249-652: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II . Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation , the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Along with its use as a general fighter , the P-38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as
498-586: A Japanese submarine chaser in March, which he mistakenly claimed as a destroyer sunk. Murray "Jim" Shubin used a less powerful F model he named "Oriole" to down five confirmed and possibly six Zeros over Guadalcanal in June 1943 to become ace in a day. The British name was retained over Lockheed's original name ' Atalanta ', the swift-running Greek goddess, following the company tradition of using mythological and celestial figures. The strategic bombing proponents within
747-532: A convergence zone . The P-38 cannon used heavier 20 mm rounds, creating a different trajectory, so it was inclined upward slightly more than the four machine guns such that the trajectories of the cannon rounds and .50-caliber bullets came together between 350 and 400 yards. Nose-mounted guns did not suffer as much from having their useful ranges limited by pattern convergence, meaning that good pilots could shoot much farther. A Lightning could reliably hit targets at any range up to 1,000 yd (910 m), whereas
996-618: A 2,500-mile (4,000 km) ferrying range. Because of available supply, the smaller drop tanks were used to fly Lightnings to the UK, the plan called Operation Bolero . Led by two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses , the first seven P-38s, each carrying two small drop tanks, left Presque Isle Army Air Field in Maine on 23 June 1942 for RAF Heathfield in Scotland. Their first refueling stop was made in far northeast Canada at Goose Bay . The second stop
1245-527: A 20 mm shell. The duration of sustained firing for the 20 mm cannon was about 14 seconds, while the .50-caliber machine guns worked for 35 seconds if each magazine were fully loaded with 500 rounds, or for 21 seconds if 300 rounds were loaded to save weight for long-distance flying. The Lockheed design incorporated tricycle undercarriage and a bubble canopy, and featured two 1,000 hp (750 kW) turbosupercharged 12-cylinder Allison V-1710 engines fitted with counter-rotating propellers to eliminate
1494-717: A P-38E in which the guns were replaced by four K17 cameras. They joined the 8th Photographic Squadron in Australia on 4 April 1942. Three F-4s were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force in this theater for a short period beginning in September 1942. On 29 May 1942, 25 P-38s began operating in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska . The fighter's long range made it well-suited to the campaign over
1743-741: A P-39. The last plane shot down by the Luftwaffe was a Soviet P-39, on 8 May by Oblt. Fritz Stehle of 2./JG 7 flying a Me 262 over the Ore Mountains . Also, the last Soviet air victory was in a P-39 on 9 May when Kapitan Vasily Pshenichikov scored against a Focke-Wulf Fw 189 over Prague . Five of the 10 highest scoring Soviet aces logged the majority of their kills in P-39s. Grigoriy Rechkalov scored 44 victories in Airacobras. Pokryshkin scored 47 of his 59 victories in P-39s, making him
1992-584: A by now mediocre performance. The first Eindecker victory came on 1 July 1915, when Leutnant Kurt Wintgens , of Feldflieger Abteilung 6 on the Western Front, downed a Morane-Saulnier Type L. His was one of five Fokker M.5 K/MG prototypes for the Eindecker , and was armed with a synchronized aviation version of the Parabellum MG14 machine gun. The success of the Eindecker kicked off
2241-470: A cadre of exceptional pilots. In the United Kingdom, at the behest of Neville Chamberlain (more famous for his 'peace in our time' speech), the entire British aviation industry was retooled, allowing it to change quickly from fabric covered metal framed biplanes to cantilever stressed skin monoplanes in time for the war with Germany, a process that France attempted to emulate, but too late to counter
2490-471: A characteristic Soviet test pilots demonstrated to the skeptical manufacturer, which had been unable to reproduce the effect. It was determined the spin could only be induced if the aircraft was flown with no ammunition in the nose. The flight manual noted a need to ballast the front ammunition compartment to achieve a reasonable center of gravity . High-speed controls were light, consequently high-speed turns and pull-outs were possible. The P-39 had to be held in
2739-435: A competitive cycle of improvement among the combatants, both sides striving to build ever more capable single-seat fighters. The Albatros D.I and Sopwith Pup of 1916 set the classic pattern followed by fighters for about twenty years. Most were biplanes and only rarely monoplanes or triplanes . The strong box structure of the biplane provided a rigid wing that allowed the accurate control essential for dogfighting. They had
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#17327837161192988-443: A difficult deflection shot. The first step in finding a real solution was to mount the weapon on the aircraft, but the propeller remained a problem since the best direction to shoot is straight ahead. Numerous solutions were tried. A second crew member behind the pilot could aim and fire a swivel-mounted machine gun at enemy airplanes; however, this limited the area of coverage chiefly to the rear hemisphere, and effective coordination of
3237-482: A dive since it tended to level out and the recommended never-exceed dive speed limit ( Vne ) was 475 mph (764 km/h). Soon after entering service, pilots began to report that "during flights of the P-39 in certain maneuvers, it tumbled end over end." Most of these events happened after the aircraft was stalled in a nose high attitude with considerable power applied. Bell pilots made 86 separate efforts to reproduce
3486-469: A dive. Lockheed still had to find the problem; the Army Air Forces personnel were sure it was flutter and ordered Lockheed to look more closely at the tail. In 1941, flutter was a familiar engineering problem related to a too-flexible tail, but the P-38's empennage was completely skinned in aluminum rather than fabric and was quite rigid. At no time did the P-38 suffer from true flutter. To prove
3735-580: A few aircraft in 82nd Fighter Group were to fly cover, and all fighters were to strafe targets of opportunity on the return trip; a distance of some 1,255 miles (2,020 km), including a circuitous outward route made in an attempt to achieve surprise. Some 85 or 86 fighters arrived in Romania to find enemy airfields alerted, with a wide assortment of aircraft scrambling for safety. P-38s shot down several, including heavy fighters , transports, and observation aircraft. At Ploiești, defense forces were fully alert,
3984-571: A few pilots who tried to make an attack and then pull up... One cardinal rule we never forgot was to avoid fighting the P-38 head on. That was suicide." Stigler said the best defense was to flick-roll the Bf 109 and dive, as the Lightning was slow in the first 10° of roll, and it was not as fast in a dive. Herbert Kaiser , eventually a 68-kill ace, shot down his first P-38 in January 1943. Kaiser said that
4233-517: A few were still serving that role in 1945. A few RP-322s were later used as test modification platforms such as for smoke-laying canisters. The RP-322 was a fairly fast aircraft below 16,000 ft (4,900 m) and well-behaved as a trainer. Many of the British order of 524 Lightning IIs were fitted with stronger F-10 Allison engines as they became available, and all were given wing pylons for fuel tanks or bombs. The upgraded aircraft were deployed to
4482-552: A form that would replace all others in the 1930s. As collective combat experience grew, the more successful pilots such as Oswald Boelcke , Max Immelmann , and Edward Mannock developed innovative tactical formations and maneuvers to enhance their air units' combat effectiveness. Allied and – before 1918 – German pilots of World War I were not equipped with parachutes , so in-flight fires or structural failures were often fatal. Parachutes were well-developed by 1918 having previously been used by balloonists, and were adopted by
4731-644: A fuselage nose as the snout of a high-velocity bullet". Entry to the cockpit was through side doors (mounted on both sides of the cockpit) rather than a sliding canopy. Its unusual engine location and the long drive shaft caused some concern to pilots at first, but experience showed this was no more of a hazard in a crash landing than with an engine located forward of the cockpit. There were no problems with propeller shaft failure. The XP-39 made its maiden flight on 6 April 1938. at Wright Field , Ohio, achieving 390 mph (630 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6,100 m), reaching this altitude in only five minutes. However,
4980-664: A great deal of ground-attack work. In World War II, the USAAF and RAF often favored fighters over dedicated light bombers or dive bombers , and types such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Hurricane that were no longer competitive as aerial combat fighters were relegated to ground attack. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations though they had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons. The F-111B variant
5229-403: A heavier and more powerful aircraft at higher altitude. Specifications called for at least 1,000 lb (450 kg) of heavy armament including a cannon, a liquid-cooled Allison engine with a General Electric turbo-supercharger , tricycle landing gear , a level airspeed of at least 360 mph (580 km/h) at altitude, and a climb to 20,000 ft (6,100 m) within six minutes. This
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#17327837161195478-804: A high-speed gunnery pass. This was the first Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed by the USAAF. After 347 sorties with no enemy contact, the 1st and 14th Fighter Groups transferred from the UK to the 12th Air Force in North Africa as part of the force being built up for Operation Torch . The Lightning's long range allowed the pilots to fly their fighters over the Bay of Biscay , skirting neutral Spain and Portugal to refuel in Morocco. The P-38s were initially based at Tafaroui Airfield in Algeria alongside P-40 Warhawks and
5727-413: A highly effective fighter-bomber , a night fighter , and a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks . The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers , or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of American aerial film captured over Europe. Although it
5976-418: A large formation of Romanian IAR.81C fighters of the 6th Fighter Group . The fight took place below 300 feet (100 m) in a narrow valley and lasted 12 minutes. Herbert Hatch saw two IAR 81Cs that he misidentified as Focke-Wulf Fw 190s hit the ground after taking fire from his guns, and his fellow pilots confirmed three more of his kills. Three of his victories were confirmed by gun camera . However,
6225-454: A maximum airspeed of at least 360 mph (580 km/h) at altitude, and a climb to 20,000 ft (6,100 m) within six minutes, the toughest set of specifications USAAC had ever presented. The unbuilt Vultee XP1015 design was offered to fill this requirement, but was not advanced enough to merit further investigation. A similar proposal for a single-engined fighter was issued at the same time, Circular Proposal X-609, in response to which
6474-431: A number of twin-engine fighters were built; however they were found to be outmatched against single-engine fighters and were relegated to other tasks, such as night fighters equipped with radar sets. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the turbojet engine was far less than a piston engine, having two engines
6723-550: A part of military nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use, along with a number to indicate the specific aircraft. The letters used to designate a fighter differ in various countries. In the English-speaking world, "F" is often now used to indicate a fighter (e.g. Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II or Supermarine Spitfire F.22 ), though "P" used to be used in
6972-467: A pilot to deal with the situation by reducing power on the running engine, feathering the prop on the failed engine, and then increasing power gradually until the aircraft was in stable flight. Single-engined takeoffs were possible, though not with a full fuel and ammunition load. The engines were unusually quiet because the exhausts were muffled by the General Electric turbosuperchargers on
7221-695: A point, one elevator and its vertical stabilizers were skinned with metal 63% thicker than standard, but the increase in rigidity made no difference in vibration. Army Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth B. Wolfe (head of Army Production Engineering) asked Lockheed to try external mass balances above and below the elevator, although the P-38 already had large mass balances elegantly placed within each vertical stabilizer. Various configurations of external mass balances were equipped, and dangerously steep test flights were flown to document their performance. Explaining to Wolfe in Report No. 2414, Kelly Johnson wrote, "the violence of
7470-481: A poor assessment of the "tail flutter" situation, and the British cancelled all but three of the 143 Lightning Is. As a loss around US$ 15M was involved, Lockheed reviewed their contracts and decided to hold the British to the original order. Negotiations grew bitter and stalled. Everything changed after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, after which the United States government seized some 40 of
7719-638: A range of specialized aircraft types. Some of the most expensive fighters such as the US Grumman F-14 Tomcat , McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle , Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and Russian Sukhoi Su-27 were employed as all-weather interceptors as well as air superiority fighter aircraft, while commonly developing air-to-ground roles late in their careers. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target (or intercept) bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate. As
