 to its final variant, the P-38L-5. The main focus is on its service in the combat theatres, from the frigid, windswept Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific to the steaming jungles of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, the burning sands of North Africa and the more temperate climes of Europe. All the units that flew the Lightning are included, as are the experiences of many of their pilots and ground crewmen as they fought the Japanese Empire and the European Axis. Also related are the P-38's service with foreign (non-U.S.) air forces, its postwar commercial utilization as civilian aircraft and the surviving examples in museums around the world. The book is extremely well illustrated by over 400 high-resolution photographs, art work and graphics, and is supplemented by detailed appendices.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning
Lockheed P-38 Lightning

Author: Mantelli - Brown - Kittel - Graf

Publisher: Edizioni R.E.I.

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 2372972073

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The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a twin-engine heavy fighter US long-range action, used during the Second World War by the RAF and the United States (AAC/AAF). At his appearance, in 1939, was a revolutionary aircraft, extremely innovative, thanks mainly to the fuselage double girder, the two engines with turbochargers Allison V inside the cross tail and the landing gear in tricycle front. The plane flew at the end of the thirties, and a copy was lost because swoop came to exceed 840 km/h, going in a regime of compressibility high Mach number because of its subtlety; this problem, which entailed the loss of effectiveness of the flight controls, was also found on other aircraft (eg. on the P-47). In 1939, flew over the United States from coast to coast, in just 7 hours and 2 minutes with only two stops for refueling, a performance which in those days was incredible. The P-38 was probably the quietest fighter in history, given that the discharges were muffled by the turbo General Electric of the two motors Allison, and forgave many piloting mistakes but its roll rate was too low for him to excel as a fighter dogfights. Among the various innovations of the Lighting was the fact of being the first interceptor dell'USAAC twin engine and the first with tricycle front, with the first head rivets embedded on the surface of the fuselage, with the teardrop canopy, capable of 400 miles per hour and the first fighter to two fuselages.

P-38 Lightning at War
P-38 Lightning at War

Author: Joe Christy

Publisher:

Published: 1978

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13:

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This classic title traces the history of the Lightning from the earliest Lockheed "Model 22" through the severe compressibility problems of the prototype YP-38, to the P-38L-5, the fighter-bomber-reconnaissance aircraft of the USAAF in Italy and the Pacific. Graphically illustrated with over 200 action photographs and many eyewitness accounts, this book tells the story of a unique and innovative aircraft, revered for its adaptability and ability to limp home on one engine where other aircraft would have been destroyed.

P-38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group
P-38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group

Author: Steve Blake

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-07-20

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 178096871X

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When the 82nd Fighter Group was organized in March 1942, most of its initial pilot cadre was comprised of newly graduated staff sergeant pilots of Class 42-C – enlisted men! They learned to fly the P-38 at Muroc, in California's Mojave Desert, and then moved to the Los Angeles area to continue their training and to serve as part of its air defence. In September 1942 the group was transported to the East Coast, from where it shipped out to Ireland on the Queen Mary. By this time all its remaining sergeant pilots had been commissioned. As of VE-Day the 82nd Fighter Group's score of confirmed aerial victories stood at 548 aircraft shot down, plus a huge amount of enemy materiel – including aircraft – destroyed on the ground and the sea. It had been awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The cost of this success was high, however, for around 250 of the group's pilots had either been killed in action or captured.