Lockheed P-38 Lightning - Misplaced Pages Continue
7968-462: A range of twin-engined configurations, including both engines in a central fuselage with push–pull propellers. The eventual configuration was rare in contemporary production fighter aircraft design, with the Dutch Fokker G.I heavy fighter, and the later Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter and Swedish SAAB 21 having a similar planform . The Lockheed team chose twin booms to accommodate
8217-973: A recently downed German aviator, as described by Life magazine in August 1943. However, the reliability of this attribution is doubtful as the clear intent of the article was to rehabilitate the P-38's reputation in the minds of the American public. No earlier independent or German attestation exists for this claim. The P-38s remained active in the Mediterranean for the rest of the war, continuing to deliver and receive damage in combat. On 30 August 1943, 13 P-38s were shot down by German and Italian fighters while escorting B-26 and B-17 bombers on raids against targets in Italy. On 2 September, 10 P-38s were shot down in combat with Bf 109s of JG 53 , with four Bf 109s, including that of 67-victory ace Franz Schieß , who had been
8466-518: A regular basis over New Guinea. Compilation of combat reports indicates the Zero was either equal to or close to the P-39 in speed at the altitudes of the various low level encounters. From September to November 1942, pilots of the 57th Fighter Squadron flew P-39s and P-38s from an airfield built on land bulldozed into Kuluk Bay on the barren island of Adak in Alaska's Aleutian Islands . They attacked
8715-399: A relief tube in the shape of a funnel. The armored glass was very strong, extremely thick. The armor on the back was also thick. The oxygen equipment was reliable, although the mask was quite small, only covering the nose and mouth. We wore that mask only at high altitude. The HF radio set was powerful, reliable and clear." Soviet pilot Nikolai G. Golodnikov, recalling his experiences of
8964-742: A result, during the early months of these campaigns, Axis air forces destroyed large numbers of Red Air Force aircraft on the ground and in one-sided dogfights. In the later stages on the Eastern Front, Soviet training and leadership improved, as did their equipment. By 1942 Soviet designs such as the Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-5 had performance comparable to the German Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 . Also, significant numbers of British, and later U.S., fighter aircraft were supplied to aid
9213-721: A result, the first USAAF fighter units in the European Theater were equipped with the Spitfire V . However, the P-39D's roll rate was 75°/s at 235 mph (378 km/h) – better than the A6M2 , F4F , or P-38 up to 265 mph (426 km/h). Above the supercharger's peak altitude of about 12,000 ft (3,700 m), performance dropped off rapidly, limiting usefulness in traditional fighter missions in Europe as well as in
9462-458: A rotary magazine as a substitute for the nonexistent 25 mm Hotchkiss aircraft autocannon specified by Kelsey and Saville. In the prototype YP-38s, an Army Ordnance Department T9 37 mm (1.46 in) autocannon (later designated as the M4 in production) with 15 rounds replaced the 23 mm T1. The 15 rounds were in three five-round clips, an unsatisfactory arrangement according to Kelsey, and
9711-643: A separate (and vulnerable) radiator, but had increased drag. Inline engines often had a better power-to-weight ratio . Some air forces experimented with " heavy fighters " (called "destroyers" by the Germans). These were larger, usually twin-engined aircraft, sometimes adaptations of light or medium bomber types. Such designs typically had greater internal fuel capacity (thus longer range) and heavier armament than their single-engine counterparts. In combat, they proved vulnerable to more agile single-engine fighters. The primary driver of fighter innovation, right up to
9960-420: A single operator, who flew the aircraft and also controlled its armament. They were armed with one or two Maxim or Vickers machine guns, which were easier to synchronize than other types, firing through the propeller arc. Gun breeches were in front of the pilot, with obvious implications in case of accidents, but jams could be cleared in flight, while aiming was simplified. The use of metal aircraft structures
10209-494: A speed of 391 mph (629 km/h) at 14,400 ft (4,400 m) in flight test. As this speed was within 1% of the guarantee, the aircraft was declared to have satisfied contractual obligations. Despite the success of these modifications, none were applied to other production P-39s. Later testing of a standard production P-400 by the British Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) revealed
Lockheed P-38 Lightning - Misplaced Pages Continue
10458-435: A speed range where no one had ever been before, and we had difficulty convincing people that it wasn't the funny-looking airplane itself, but a fundamental physical problem. We found out what happened when the Lightning shed its tail and we worked during the whole war to get 15 more kn [28 km/h] of speed out of the P-38. We saw compressibility as a brick wall for a long time. Then we learned how to get through it. Buffeting
10707-401: A speed record by flying from California to New York in seven hours and two minutes, not counting two refueling stops. Kelsey flew conservatively for most of the way, working the engines gently, even throttling back during descent to remove the associated speed advantage. Bundled up against the cold, Arnold congratulated Kelsey at Wright Field during his final refueling stop, and said, "don't spare
10956-510: A squadron of his P-38 Lightnings attacked Field Marshal Günther von Kluge 's headquarters in July 1944; Nichols himself skipped a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb through the front door. The 370th later operated from Cardonville , France, and the 474th from various bases in France, flying ground-attack missions against gun emplacements, troops, supply dumps, and tanks near Saint-Lô in July and in
11205-480: A sure kill". On 12 June 1943, a P-38G, while flying a special mission between Gibraltar and Malta , or perhaps, just after strafing the radar station of Capo Pula, landed on the airfield of Capoterra ( Cagliari ), in Sardinia , from navigation error due to a compass failure. Regia Aeronautica chief test pilot Colonnello (Lieutenant Colonel) Angelo Tondi flew the captured aircraft to Guidonia airfield, where
11454-474: A top speed of 429 mph (690 km/h) could be realized with the aerodynamic improvements they had developed and an uprated V-1710 with only a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. At a pivotal meeting with the USAAC and NACA in August 1939, Larry Bell proposed that the production P-39 aircraft be configured without the turbocharger. Some historians have questioned Bell's true motivation in reconfiguring
11703-406: A top speed of only 359 mph (578 km/h). The British export models were renamed Airacobra in 1941. A further 150 were specified for delivery under Lend-Lease in 1941 but these were not supplied. The Royal Air Force (RAF) took delivery in mid-1941 and found that performance of the non-turbo-supercharged production aircraft differed markedly from what they were expecting. In some areas,
11952-402: Is a fast, heavily armed and long-range type, able to act as an escort fighter protecting bombers , to carry out offensive sorties of its own as a penetration fighter and maintain standing patrols at significant distance from its home base. Bombers are vulnerable due to their low speed, large size and poor maneuvrability. The escort fighter was developed during World War II to come between
12201-549: Is able to defend itself while conducting attack sorties. The word "fighter" was first used to describe a two-seat aircraft carrying a machine gun (mounted on a pedestal) and its operator as well as the pilot . Although the term was coined in the United Kingdom, the first examples were the French Voisin pushers beginning in 1910, and a Voisin III would be the first to shoot down another aircraft, on 5 October 1914. However at
12450-623: Is known as an interceptor . Recognized classes of fighter include: Of these, the Fighter-bomber , reconnaissance fighter and strike fighter classes are dual-role, possessing qualities of the fighter alongside some other battlefield role. Some fighter designs may be developed in variants performing other roles entirely, such as ground attack or unarmed reconnaissance . This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, or other reasons. The Sopwith Camel and other "fighting scouts" of World War I performed
12699-618: The 39th Fighter Squadron of the 35th Fighter Group, joined his assorted P-39s and P-40s. The Lightnings established local air superiority with their first combat action on 27 December 1942. Kenney sent repeated requests to Arnold for more P-38s, and was rewarded with occasional shipments, but Europe was a higher priority in Washington. Despite their small force, Lightning pilots began to compete in racking up scores against Japanese aircraft. On 2–4 March 1943, P-38s flew top cover for 5th Air Force and Australian bombers and attack aircraft during
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#173278371611912948-487: The Air Corps Tactical School , issued a specification for a new fighter via Circular Proposal X-609 . It was a request for a single-engine high-altitude " interceptor " having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude". Despite being called an interceptor, the proposed aircraft's role was simply an extension of the traditional pursuit (fighter) role, using
13197-644: The Battle of Britain and The Blitz . British displeasure with the Lockheed order came to the fore in July, and on 5 August 1941, they modified the contract such that 143 aircraft would be delivered as previously ordered, to be known as "Lightning (Mark) I", and 524 would be upgraded to US-standard P-38E specifications with a top speed of 415 mph (668 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6,100 m) guaranteed, to be called "Lightning II", for British service. Later that summer, an RAF test pilot reported back from Burbank with
13446-534: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea , in which eight Japanese troop transports and four escorting destroyers were sunk. Two P-38 aces from the 39th Fighter Squadron were killed on the second day of the battle: Bob Faurot and Hoyt "Curley" Eason (a veteran with five victories who had trained hundreds of pilots, including Dick Bong). In one notable engagement on 3 March 1943, P-38s escorted 13 B-17s (part of an attack including B-25 Mitchells and Beaufighters) as they bombed
13695-506: The Bell P-39 Airacobra was designed. Both proposals required liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines with turbosuperchargers and gave extra points for tricycle landing gear . Lockheed formed a secretive engineering team to implement the project apart from the main factory; this approach later became known as Skunk Works . The Lockheed design team, under the direction of Hall Hibbard and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson , considered
13944-740: The China Burma India Theater by March 1944 and the 350th began transition to the P-47D in August 1944, remaining in Italy with the 12th Air Force. The most successful and numerous use of the P-39 was by the Soviet Air Forces . They received the considerably improved N and Q models via the Alaska-Siberia ferry route . The tactical environment of the Eastern Front did not demand the high-altitude performance
14193-562: The Combined Bomber Offensive . Unescorted Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers, however, proved unable to fend off German interceptors (primarily Bf 109s and Fw 190s). With the later arrival of long range fighters, particularly the North American P-51 Mustang , American fighters were able to escort far into Germany on daylight raids and by ranging ahead attrited
14442-538: The European Theater of Operations (ETO) P-38Js were destroyed in a mistaken identification incident in which an RAF fighter shot down the Douglas C-54 Skymaster (mistaken for a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ) taking the shipment to England. Back in Burbank, P-38Js coming off the assembly line in spring 1944 were towed out to the ramp and modified in the open air. The flaps were finally incorporated into
14691-552: The Falaise – Argentan area in August 1944. The 370th participated in ground-attack missions across Europe until February 1945, when the unit changed over to the P-51 Mustang . The 474th operated out of bases in France, Belgium, and Germany in primarily the ground-attack missions until November–December 1945. After some disastrous raids in 1944 with B-17s escorted by P-38s and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts , Doolittle, then head of
14940-585: The Junkers D.I , made with corrugated duralumin , all based on his experience in creating the pioneering Junkers J 1 all-metal airframe technology demonstration aircraft of late 1915. While Fokker would pursue steel tube fuselages with wooden wings until the late 1930s, and Junkers would focus on corrugated sheet metal, Dornier was the first to build a fighter (the Dornier-Zeppelin D.I ) made with pre-stressed sheet aluminum and having cantilevered wings,
15189-491: The NASA Langley Research Center 20-foot (6 m) Free-Spinning Tunnel during the 1970s. A study of old reports showed that during earlier tests the aircraft never tumbled. However, it was noted that all testing had been done with a simulated full ammunition load, which moved the center of gravity forward. After finding the original spin test model of the P-39 in storage, the new study first duplicated
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#173278371611915438-453: The RAF and the USAAF against German industry intended to wear down the Luftwaffe. Axis fighter aircraft focused on defending against Allied bombers while Allied fighters' main role was as bomber escorts. The RAF raided German cities at night, and both sides developed radar-equipped night fighters for these battles. The Americans, in contrast, flew daylight bombing raids into Germany delivering
15687-588: The Sopwith Tabloid and Bristol Scout . The French and the Germans didn't have an equivalent as they used two seaters for reconnaissance, such as the Morane-Saulnier L , but would later modify pre-war racing aircraft into armed single seaters. It was quickly found that these were of little use since the pilot couldn't record what he saw while also flying, while military leaders usually ignored what
15936-494: The South West Pacific theater , the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the introduction of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war. Unusual for an early-war fighter design, both engines were supplemented by turbosuperchargers , making it one of the earliest Allied fighters capable of performing well at high altitudes. The turbosuperchargers also muffled
16185-737: The Stangensteuerung in German, for "pushrod control system") devised by the engineers of Anthony Fokker 's firm was the first system to enter service. It would usher in what the British called the " Fokker scourge " and a period of air superiority for the German forces, making the Fokker Eindecker monoplane a feared name over the Western Front , despite its being an adaptation of an obsolete pre-war French Morane-Saulnier racing airplane, with poor flight characteristics and
16434-422: The invasion of Normandy , so he could watch the progress of the air offensive over France. At one point in the mission, Doolittle flick-rolled through a hole in the cloud cover, but his wingman , then–Major General Earle E. Partridge , was looking elsewhere and failed to notice Doolittle's quick maneuver, leaving Doolittle to continue on alone on his survey of the crucial battle. Of the P-38, Doolittle said that it
16683-712: The tailplane . Pilots taking low-altitude assignments often flew stripped down to shorts, tennis shoes, and parachute. While the P-38 could not out-turn the A6M Zero and most other Japanese fighters when flying below 200 mph (320 km/h), its superior speed coupled with a good rate of climb meant that it could use energy tactics , making multiple high-speed passes at its target. In addition, its tightly grouped guns were even more deadly to lightly armored Japanese warplanes than to German aircraft. The concentrated, parallel stream of bullets allowed aerial victory at much longer distances than fighters carrying wing guns. Dick Bong ,
16932-500: The 1st FG, both credited with five wins by 26 December. Smith got a sixth enemy aircraft on 28 December, but was killed two days later in a crash landing, likely after taking fire from Oberfeldwebel Herbert Rollwage of JG 53, who survived the war with at least 71 kills. This was Rollwage's first victory over a P-38, and his 35th claim at the time. The two squadrons of the 14th Fighter Group were reduced so badly in December 1942 that
17181-422: The 1st Fighter Group were flown across the Atlantic via Iceland. On 14 August 1942, Second Lieutenant Elza Shahan of the 27th Fighter Squadron, and Second Lieutenant Joseph Shaffer of the 33rd Squadron operating out of Iceland shot down a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor over the Atlantic. Shaffer, flying either a P-40C or a P-39, scored the first hit, causing a fire on the Condor; Shahan in his P-38F finished it off with
17430-559: The 1st and 82nd Fighter Groups took off from Italy for Ploiești , the third-most heavily defended target in Europe, after Berlin and Vienna . Instead of bombing from high altitude as had been tried by the Fifteenth Air Force , USAAF planning had determined that a dive-bombing surprise attack, beginning at about 7,000 feet (2,100 m) with bomb release at or below 3,000 feet (900 m), performed by 46 82nd Fighter Group P-38s, each carrying one 1,000-pound (500 kg) bomb, would yield more accurate results. All of 1st Fighter Group and
17679-414: The 82nd FG was flown from the UK to North Africa to cover the shortage. The first kill by the 82nd was during a bomber-escort mission on 7 January 1943, when William J. "Dixie" Sloan broke formation and turned toward six attacking Bf 109s to shoot one of them down. Known for his maverick style, Sloan racked up 12 victories by July 1943. After another heavy toll in January 1943, 14th FG had to be withdrawn from
17928-694: The Airacobra in the VVS was Kobrushka ("little cobra") or Kobrastochka , a blend of Kobra and Lastochka (swallow), "dear little cobra". "I liked the Cobra, especially the Q-5 version. It was the lightest version of all Cobras and was the best fighter I ever flew. The cockpit was very comfortable, and visibility was outstanding. The instrument panel was very ergonomic, with the entire complement of instruments right up to an artificial horizon and radio compass. It even had
18177-591: The Airacobra was inferior to existing aircraft such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire and its performance at altitude suffered drastically. Tests by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Boscombe Down showed the Airacobra reached 355 mph (571 km/h) at 13,000 ft (4,000 m). The cockpit layout was criticized, and it was noted that the pilot would have difficulty in bailing out in an emergency because
18426-543: The American units was for the P-38s to fly near the bombers at all times rather than to defend aggressively or to fly ahead and clear the airspace for the bombers, and many American pilots were downed because of this limitation. Losses mounted, and all available P-38s in the UK were flown over to North Africa to restore squadron strength. After this painful experience, the American leadership changed tactics, and in February 1943,
18675-479: The Army Air Corps units and would be the first ones to see action. The P-39 was an all-metal, low-wing, single-engine fighter, with a tricycle undercarriage and an Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled V-12 engine mounted in the central fuselage, directly behind the cockpit. The Airacobra was one of the first production fighters to be conceived as a "weapons system"; in this case the aircraft (known originally as
18924-641: The B-24) were easy to burn. Once in Africa, we were six, and met eight P-38s and shot down seven. One sees a great distance in Africa and our observers and flak people called in sightings and we could get altitude first and they were low and slow." General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland was unimpressed with the P-38, declaring "it had similar shortcomings in combat to our Bf 110 , our fighters were clearly superior to it." Heinz Bäer said that P-38s "were not difficult at all. They were easy to outmaneuver and were generally
19173-614: The Bell Model 4) was designed to provide a platform for the 37 mm T9 cannon . This weapon, which was designed in 1934 by the American Armament Corporation, a division of Oldsmobile , fired a 1.3 lb (0.59 kg) projectile capable of piercing .8 in (20 mm) of armor at 500 yd (460 m) with armor-piercing rounds. The 90-inch-long (2.3 m), 200 lb (90 kg) weapon had to be rigidly mounted and fire parallel to and close to
19422-668: The British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force referred to them as " scouts " until the early 1920s, while the U.S. Army called them "pursuit" aircraft until the late 1940s (using the designation P, as in Curtiss P-40 Warhawk , Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Bell P-63 Kingcobra ). The UK changed to calling them fighters in the 1920s , while the US Army did so in the 1940s. A short-range fighter designed to defend against incoming enemy aircraft
19671-639: The British, the Americans, the Spanish (in the Spanish civil war) and the Germans. Given limited budgets, air forces were conservative in aircraft design, and biplanes remained popular with pilots for their agility, and remained in service long after they ceased to be competitive. Designs such as the Gloster Gladiator , Fiat CR.42 Falco , and Polikarpov I-15 were common even in the late 1930s, and many were still in service as late as 1942. Up until
19920-517: The Eighth in England in September 1943, and were joined by the 20th Fighter Group , 364th Fighter Group , and 479th Fighter Group soon after. P-38s and Spitfires escorted Flying Fortress raids over Europe. Because its distinctive shape was less prone to cases of mistaken identity and friendly fire , Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle , commander of the 8th Air Force, chose to pilot a P-38 during
20169-668: The European battlefield, played a crucial role in the eventual defeat of the Axis, which Reichmarshal Hermann Göring , commander of the German Luftwaffe summed up when he said: "When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." Bell P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . It
20418-483: The German flying services during the course of that year. The well known and feared Manfred von Richthofen , the "Red Baron", was wearing one when he was killed, but the allied command continued to oppose their use on various grounds. In April 1917, during a brief period of German aerial supremacy a British pilot's average life expectancy was calculated to average 93 flying hours, or about three weeks of active service. More than 50,000 airmen from both sides died during
20667-552: The German invasion. The period of improving the same biplane design over and over was now coming to an end, and the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire started to supplant the Gloster Gladiator and Hawker Fury biplanes but many biplanes remained in front-line service well past the start of World War II. While not a combatant in Spain, they too absorbed many of the lessons in time to use them. The Spanish Civil War also provided an opportunity for updating fighter tactics. One of
20916-756: The Italians developed several monoplanes such as the Fiat G.50 Freccia , but being short on funds, were forced to continue operating obsolete Fiat CR.42 Falco biplanes. From the early 1930s the Japanese were at war against both the Chinese Nationalists and the Russians in China, and used the experience to improve both training and aircraft, replacing biplanes with modern cantilever monoplanes and creating
21165-905: The Japanese Nakajima Ki-27 , Nakajima Ki-43 and Mitsubishi A6M Zero and the Italian Fiat G.50 Freccia and Macchi MC.200 . In contrast, designers in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States believed that the increased speed of fighter aircraft would create g -forces unbearable to pilots who attempted maneuvering dogfights typical of the First World War, and their fighters were instead optimized for speed and firepower. In practice, while light, highly maneuverable aircraft did possess some advantages in fighter-versus-fighter combat, those could usually be overcome by sound tactical doctrine, and
21414-581: The Japanese convoy from a medium altitude of 7,000 ft (2,100 m), which dispersed the convoy formation and reduced their concentrated antiaircraft firepower. A B-17 was shot down and when Japanese Zero fighters machine-gunned some of the B-17 crew members who bailed out in parachutes, three P-38s promptly dived into action, claiming five Zeros. Fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also pursuit aircraft ) are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat . In military conflict,
21663-456: The Japanese forces that had invaded Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutians in June 1942. The factor that claimed the most lives was not the Japanese but the weather. The low clouds, heavy mist and fog, driving rain, snow, and high winds made flying dangerous and lives miserable. The 57th remained in Alaska until November 1942, then returned to the United States. While Lieutenant Bill Fiedler
21912-562: The Luftwaffe to establish control of the skies over Western Europe. By the time of Operation Overlord in June 1944, the Allies had gained near complete air superiority over the Western Front. This cleared the way both for intensified strategic bombing of German cities and industries, and for the tactical bombing of battlefield targets. With the Luftwaffe largely cleared from the skies, Allied fighters increasingly served as ground attack aircraft. Allied fighters, by gaining air superiority over
22161-662: The Luftwaffe, and while the Luftwaffe maintained a qualitative edge over the Red Air Force for much of the war, the increasing numbers and efficacy of the Soviet Air Force were critical to the Red Army's efforts at turning back and eventually annihilating the Wehrmacht . Meanwhile, air combat on the Western Front had a much different character. Much of this combat focused on the strategic bombing campaigns of
22410-615: The M4 cannon with its powerful rounds and the reliable action but complained about the low rate of fire (three rounds per second) and inadequate ammunition storage (only 30 rounds). The Soviets used the Airacobra primarily for air-to-air combat against a variety of German aircraft, including Bf 109s, Focke-Wulf Fw 190s , Ju 87s, and Ju 88s . During the battle of Kuban River, VVS relied on P-39s much more than Spitfires and P-40s. Aleksandr Pokryshkin , from 16. Gv.IAP ( 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment ), claimed 20 victories in that campaign in
22659-585: The Model 322s for West Coast defense; subsequently all British Lightnings were delivered to the USAAF starting in January 1942. The USAAF lent the RAF three of the aircraft, which were delivered by sea in March 1942 and were test flown no earlier than May at Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft Swaythling, the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) and the Royal Aircraft Establishment . The A&AEE example
22908-536: The P-38 should be respected as a formidable opponent, that it was faster and more maneuverable than the Bf 109G-6 model he flew, especially since the G-6 was slowed by underwing cannon pods. Johann Pichler , another high-scoring ace, said that the P-38 in 1943 was much faster in a climb than the Bf 109. Kurt Bühligen , third-highest scoring German pilot on the Western front with 112 victories, recalled: "The P-38 fighter (and
23157-545: The P-38 suffered its highest losses in the Mediterranean Theater. The primary function of the P-38 in North Africa was to escort bombers, but the fighters also targeted transport aircraft, and later in the campaign, they were sometimes tasked with ground-attack missions. When tied to bomber-escort duties, the P-38 squadrons were vulnerable to attack from above by German fighters, who selected the most advantageous position and timing. The initial tactical doctrine of
23406-399: The P-38, which by this time had seen success with small drop tanks in the range of 150 to 165 US gal (570 to 620 L), the difference in capacity being the result of subcontractor production variation. Arnold ordered further tests with larger drop tanks in the range of 300 to 310 US gal (1,100 to 1,200 L); the results were reported by Kelsey as providing the P-38 with
23655-558: The P-38E model, without putting his request in writing. It is possible that Kelsey was responding to Colonel George William Goddard 's observation that the US sorely needed a high-speed, long-range photo reconnaissance plane. Along with a change order specifying some P-38Es be produced with guns replaced by photoreconnaissance cameras, to be designated the F-4-1-LO, Lockheed began working out
23904-537: The P-38G onward was capable of being fitted with drop tanks straight off the assembly line. In March 1942, General Arnold made an off-hand comment that the US could avoid the German U-boat menace by flying fighters to the UK rather than packing them onto ships. President Roosevelt pressed the point, emphasizing his interest in the solution. Arnold was likely aware of the flying radius extension work being done on
24153-403: The P-38G was evaluated. On 11 August 1943, Tondi took off to intercept a formation of about 50 bombers, returning from the bombing of Terni ( Umbria ). Tondi attacked B-17G Bonny Sue , 42–30307, that fell off the shore of Torvaianica , near Rome , while six airmen parachuted out. According to US sources, he also damaged three more bombers on that occasion. On 4 September, the 301st BG reported
24402-400: The P-38s were given free rein in their battles. The first German success against the P-38 was on 28 November 1942, when Bf 109 pilots of Jagdgeschwader 53 claimed seven Lightnings for no loss of their own. Further one-sided German victories were noted on several occasions through January 1943. The first P-38 pilots to achieve ace status were Virgil Smith of the 14th FG and Jack Illfrey of
24651-533: The P-39 The first Soviet Cobras had a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon and two heavy Browning machine guns, synchronized and mounted in the nose. Later, Cobras arrived with the M4 37 mm cannon and four machine guns, two synchronized and two wing-mounted. "We immediately removed the wing machine guns, leaving one cannon and two machine guns," Golodnikov recalled later. That modification improved roll rate by reducing rotational inertia . Soviet airmen appreciated
24900-561: The P-40 and were assigned P-39s in February 1944, but only flew the type for a few weeks. The 99th carried out their duties including supporting Operation Shingle over Anzio as well as missions over the Gulf of Naples in the Airacobra but achieved few aerial victories. The major MTO P-39 operators included the 81st and 350th Fighter Groups , both flying the maritime patrol mission from North Africa and on through Italy. The 81st transferred to
25149-526: The Pacific as USAAC F-5A reconnaissance or P-38G fighter models, the latter used with great effect in the operation that shot down Admiral Yamamoto in April 1943. Robert Petit's G model named Miss Virginia was on that mission, borrowed by Rex Barber , who was later credited with the kill. Petit had already used Miss Virginia to defeat two Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe" floatplanes in February and to heavily damage
25398-409: The Pacific, where it was not uncommon for Japanese bombers to attack from above the P-39's ceiling (which in the tropical heat was lower than in cooler climates). The late production N and Q models, which made up 75% of Airacobras built, could maintain a top speed of 375 mph (604 km/h) up to 20,000 ft (6,100 m). Weight distribution could result in it entering a dangerous flat spin ,
25647-452: The RAF and AAF did. The comparatively low-speed, low-altitude nature of most air combat on the Eastern Front suited the P-39's strengths: sturdy construction, reliable radio gear, and good firepower. Soviet pilots appreciated the cannon-armed P-39 primarily for its air-to-air capability. A common Western misconception is that the Bell fighters were used as ground attack aircraft. This is because
25896-598: The RAF rejecting the type after one combat mission. In March 1942, the unit re-equipped with Spitfires. The Airacobras already in the UK, along with the remainder of the first batch being built in the US, were sent to the Soviet Air force, the sole exception being AH574 , which was passed to the Royal Navy and used for experimental work, including the first carrier landing by a tricycle undercarriage aircraft, on 4 April 1945 on HMS Pretoria Castle , until it
26145-555: The Soviet Polikarpov I-16 . The later German design was earlier in its design cycle, and had more room for development and the lessons learned led to greatly improved models in World War II. The Russians failed to keep up and despite newer models coming into service, I-16s remaining the most common Soviet front-line fighter into 1942 despite being outclassed by the improved Bf 109s in World War II. For their part,
26394-620: The Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program . There were numerous minor variations in engine, propeller, and armament, but no major structural changes in production types, excepting a few two-seat TP-39F and RP-39Q trainers. In addition, seven went to the U.S. Navy as radio-controlled drones . Trials of a laminar flow wing (in the XP-39E) and Continental IV-1430 engine (the P-76) were unsuccessful. The mid-engine, gun-through-hub concept
26643-763: The Soviet Union. Another 200 examples intended for the RAF were taken up by the USAAF after the attack on Pearl Harbor as the P-400 , and were sent to the Fifth Air Force in Australia, for service in the South West Pacific Theatre . By the date of the Pearl Harbor attack, nearly 600 P-39s had been built. When P-39 production ended in August 1944, Bell had built 9,558 Airacobras, of which 4,773 (mostly −39Ns and −39Qs ) were sent to
26892-467: The Soviet term for the mission of the P-39, prikrytiye sukhoputnykh voysk (coverage of ground forces) has been mistaken as meaning close air support . In Soviet usage, it has a broader meaning including protection of the airspace above army operations. Soviet-operated P-39s did make strafing attacks, but it was "never a primary mission or strong suit for this aircraft". To satisfy the strafing requirement,
27141-419: The Soviet war effort as part of Lend-Lease , with the Bell P-39 Airacobra proving particularly effective in the lower-altitude combat typical of the Eastern Front. The Soviets were also helped indirectly by the American and British bombing campaigns, which forced the Luftwaffe to shift many of its fighters away from the Eastern Front in defense against these raids. The Soviets increasingly were able to challenge
27390-554: The Soviets built thousands of heavily armored Ilyushin Il-2 aircraft. For the Bell fighters, the Soviets developed successful group aerial fighting tactics, and scored a surprising number of aerial victories over a variety of German aircraft. Soviet P-39s had no trouble dispatching Junkers Ju 87 Stuka s or German twin-engine bombers and matched, and in some areas surpassed, early and mid-war Messerschmitt Bf 109s . The usual nickname for
27639-468: The T9/M4 did not perform reliably in flight. Further armament experiments from March to June 1941 resulted in the P-38E combat configuration of four M2 Browning machine guns, and one Hispano 20 mm (.79 in) autocannon with 150 rounds. Clustering all the armament in the nose was unusual in U.S. aircraft, which typically used wing-mounted guns with trajectories set up to crisscross at one or more points in
27888-662: The U.S. Eighth Air Force, went to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough , asking for an evaluation of the various American fighters. Test pilot Captain Eric Brown , Fleet Air Arm , recalled: We had found out that the Bf ;109 and the FW ;190 could fight up to a Mach of 0.75, three-quarters the speed of sound. We checked the Lightning and it couldn't fly in combat faster than 0.68. So, it
28137-505: The U.S. was looking for combat aircraft; they ordered 675 of the export version Bell Model 14 as the Caribou on the strength of the company's representations on 13 April 1940. The British armament was two nose-mounted .50 caliber machine guns and four .303 caliber Browning machine guns in the wings. The 37 mm gun was replaced by a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon . British expectations had been set by performance figures established by
28386-557: The US for pursuit (e.g. Curtiss P-40 Warhawk ), a translation of the French "C" ( Dewoitine D.520 C.1 ) for Chasseur while in Russia "I" was used for Istrebitel , or exterminator ( Polikarpov I-16 ). As fighter types have proliferated, the air superiority fighter emerged as a specific role at the pinnacle of speed, maneuverability, and air-to-air weapon systems – able to hold its own against all other fighters and establish its dominance in
28635-659: The USAAF, nicknamed the Bomber Mafia by their ideological opponents, had established in the early 1930s a policy against research to create long-range fighters, which they thought would not be practical; this kind of research was not to compete for bomber resources. Aircraft manufacturers understood that they would not be rewarded if they installed subsystems on their fighters to enable them to carry drop tanks to provide more fuel for extended range. Lieutenant Kelsey, acting against this policy, risked his career in late 1941 when he convinced Lockheed to incorporate such subsystems in
28884-764: The United States' highest-scoring World War II air ace (40 victories in P-38s), flew directly at his targets to ensure he hit them, in some cases flying through the debris of his target (and on one occasion colliding with an enemy aircraft, which was claimed as a "probable" victory). The twin Allison engines performed admirably in the Pacific. General George C. Kenney , commander of the USAAF 5th Air Force operating in New Guinea , could not get enough P-38s; they had become his favorite fighter in November 1942 when one squadron,
29133-529: The United States, Russia, India and China. The first step was to find ways to reduce the aircraft's reflectivity to radar waves by burying the engines, eliminating sharp corners and diverting any reflections away from the radar sets of opposing forces. Various materials were found to absorb the energy from radar waves, and were incorporated into special finishes that have since found widespread application. Composite structures have become widespread, including major structural components, and have helped to counterbalance
29382-583: The XP-39 through its early engineering teething troubles, but he was ordered to England. The XP-39 project was handed over to others, and in June 1939 the prototype was ordered by General Henry H. Arnold to be evaluated in NACA wind tunnels to find ways of increasing its speed, by reducing parasitic drag. Tests were carried out, and Bell engineers followed the recommendations of NACA and the Army to reduce drag such that
29631-430: The XP-39 was found to be short on performance at altitude. Flight testing had found its top speed at 20,000 ft (6,100 m) to be lower than the 400 mph (640 km/h) of the original proposal. As originally specified by Kelsey and Saville, the XP-39 had a turbo-supercharger to augment its high-altitude performance. Bell cooled the turbo with a scoop on the left side of the fuselage. Kelsey wished to shepherd
29880-455: The XP-39B (P-39C, Model 13, the first 20 delivered) and two .50s and four .30s (all four in the wings) in the P-39D (Model 15), which also introduced self-sealing tanks and shackles (and piping) for a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb or drop tank. Because of the unconventional layout, there was no space in the fuselage to place a fuel tank. Although drop tanks were implemented to extend its range,
30129-565: The YP-38s had been built and flight tested, the USAAC ordered 66 initial-production P-38 Lightnings, 30 of which were delivered to the (renamed) USAAF in mid-1941, but not all these aircraft were armed. The unarmed aircraft were subsequently fitted with four .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns (instead of the two .50 in/12.7 mm and two .30 in/7.62 mm of their predecessors) and a 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon. They also had armored glass, cockpit armor, and fluorescent instrument lighting. One
30378-497: The ability to gather information by reconnaissance over the battlefield. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were biplanes built with a wooden frame covered with fabric, and a maximum airspeed of about 100 mph (160 km/h). A successful German biplane, the Albatross, however, was built with a plywood shell, rather than fabric, which created a stronger, faster airplane. As control of
30627-476: The advantages of fighting above Britain's home territory allowed the RAF to deny Germany air superiority, saving the UK from possible German invasion and dealing the Axis a major defeat early in the Second World War. On the Eastern Front , Soviet fighter forces were overwhelmed during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa . This was a result of the tactical surprise at the outset of the campaign,
30876-514: The aircraft fitted with two right-handed engines (not counter-rotating) without turbosuperchargers. Performance was supposed to be 400 mph (640 km/h) at 16,900 ft (5,200 m). After the fall of France in June 1940, the British took over the entire order and gave the aircraft the service name "Lightning". By June 1941, the War Ministry had cause to reconsider their earlier aircraft specifications based on experience gathered in
31125-409: The aircraft's stability as a gunnery platform. Test flights revealed problems initially believed to be tail flutter . During high-speed flight approaching Mach 0.68, especially during dives, the aircraft's tail would begin to shake violently and the nose would tuck under (see Mach tuck ), steepening the dive. Once caught in this dive, the fighter would enter a high-speed compressibility stall and
31374-538: The aircraft. The strongest hypothesis is that Bell's factory did not have an active production program and he was desperate for cash flow. Other historians mention that wind tunnel tests made the designers believe the turbocharger installation was so aerodynamically cluttered that it had more disadvantages than advantages. The Army ordered 12 YP-39s (with only single-stage, single-speed superchargers) for service evaluation and one YP-39A. After these trials were complete, which resulted in detail changes including deletion of
31623-534: The airspace over armies became increasingly important, all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations. Between the wars, wood was largely replaced in part or whole by metal tubing, and finally aluminum stressed skin structures (monocoque) began to predominate. By World War II , most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of machine guns or cannons and some were capable of speeds approaching 400 mph (640 km/h). Most fighters up to this point had one engine, but
31872-432: The almost 1,200-mile (1,900 km)-long island chain, and it was flown there for the rest of the war. The Aleutians were some of the most rugged environments available for testing the new aircraft under combat conditions. More Lightnings were lost due to severe weather and other conditions than enemy action; cases occurred where Lightning pilots, mesmerized by flying for hours over gray seas under gray skies, simply flew into
32121-502: The basis for an effective "fighter" in the modern sense of the word. It was based on small fast aircraft developed before the war for air racing such with the Gordon Bennett Cup and Schneider Trophy . The military scout airplane was not expected to carry serious armament, but rather to rely on speed to "scout" a location, and return quickly to report, making it a flying horse. British scout aircraft, in this sense, included
32370-488: The basis of the record flight, the Air Corps ordered 13 YP-38s on 27 April 1939 for US$ 134,284 (~$ 2.31 million in 2023) each. (The "Y" in "YP" was the USAAC's designation for service test, i.e. small numbers of early production aircraft, while the "X" in "XP" was for experimental .) Lockheed's chief test pilot , Tony LeVier , angrily characterized the accident as an unnecessary publicity stunt, but according to Kelsey,
32619-414: The bombers and enemy attackers as a protective shield. The primary requirement was for long range, with several heavy fighters given the role. However they too proved unwieldy and vulnerable, so as the war progressed techniques such as drop tanks were developed to extend the range of more nimble conventional fighters. The penetration fighter is typically also fitted for the ground-attack role, and so
32868-551: The bombing were not observed by the USAAF pilots because of the smoke. The dive-bombing mission profile was not repeated, though the 82nd Fighter Group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its part. Experiences over Germany had shown a need for long-range escort fighters to protect the Eighth Air Force 's heavy-bomber operations. The P-38Hs of the 55th Fighter Group were transferred to
33117-421: The buffeting completely and its fillet solution was fitted to every subsequent P-38 airframe. Fillet kits were sent out to every squadron flying Lightnings. The problem was traced to a 40% increase in air speed at the wing-fuselage junction where the thickness/chord ratio was highest. An airspeed of 500 mph (800 km/h) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m) could push airflow at the wing-fuselage junction close to
33366-408: The centerline of the new fighter. It would have been impossible to mount the weapon in the fuselage, firing through the cylinder banks of the Vee-configured engine and the propeller hub as could be done with smaller 20 mm cannon. Weight, balance and visibility considerations meant that the cockpit could not be placed farther back in the fuselage, behind the engine and cannon. The solution adopted
33615-473: The cockpit roof could not be jettisoned. The lack of a clear vision panel on the windscreen assembly meant that in the event of heavy rain the pilot's forward view would be obliterated; the pilot's notes advised that in this case the door windows would have to be lowered and the speed reduced to 150 mph (240 km/h) On the other hand, it was considered effective for low level fighter and ground attack work. Problems with gun- and exhaust-flash suppression and
33864-401: The cockpit the fuselage nose was formed from large removable covers. A long nose wheel well was incorporated in the lower nose section. The engine and accessories were attached to the rear of the arch and the main structural beams; these too were covered using large removable panels. A conventional semi-monocoque rear fuselage was attached aft of the main structure. Because the pilot was above
34113-453: The compass could be fixed. No. 601 Squadron RAF was the only British unit to use the Airacobra operationally, receiving their first two examples on 6 August 1941. On 9 October, four Airacobras attacked enemy barges near Dunkirk, in the type's only operational action with the RAF. The squadron continued to train with the Airacobra during the winter, but a combination of poor serviceability and deep distrust of this unfamiliar fighter resulted in
34362-470: The controls would lock up, leaving the pilot no option but to bail out (if possible) or remain with the aircraft until it got down to denser air, where he might have a chance to pull out. During a test flight in May 1941, USAAC Major Signa Gilkey managed to stay with a YP-38 in a compressibility lockup, riding it out until he recovered gradually using elevator trim . Lockheed engineers were very concerned by this limitation, but first had to concentrate on filling
34611-407: The current order of aircraft. In late June 1941 , the Army Air Corps was renamed the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), and 65 Lightnings were finished for the service by September 1941, with more on the way for the USAAF, the Royal Air Force (RAF), and the Free French Air Force operating from England. By November 1941, many of the initial assembly-line challenges had been met, which freed up time for
34860-539: The defense budgets of modern armed forces. The global combat aircraft market was worth $ 45.75 billion in 2017 and is projected by Frost & Sullivan at $ 47.2 billion in 2026: 35% modernization programs and 65% aircraft purchases, dominated by the Lockheed Martin F-35 with 3,000 deliveries over 20 years. A fighter aircraft is primarily designed for air-to-air combat . A given type may be designed for specific combat conditions, and in some cases for additional roles such as air-to-ground fighting. Historically
35109-550: The design approach of the Italians and Japanese made their fighters ill-suited as interceptors or attack aircraft. During the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France , Luftwaffe fighters—primarily the Messerschmitt Bf 109 —held air superiority, and the Luftwaffe played a major role in German victories in these campaigns. During the Battle of Britain , however, British Hurricanes and Spitfires proved roughly equal to Luftwaffe fighters. Additionally Britain's radar-based Dowding system directing fighters onto German attacks and
35358-411: The earlier tests, with consistent results. Then, the model was re-ballasted to simulate a condition with no ammunition load, which moved the aircraft's center of gravity aft. Under these conditions, the model was found to tumble. The rear-mounted engine was less likely to be hit when attacking ground targets, but was vulnerable to attacks from above and behind. At its upper altitude limits, the Airacobra
35607-463: The early 1960s since both were believed unusable at the speeds being attained, however the Vietnam War showed that guns still had a role to play, and most fighters built since then are fitted with cannon (typically between 20 and 30 mm (0.79 and 1.18 in) in caliber) in addition to missiles. Most modern combat aircraft can carry at least a pair of air-to-air missiles. In the 1970s, turbofans replaced turbojets, improving fuel economy enough that
35856-510: The effect of engine torque , with the turbochargers positioned behind the engines, the exhaust side of the units exposed along the dorsal surfaces of the booms. Counter-rotation was achieved by the use of "handed" engines; the crankshafts of the engines turned in opposite directions, a relatively easy task for the V-1710 modular-design aircraft powerplant . The P-38 was the first American fighter to make extensive use of stainless steel and smooth, flush-riveted, butt-jointed aluminum skin panels. It
36105-445: The effort of the pilot's actions. Expert test pilot Ralph Virden was given a specific high-altitude test sequence to follow and was told to restrict his speed and fast maneuvering in denser air at low altitudes, since the new mechanism could exert tremendous leverage under those conditions. A note was taped to the instrument panel of the test craft underscoring this instruction. On 4 November 1941, Virden climbed into YP-38 #1 and completed
36354-404: The elevator and rudder were reduced by 14.2% and 25.2% respectively. Modified fillets were installed in the tail area. The canopy glass was faired to its frame with putty. The gun access doors on the wing had been seen to bulge in flight, so they were replaced with thicker aluminum sheet. Similarly, the landing gear doors deflected open by as much as two inches at maximum speed, so a stronger linkage
36603-468: The end of 1942, the P-39 units of the Fifth Air Force had claimed about 80 Japanese aircraft, with a similar number of P-39s lost. Fifth and Thirteenth air force P-39s did not score more aerial victories in the Solomons due to the aircraft's limited range and poor high altitude performance. Airacobras first fought Japanese Zeros on 30 April 1942 in a low level action near Lae, New Guinea. From May to August 1942 combat between Airacobras and Zeros took place on
36852-403: The engine installed in the center fuselage, behind the pilot, and driving a tractor propeller in the nose with a long shaft. It was also the first fighter fitted with a tricycle undercarriage . Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the absence of an efficient turbo-supercharger , preventing it from performing high-altitude work. For this reason it
37101-495: The engine nacelles, and in action, they extended downward 35° in 1.5 seconds. The flaps did not act as a speed brake; they affected the pressure distribution in a way that retained the wing's lift. Late in 1943, a few hundred dive flap field-modification kits were assembled to give North African, European, and Pacific P-38s a chance to withstand compressibility and expand their combat tactics. The kits did not always reach their destination. In March 1944, 200 dive flap kits intended for
37350-425: The engineering team to tackle the problem of frozen controls in a dive. Lockheed had a few ideas for tests that would help them find an answer. The first solution tried was the fitting of spring-loaded servo tabs on the elevator trailing edge designed to aid the pilot when control yoke forces rose over 30 pounds-force (130 N), as would be expected in a high-speed dive. At that point, the tabs would begin to multiply
37599-447: The exhaust, making the P-38's operation relatively quiet. The Lightning was extremely forgiving in flight and could be mishandled in many ways, but the initial rate of roll in early versions was low relative to other contemporary fighters; this was addressed in later variants with the introduction of hydraulically boosted ailerons . The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in large-scale production throughout American involvement in
37848-426: The extension shaft, he was placed higher in the fuselage than in most contemporary fighters, which, in turn gave the pilot a good field of view. Access to the cockpit was by way of sideways opening "car doors", one on either side. Both had wind-down windows. As only the right-hand door had a handle both inside and outside this was used as the normal means of access and egress. The left-hand door could be opened only from
38097-399: The external radiator, and on advice from NACA , the prototype was modified as the XP-39B ; after demonstrating a performance improvement, the 13 YP-39s were completed to this standard, adding two 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns to the two existing 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns. Lacking armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, the prototype was 2,000 lb (910 kg) lighter than
38346-513: The fighter. Rifle-caliber .30 and .303 in (7.62 and 7.70 mm) calibre guns remained the norm, with larger weapons either being too heavy and cumbersome or deemed unnecessary against such lightly built aircraft. It was not considered unreasonable to use World War I-style armament to counter enemy fighters as there was insufficient air-to-air combat during most of the period to disprove this notion. The rotary engine , popular during World War I, quickly disappeared, its development having reached
38595-402: The first fighter ever to be delivered across the Atlantic under its own power. Kelsey himself piloted one of the Lightnings, landing in Scotland on 25 July. The first unit to receive P-38s was the 1st Fighter Group . After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the unit joined the 14th Pursuit Group in San Diego to provide West Coast defense. The first Lightning to see active service was the F-4 version,
38844-419: The front to reorganize, with surviving pilots sent home and the few remaining Lightnings transferred to the 82nd. The 14th was out of action for three months, returning in May. On 5 April 1943, 26 P-38Fs of the 82nd claimed 31 enemy aircraft destroyed, helping to establish air superiority in the area and allegedly earning it the German nickname " der Gabelschwanz Teufel " – the Fork-tailed Devil, coming from
39093-406: The guns were subjected). Shooting with this traditional arrangement was also easier because the guns shot directly ahead in the direction of the aircraft's flight, up to the limit of the guns range; unlike wing-mounted guns which to be effective required to be harmonised , that is, preset to shoot at an angle by ground crews so that their bullets would converge on a target area a set distance ahead of
39342-493: The highest scoring P-39 fighter pilot of any nation, and the highest scoring Allied fighter pilot using an American fighter. This does not include his 6 shared victories, at least some of which were achieved with the P-39. The United States did not supply M80 armor-piercing rounds for the autocannons of Soviet P-39s—instead, the Soviets received 1,232,991 M54 high-explosive rounds, which they used primarily for air-to-air combat and against soft ground targets. The VVS did not use
39591-400: The horses" on the next leg. After climbing out of Wright Field and reaching altitude, Kelsey pushed the XP-38 to 420 miles per hour (680 km/h). Nearing his destination, Kelsey was ordered by Mitchel Field tower ( Hempstead, New York ) into a slow landing pattern behind other aircraft. Carburetor icing caused it to be brought down short of the Mitchel runway, and it was wrecked. However, on
39840-433: The innovations was the development of the " finger-four " formation by the German pilot Werner Mölders . Each fighter squadron (German: Staffel ) was divided into several flights ( Schwärme ) of four aircraft. Each Schwarm was divided into two Rotten , which was a pair of aircraft. Each Rotte was composed of a leader and a wingman. This flexible formation allowed the pilots to maintain greater situational awareness, and
40089-440: The interceptor. The equipment necessary for daytime flight is inadequate when flying at night or in poor visibility. The night fighter was developed during World War I with additional equipment to aid the pilot in flying straight, navigating and finding the target. From modified variants of the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c in 1915, the night fighter has evolved into the highly capable all-weather fighter. The strategic fighter
40338-443: The introduction of the P-38J, by September 1944, all but one of the Lightning groups in the Eighth Air Force had converted to the P-51 Mustang. The Eighth Air Force continued to conduct reconnaissance missions using the F-5 variant. The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific Theater, where it proved more suited, combining exceptional range with the reliability of two engines for long missions over water. The P-38
40587-418: The lack of a turbo made it nearly impossible to improve upon the Airacobra's performance. The removal of the turbocharger and its drag-inducing inlet cured the drag problem but reduced performance overall. In later years, Kelsey expressed regret at not being present to override the decision to eliminate the turbo. After completing service trials, and originally designated P-45 , a first order for 80 aircraft
40836-420: The last piston engine support aircraft could be replaced with jets, making multi-role combat aircraft possible. Honeycomb structures began to replace milled structures, and the first composite components began to appear on components subjected to little stress. With the steady improvements in computers, defensive systems have become increasingly efficient. To counter this, stealth technologies have been pursued by
41085-401: The leadership vacuum within the Soviet military left by the Great Purge , and the general inferiority of Soviet designs at the time, such as the obsolescent Polikarpov I-15 biplane and the I-16 . More modern Soviet designs, including the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 , LaGG-3 and Yakolev Yak-1 , had not yet arrived in numbers and in any case were still inferior to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 . As
41334-400: The leading "Lightning killer" in the Luftwaffe with 17 destroyed. The Mediterranean Theater had the first aerial combat between German fighters and P-38s. German fighter pilot appraisal of the P-38 was mixed. Some observers dismissed the P-38 as an easy kill, while others gave it high praise, a deadly enemy worthy of respect. Johannes Steinhoff , commander of JG 77 in North Africa, said that
41583-431: The loss of B-17 "The Lady Evelyn," 42–30344, downed by "an enemy P-38". War missions for that plane were limited, as the Italian petrol was too corrosive for the Lockheed's tanks. Other Lightnings were eventually acquired by Italy for postwar service. In a particular case when faced by more agile fighters at low altitudes in a constricted valley, Lightnings suffered heavy losses. On the morning of 10 June 1944, 96 P-38Js of
41832-419: The loss of the prototype, rather than hampering the program, sped the process by cutting short the initial test series. The success of the aircraft design contributed to Kelsey's promotion to captain in May 1939. Manufacture of YP-38s fell behind schedule, at least partly because of changes to meet the need for mass production, making them substantially different in construction from the prototype. Another factor
42081-405: The main structural attachment point for the main spar of the wing. This arch incorporated a fireproof panel and an armor plate between the engine and the cockpit. It also incorporated a turnover pylon and a pane of bullet-resistant glass behind the pilot's head. The arch also formed the basis of the cockpit housing; the pilot's seat was attached to the forward face as was the cockpit floor. Forward of
42330-410: The mid-1930s, the majority of fighters in the US, the UK, Italy and Russia remained fabric-covered biplanes. Fighter armament eventually began to be mounted inside the wings, outside the arc of the propeller, though most designs retained two synchronized machine guns directly ahead of the pilot, where they were more accurate (that being the strongest part of the structure, reducing the vibration to which
42579-495: The most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage…" Throughout the war, fighters performed their conventional role in establishing air superiority through combat with other fighters and through bomber interception, and also often performed roles such as tactical air support and reconnaissance . Fighter design varied widely among combatants. The Japanese and Italians favored lightly armed and armored but highly maneuverable designs such as
42828-401: The nose of the fuselage which, in turn, drove the three- or (later) four-bladed propeller by way of a short central shaft. The gearbox was provided with its own lubrication system, separate from the engine; in later versions of the Airacobra the gearbox was provided with some armor protection. The glycol -cooled radiator was fitted in the wing center section, immediately beneath the engine; this
43077-607: The opposition. Subsequently, radar capabilities grew enormously and are now the primary method of target acquisition . Wings were made thinner and swept back to reduce transonic drag, which required new manufacturing methods to obtain sufficient strength. Skins were no longer sheet metal riveted to a structure, but milled from large slabs of alloy. The sound barrier was broken, and after a few false starts due to required changes in controls, speeds quickly reached Mach 2, past which aircraft cannot maneuver sufficiently to avoid attack. Air-to-air missiles largely replaced guns and rockets in
43326-488: The outbreak of World War I , front-line aircraft were mostly unarmed and used almost exclusively for reconnaissance . On 15 August 1914, Miodrag Tomić encountered an enemy airplane while on a reconnaissance flight over Austria-Hungary which fired at his aircraft with a revolver, so Tomić fired back. It was believed to be the first exchange of fire between aircraft. Within weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian aircraft were armed. Another type of military aircraft formed
43575-528: The outnumbered 71st Fighter Squadron took more damage than it dished out, losing nine aircraft. In all, the USAAF lost 22 aircraft on the mission. The Americans claimed 23 aerial victories. The Romanians and Germans lost five Bf 110s, four Ju 52s , and one Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 on the ground, as well as three Focke-Wulf Fw 58 , three IAR 38 , and three IAR.81C in the air. Eleven enemy locomotives were strafed and left burning, and flak emplacements were destroyed, along with fuel trucks and other targets. Results of
43824-451: The outset for dual roles. Other fighter designs are highly specialized while still filling the main air superiority role, and these include the interceptor and, historically, the heavy fighter and night fighter . Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare . Fighters continued to be developed throughout World War I, to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles
44073-403: The outside and was for emergency use, although both doors could be jettisoned. In operational use, as the roof was fixed, the cockpit design made escape difficult in an emergency. The complete armament fit consisted of the T9 cannon with a pair of Browning M2 .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns mounted in the nose. This changed to two .50 caliber and two .30 in (7.62 mm) guns in
44322-421: The period of rapid re-armament in the late 1930s, were not military budgets, but civilian aircraft racing. Aircraft designed for these races introduced innovations like streamlining and more powerful engines that would find their way into the fighters of World War II. The most significant of these was the Schneider Trophy races, where competition grew so fierce, only national governments could afford to enter. At
44571-433: The period, going from a typical 180 hp (130 kW) in the 900 kg (2,000 lb) Fokker D.VII of 1918 to 900 hp (670 kW) in the 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) Curtiss P-36 of 1936. The debate between the sleek in-line engines versus the more reliable radial models continued, with naval air forces preferring the radial engines, and land-based forces often choosing inlines. Radial designs did not require
44820-433: The pilot's feet under the cockpit floor. The main purpose of this configuration was to free up space for a 37 mm Browning Arms Company T9 cannon , later produced by Oldsmobile , firing through the center of the propeller hub for optimum accuracy and stability. This happened because H.M. Poyer, designer for project leader Robert Woods, was impressed by the power of this weapon and pressed for its incorporation. This
45069-406: The pilot's maneuvering with the gunner's aiming was difficult. This option was chiefly employed as a defensive measure on two-seater reconnaissance aircraft from 1915 on. Both the SPAD S.A and the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9 added a second crewman ahead of the engine in a pod but this was both hazardous to the second crewman and limited performance. The Sopwith L.R.T.Tr. similarly added a pod on
45318-451: The pilots reported. Attempts were made with handheld weapons such as pistols and rifles and even light machine guns, but these were ineffective and cumbersome. The next advance came with the fixed forward-firing machine gun, so that the pilot pointed the entire aircraft at the target and fired the gun, instead of relying on a second gunner. Roland Garros bolted metal deflector plates to the propeller so that it would not shoot itself out of
45567-410: The point where rotational forces prevented more fuel and air from being delivered to the cylinders, which limited horsepower. They were replaced chiefly by the stationary radial engine though major advances led to inline engines gaining ground with several exceptional engines—including the 1,145 cu in (18,760 cm ) V-12 Curtiss D-12 . Aircraft engines increased in power several-fold over
45816-426: The problems of drop-tank design and incorporation. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, eventually about 100 P-38Es were sent to a modification center near Dallas, Texas , or to the new Lockheed assembly plant B-6 (today the Burbank Airport ), to be fitted with four K-17 aerial photography cameras. All of these aircraft were also modified to be able to carry drop tanks. P-38Fs were modified, as well. Every Lightning from
46065-431: The production fighters. The production P-39 retained a single-stage, single-speed supercharger with a critical altitude (above which performance declined) of about 12,000 ft (3,700 m). As a result, the aircraft was simpler to produce and maintain. However, the removal of the turbo destroyed any chance that the P-39 could serve as a high-altitude front-line fighter. When deficiencies were noticed in 1940 and 1941,
46314-415: The production line in June 1944 on the last 210 P-38Js. Despite testing having proved the dive flaps effective in improving tactical maneuvers, a 14-month delay in production limited their implementation, with only the final half of all Lightnings built having the dive flaps installed as an assembly-line sequence. Johnson later recalled: I broke an ulcer over compressibility on the P-38 because we flew into
46563-468: The propeller arc was evident even before the outbreak of war and inventors in both France and Germany devised mechanisms that could time the firing of the individual rounds to avoid hitting the propeller blades. Franz Schneider , a Swiss engineer, had patented such a device in Germany in 1913, but his original work was not followed up. French aircraft designer Raymond Saulnier patented a practical device in April 1914, but trials were unsuccessful because of
46812-461: The propeller arc. Wing guns were tried but the unreliable weapons available required frequent clearing of jammed rounds and misfires and remained impractical until after the war. Mounting the machine gun over the top wing worked well and was used long after the ideal solution was found. The Nieuport 11 of 1916 used this system with considerable success, however, this placement made aiming and reloading difficult but would continue to be used throughout
47061-406: The propeller blades were fitted with metal wedges to protect them from ricochets . Garros' modified monoplane first flew in March 1915 and he began combat operations soon after. Garros scored three victories in three weeks before he himself was downed on 18 April and his airplane, along with its synchronization gear and propeller was captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, the synchronization gear (called
47310-426: The propensity of the machine gun employed to hang fire due to unreliable ammunition. In December 1914, French aviator Roland Garros asked Saulnier to install his synchronization gear on Garros' Morane-Saulnier Type L parasol monoplane . Unfortunately the gas-operated Hotchkiss machine gun he was provided had an erratic rate of fire and it was impossible to synchronize it with the propeller. As an interim measure,
47559-437: The rear canopy. The fuselage structure was unusual and innovative, being based on a strong central keel that incorporated the armament, cockpit, and engine. Two strong fuselage beams to port and starboard formed the basis of the structure. These angled upwards fore and aft to create mounting points for the T9 cannon and propeller reduction gearbox and for the engine and accessories respectively. A strong arched bulkhead provided
47808-412: The reported tumbling characteristics. In no case were they able to tumble it. In his autobiography veteran test and airshow pilot R.A. "Bob" Hoover provides an account of tumbling a P-39. He goes on to say that in hindsight, he was actually performing a Lomcovak , a now-common airshow maneuver, which he was also able to do in a Curtiss P-40 . A study of its spinning characteristics was conducted in
48057-586: The rest of the 12th Air Force. P-38s were first involved in North African combat operations on 11 November 1942. The first North African P-38 kill was on 22 November, when Lieutenant Mark Shipman of the 14th downed an Italian airplane with twin engines. Shipman later made two more kills – a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter and a very large Me 323 Gigant transport. Early results in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations were mixed. Some P-38 pilots scored multiple kills to become aces, while many others were shot down due to inexperience or tactical strictures. Overall,
48306-421: The role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace . Domination of the airspace above a battlefield permits bombers and attack aircraft to engage in tactical and strategic bombing of enemy targets, and helps prevent the enemy from doing the same. The key performance features of a fighter include not only its firepower but also its high speed and maneuverability relative to
48555-532: The skies above the battlefield. The interceptor is a fighter designed specifically to intercept and engage approaching enemy aircraft. There are two general classes of interceptor: relatively lightweight aircraft in the point-defence role, built for fast reaction, high performance and with a short range, and heavier aircraft with more comprehensive avionics and designed to fly at night or in all weathers and to operate over longer ranges . Originating during World War I, by 1929 this class of fighters had become known as
48804-417: The sky and a number of Morane-Saulnier Ns were modified. The technique proved effective, however the deflected bullets were still highly dangerous. Soon after the commencement of the war, pilots armed themselves with pistols, carbines , grenades , and an assortment of improvised weapons. Many of these proved ineffective as the pilot had to fly his airplane while attempting to aim a handheld weapon and make
49053-496: The specification using the word "interceptor" as a way to bypass the inflexible Army Air Corps requirement for pursuit aircraft to carry no more than 500 lb (230 kg) of armament including ammunition, and to bypass the USAAC restriction of single-seat aircraft to one engine. Kelsey was looking for a minimum of 1,000 lb (450 kg) of armament. Kelsey and Saville aimed to get a more capable fighter, better at dog fighting and at high-altitude combat. Specifications called for
49302-409: The speed of sound. Filleting solved the buffeting problem for the P-38E and later models. Another issue with the P-38 arose from its unique design feature of outwardly rotating (at the "tops" of the propeller arcs) counter-rotating propellers. Losing one of two engines in any twin-engined, non- centerline thrust aircraft on takeoff creates sudden drag, yawing the nose toward the dead engine and rolling
49551-418: The standard fuel load was carried in the wings, with limitations on range. A heavy structure, and around 256 lb (116 kg) of armor, were characteristic of this aircraft as well. The production P-39's heavier weight combined with the Allison engine with only a single-stage, single-speed supercharger, limited high-altitude performance, which was markedly inferior to contemporary European fighters and, as
49800-408: The steady increases in aircraft weight—most modern fighters are larger and heavier than World War II medium bombers. Because of the importance of air superiority, since the early days of aerial combat armed forces have constantly competed to develop technologically superior fighters and to deploy these fighters in greater numbers, and fielding a viable fighter fleet consumes a substantial proportion of
50049-401: The tail assembly, engines, and turbosuperchargers, with a central nacelle for the pilot and armament. The XP-38 gondola mockup was designed to mount two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns with 200 rounds per gun (rpg), two .30-caliber (7.62 mm) Brownings with 500 rpg, and a United States Army Ordnance Department prototype T1 23 mm (.90 in) autocannon with
50298-420: The target aircraft. The success or failure of a combatant's efforts to gain air superiority hinges on several factors including the skill of its pilots, the tactical soundness of its doctrine for deploying its fighters, and the numbers and performance of those fighters. Many modern fighter aircraft also have secondary capabilities such as ground attack and some types, such as fighter-bombers , are designed from
50547-425: The target was concealed by smoke screen , and antiaircraft fire was very heavy, seven Lightnings were lost to antiaircraft fire at the target, and two more during strafing attacks on the return flight. German Bf 109 fighters from I./JG 53 and 2./JG 77 fought the Americans. Sixteen P-38s, called " Indieni cu două pene " (Indians with two feathers) by the Romanians, of the 71st Fighter Squadron were challenged by
50796-423: The test sequence successfully, but 15 minutes later, was seen in a steep dive followed by a high-G pullout. The tail unit of the aircraft failed at about 3,500 ft (1,000 m) during the high-speed dive recovery; Virden was killed in the subsequent crash. The Lockheed design office was justifiably upset, but their design engineers could only conclude that servo tabs were not the solution for loss of control in
51045-429: The tests, which were done up to Mach 0.74. The P-38's dive problem was revealed to be the center of pressure moving back toward the tail when in high-speed airflow. The solution was to change the geometry of the wing's lower surface when diving to keep lift within bounds of the top of the wing. In February 1943, quick-acting dive flaps were tried and proven by Lockheed test pilots. The dive flaps were installed outboard of
51294-419: The top speed was increased 16%. NACA wrote, "it is imperative to enclose the supercharger within the airplane with an efficient duct system for cooling the rotor and discharging the cooling air and exhaust gases." In the very tightly planned XP-39, though, there was no internal space left over for the turbo. Using a drag-buildup scheme, a number of potential areas of drag reduction were found. NACA concluded that
51543-430: The top wing with no better luck. An alternative was to build a "pusher" scout such as the Airco DH.2 , with the propeller mounted behind the pilot. The main drawback was that the high drag of a pusher type's tail structure made it slower than a similar "tractor" aircraft. A better solution for a single seat scout was to mount the machine gun (rifles and pistols having been dispensed with) to fire forwards but outside
51792-475: The twin Allison V12s. Early problems with cockpit temperature regulation occurred; pilots were often too hot in the tropical sun as the canopy could not be fully opened without severe buffeting, and were often too cold in Northern Europe and at high altitude, as the distance of the engines from the cockpit prevented easy heat transfer. Later variants received modifications (such as electrically heated flight suits) to solve these problems. On 20 September 1939, before
52041-411: The two Rotten could split up at any time and attack on their own. The finger-four would be widely adopted as the fundamental tactical formation during World War Two, including by the British and later the Americans. World War II featured fighter combat on a larger scale than any other conflict to date. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel noted the effect of airpower: "Anyone who has to fight, even with
52290-452: The unarmed and unarmored XP-39 prototype. The British production contract stated that a maximum speed of 394 mph (634 km/h) +/- 4% was required at rated altitude. In acceptance testing, actual production aircraft were found to be capable of only 371 mph (597 km/h) at 14,090 ft (4,290 m). To enable the aircraft to make the guaranteed speed, a variety of drag-reduction modifications were developed by Bell. The areas of
52539-452: The unit's old Bf 109s were "perhaps, a little faster" than the P-38, but a dogfight with the twin-engined fighter was daunting because its turning radius was much smaller, and it could quickly get on the tail of the Bf 109. Franz Stigler , an ace with 28 kills, flew Bf 109s against the P-38 in North Africa. Stigler said the Lightning "could turn inside us with ease and they could go from level flight to climb almost instantaneously. We lost quite
52788-422: The very end of the inter-war period in Europe came the Spanish Civil War . This was just the opportunity the German Luftwaffe , Italian Regia Aeronautica , and the Soviet Union's Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily needed to test their latest aircraft. Each party sent numerous aircraft types to support their sides in the conflict. In the dogfights over Spain, the latest Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters did well, as did
53037-611: The vibration was unchanged and the diving tendency was naturally the same for all conditions." The external mass balances did not help at all. Nonetheless, at Wolfe's insistence, the additional external balances were a feature of every P-38 built from then on. Johnson said in his autobiography that he pleaded with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to do model tests in its wind tunnel. They already had experience of models thrashing around violently at speeds approaching those requested and did not want to risk damaging their tunnel. Gen. Arnold, head of Army Air Forces, ordered them to run
53286-422: The war as the weapons used were lighter and had a higher rate of fire than synchronized weapons. The British Foster mounting and several French mountings were specifically designed for this kind of application, fitted with either the Hotchkiss or Lewis Machine gun , which due to their design were unsuitable for synchronizing. The need to arm a tractor scout with a forward-firing gun whose bullets passed through
53535-556: The war, from the Attack on Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day . 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 high altitude." Forty years later, Kelsey explained that Saville and he drew up
53784-443: The war. Fighter development stagnated between the wars, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, where budgets were small. In France, Italy and Russia, where large budgets continued to allow major development, both monoplanes and all metal structures were common. By the end of the 1920s, however, those countries overspent themselves and were overtaken in the 1930s by those powers that hadn't been spending heavily, namely
54033-440: The water. On 9 August 1942, two P-38Es of the 343rd Fighter Group, 11th Air Force , at the end of a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) long-range patrol, happened upon a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" flying boats and destroyed them, making them the first Japanese aircraft to be shot down by Lightnings. After the Battle of Midway , the USAAF began redeploying fighter groups to Britain as part of Operation Bolero and Lightnings of
54282-434: The wing guns of other fighters were optimized for a specific range. The rate of fire was about 650 rounds per minute for the 20×110 mm cannon round (130-gram shell) at a muzzle velocity of about 2,850 ft/s (870 m/s), and for the .50-caliber machine guns (43-gram rounds), about 850 rpm at 2,900 ft/s (880 m/s) velocity. Combined rate of fire was over 4,000 rpm with roughly every sixth projectile
54531-456: The wingtip down on the side of the dead engine. Normal training in flying twin-engined aircraft when losing an engine on takeoff is to push the remaining engine to full throttle to maintain airspeed; if a pilot did that in the P-38, regardless of which engine had failed, the resulting engine torque and p-factor force produced a sudden, uncontrollable yawing roll, and the aircraft would flip over and crash. Eventually, procedures were taught to allow
54780-523: Was "the sweetest-flying plane in the sky". A little-known role of the P-38 in the European theater was that of fighter-bomber during the invasion of Normandy and the Allied advance across France into Germany. Assigned to the IX Tactical Air Command , the 370th Fighter Group and 474th Fighter Group and their P-38s initially flew missions from England, dive-bombing radar installations, enemy armor, troop concentrations, and flak towers , and providing air cover. The 370th's group commander Howard F. Nichols and
55029-443: Was a rough airstrip in Greenland called Bluie West One , and the third refueling stop was in Iceland at Keflavik . Other P-38s followed this route with some lost in mishaps, usually due to poor weather, low visibility, radio difficulties, and navigational errors. Nearly 200 of the P-38Fs (and a few modified Es) were successfully flown across the Atlantic in July–August 1942, making the P-38 the first USAAF fighter to reach Britain and
55278-407: Was added. The airframe was painted with 20 coats of primer, with extensive sanding between coats. Standard camouflage was applied and sanded to remove the edges between the colors. Additionally, about 200 lb (91 kg) of weight was removed, making it lighter than normal (7,466 lb (3,387 kg) gross). After these modifications, the second production aircraft ( serial AH 571 ) reached
55527-448: Was also the first military airplane to fly faster than 400 mph (640 km/h) in level flight. Lockheed won the competition on 23 June 1937 with its Model 22 and was contracted to build a prototype XP-38 for US$ 163,000, though Lockheed's own costs on the prototype would add up to US$ 761,000. Construction began in July 1938 in an old bourbon distillery purchased by Lockheed to house expanding operations. This secure and remote site
55776-405: Was another early aerodynamic problem. Distinguishing it from compressibility was difficult, as both were reported by test pilots as "tail shake". Buffeting came about from airflow disturbances ahead of the tail; the airplane would shake at high speed. Leading-edge wing slots were tried, as were combinations of filleting between the wing, cockpit, and engine nacelles. Air-tunnel test number 15 solved
56025-447: Was completed with a pressurized cabin on an experimental basis and designated XP-38A . Due to reports the USAAF was receiving from Europe, the remaining 36 in the batch were upgraded with small improvements such as self-sealing fuel tanks and enhanced armor protection to make them combat-capable. The USAAF specified that these 36 aircraft were to be designated P-38D . As a result, no P-38Bs or P-38Cs were designated. The P-38D's main role
56274-440: Was delivered to the USAAC in June 1941; 12 aircraft were retained for flight testing and one for destructive stress testing. The YPs were substantially redesigned and differed greatly in detail from the hand-built XP-38. They were lighter and included changes in engine fit. The propeller rotation was reversed, with the blades spinning outward (away from the cockpit ) at the top of their arc, rather than inward as before. This improved
56523-466: Was developed further in the Bell P-63 Kingcobra . A naval version with tailwheel landing gear, the XFL-1 Airabonita , was ordered as a competitor to the Vought F4U Corsair and Grumman XF5F Skyrocket . It first flew 13 May 1940, but after a troublesome and protracted development and testing period, it was rejected. The Airacobra saw combat throughout the world, particularly in the Southwest Pacific, Mediterranean and Soviet theaters. Because its engine
56772-415: Was equipped with only a single-stage, single-speed supercharger, the P-39 performed poorly above 17,000 feet (5,200 m) altitude. In both western Europe and the Pacific, the Airacobra found itself outclassed as an interceptor and the type was gradually relegated to other duties. It often was used at lower altitudes for such missions as ground strafing. In 1940, the British Direct Purchase Commission in
57021-414: Was flanked on either side by a single drum-shaped oil cooler. Air for the radiator and oil coolers was drawn in through intakes in both wing-root leading edges and was directed via four ducts to the radiator faces. The air was then exhausted through three controllable hinged flaps near the trailing edge of the center section. Air for the carburetor was drawn in through a raised oval intake immediately aft of
57270-425: Was installed to hold them flush. The cooling air exit from the oil and coolant radiators was reduced in area to match the exit velocity to the local flow. New engine exhaust stacks, deflected to match the local flow and with nozzles to increase thrust augmentation, were installed. The machine gun ports were faired over, the antenna mast was removed, a single-piece engine cowling was installed and an exhaust stack fairing
57519-424: Was later identified by Johnson as the first of five Lockheed Skunk Works locations. The XP-38 first flew on 27 January 1939 at the hands of Ben Kelsey. Kelsey then proposed a speed dash to Wright Field on 11 February 1939 to relocate the aircraft for further testing. General Henry "Hap" Arnold , commander of the USAAC, approved of the record attempt and recommended a cross-country flight to New York. The flight set
57768-420: Was no longer a handicap and one or two were used, depending on requirements. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, and G-suits to counter the much greater forces being applied to the pilot during maneuvers. In the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since due to ever increasing air-to-air weapon ranges, pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for
58017-516: Was not designated a heavy fighter or a bomber destroyer by the USAAC, the P-38 filled those roles and more; unlike German heavy fighters crewed by two or three airmen, the P-38 with its lone pilot was nimble enough to compete with single-engine fighters. The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific and the China-Burma-India Theaters of Operations as the aircraft of America's top aces , Richard Bong (40 victories), Thomas McGuire (38 victories), and Charles H. MacDonald (27 victories). In
58266-432: Was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force , which used it to score the highest number of kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict. Other major users of the type included the Free French , the Royal Air Force , and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force . The P-39 had an unusual layout, with
58515-399: Was originally intended for a fighter role with the U.S. Navy , but it was canceled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for "attack" or "strike" operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs and incendiaries. Versatile multi role fighter-bombers such as the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having
58764-558: Was out-performed by many enemy aircraft. In September 1940, Britain ordered 386 P-39Ds (Model 14), with a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 and six .303 in (7.7 mm) instead of a 37 mm cannon and six .30 caliber guns. The RAF eventually ordered 675 P-39s. However, after the first Airacobras arrived at 601 Squadron RAF in September 1941, they were found to have an inadequate rate of climb and performance at altitude for Western European conditions. Only 80 were operated, all by 601 Squadron. Britain transferred about 200 P-39s to
59013-444: Was pioneered before World War I by Breguet but would find its biggest proponent in Anthony Fokker, who used chrome-molybdenum steel tubing for the fuselage structure of all his fighter designs, while the innovative German engineer Hugo Junkers developed two all-metal, single-seat fighter monoplane designs with cantilever wings: the strictly experimental Junkers J 2 private-venture aircraft, made with steel, and some forty examples of
59262-438: Was placed 10 August 1939; the designation reverted to P-39C before deliveries began. After assessing aerial combat conditions in Europe, it was evident that without armor or self-sealing tanks, the 20 production P-39Cs were not suitable for operational use. The remaining 60 machines in the order were built as P-39Ds with armor, self-sealing tanks and enhanced armament. These P-39Ds were the first Airacobras to enter into service with
59511-464: Was rejected by the RAF for use over western Europe but adopted by the USSR, where most air combat took place at medium and lower altitudes. Together with the derivative P-63 Kingcobra , the P-39 was one of the most successful fixed-wing aircraft manufactured by Bell. In February 1937, Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey , Project Officer for Fighters at the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), and Captain Gordon P. Saville , fighter tactics instructor at
59760-757: Was scrapped on the recommendation of a visiting Bell test pilot in March 1946. The United States requisitioned 200 of the aircraft being manufactured for the UK, adopting them as P-400s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , the P-400 was deployed to training units, but some saw combat in the Southwest Pacific including with the Cactus Air Force in the Battle of Guadalcanal . Though outclassed by Japanese fighter aircraft, it performed well in strafing and bombing runs, often proving deadly in ground attacks on Japanese forces trying to retake Henderson Field . Guns salvaged from P-39s were sometimes fitted to Navy PT boats to increase firepower. Pacific pilots often complained about problems of performance and unreliable armament, but by
60009-410: Was the most demanding set of fighter specifications the USAAC had presented to that date. Although Bell's limited fighter design work had previously resulted in the unusual Bell YFM-1 Airacuda , the Model 12 proposal adopted an equally original configuration with an Allison V-12 engine mounted in the middle of the fuselage , just behind the cockpit, and a propeller driven by a shaft passing beneath
60258-428: Was the only American pilot to become an ace in a P-39, many later U.S. aces scored one or two of their victories in the type. The Airacobra's low-altitude performance was good and its firepower was impressive; regardless, it soon became a joke in the Pacific Theatre that a P-400 was a P-40 with a Zero on its tail. In North Africa, the 99th Fighter Squadron (also known as the Tuskegee Airmen ) transitioned quickly from
60507-405: Was the sudden required expansion of Lockheed's facility in Burbank , taking it from a specialized civilian firm dealing with small orders to a large government defense contractor making Venturas , Harpoons , Lodestars , and Hudsons , and designing the Constellation for TWA . The first YP-38 was not completed until September 1940, with its maiden flight on 17 September. The 13th and final YP-38
60756-406: Was to mount the cannon in the forward fuselage and the engine in the center fuselage, directly behind the pilot's seat. The tractor propeller was driven with a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) drive shaft made in two sections, incorporating a self-aligning bearing to accommodate fuselage deflection during violent maneuvers. This shaft ran through a tunnel in the cockpit floor and was connected to a gearbox in
61005-474: Was to work out bugs and give the USAAF experience with handling the type. In March 1940, the French and British, through the Anglo-French Purchasing Committee , ordered 667 P-38s for US$ 100M, designated Model 322F for the French and Model 322B for the British. The aircraft was a variant of the P-38E. The overseas Allies wished for complete commonality of Allison engines with the large numbers of Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks both nations had on order, so they ordered
61254-640: Was unarmed, lacked turbochargers and restricted to 300 mph (480 km/h); though the undercarriage was praised and flight on one engine described as comfortable. These three were subsequently returned to the USAAF; one in December 1942 and the others in July 1943. Of the remaining 140 Lightning Is, 19 were not modified and were designated by the USAAF as RP-322-I ('R' for 'Restricted', because noncounter-rotating propellers were considered more dangerous on takeoff), while 121 were converted to counter-rotating V-1710F-2 engines without turbosuperchargers and designated P-322-II . All 121 were used as advanced trainers ;
61503-429: Was unusual, because fighter design had previously been driven by the intended engine, not the weapon. Although the T9 was devastating when it worked, it had very limited ammunition, a low rate of fire, and was prone to jamming. A secondary benefit of the mid-engine arrangement was that it created a smooth and streamlined nose profile. Much was made of the fact that this resulted in a configuration "with as trim and clean
61752-420: Was used in a variety of roles, especially escorting bombers at altitudes of 18,000–25,000 ft (5,500–7,600 m). The P-38 was credited with destroying more Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF fighter. Freezing cockpit temperatures were not a problem at low altitude in the tropics. In fact, the cockpit was often too hot since opening a window while in flight caused buffeting by setting up turbulence through
62001-415: Was useless. We told Doolittle that all it was good for was photoreconnaissance and had to be withdrawn from escort duties. And the funny thing is that the Americans had great difficulty understanding this because the Lightning had the two top aces in the Far East. After evaluation tests at Farnborough, the P-38 was kept in fighting service in Europe for a while longer. Although many failings were remedied with
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