It is tragic that ZenosWarbirds' videos don't have a large viewership. These videos are priceless time capsules showing a vastly different world that existed within my 94-yr old mom's lifetime. And the P-38 Lightning is legendary
Thank you for posting. I have the official flight manual for the P-38 and other WW 2 aircraft. I had a great WW 2 vet as a client at my shop who flew the 38 and the B-25 and he loved them both. A really great guy that I will miss.
My neighbor's father was also a Flight Instructor and P-38 Pilot. He told me once that he flew the P-38 out of Palm Springs. He also flew many planes including the B-17, B-24, B29, etc. He would sit around telling me and his son so many stories including flying the 'Hump'. Dirt runways at DumDum and when when it rained landing in the mud was interesting
Hey folks, did any of you guys hear of "Glacier Girl"? a P-38 that was ditched along with 4-5 others on a glacier in Greenland during the war in 1942. Well it seems 23 years ago, or so, some pro plane enthusiasts and a heap of money heard the stories of the ditched planes and went searching and sure enough they did find ONE. It was 268 feet down , encased in ice like a bug in amber. So they burrowed down and piece by piece retrieved it and in 2012, the FLEW her. Dubbed "Glacier Girl" appropriately enough! TRUE STORY! Curt
The P-38 Lightening was a magnificent machine. It began life being talked down but by the end of the war, it was one of the most respected fighters in the skies... often called 'Angel in Overalls' by our bomber crews and 'Forked-Tailed Devil' by the Germans.
Reply to meowmixy1: The numbers around the outside of the tachometer are HUNDREDS of rpm. Thousands are shown in the little window at 9 o'clock. When the pilot sets 3000 rpm, the needle points to 0 and 3 shows in little window.
awesome video!!!!! question: everything they say seems to correspond to what they show except the RPMs...whenever they mention the rpms they're always a few thousand rpms higher than what they're talking about....that's a little confusing...can anyone reply to me comment as to why?
It can accomodate a generator in the second engine, and many P-38s did have two generators-- but this was wartime: If you had a limited number of generators on-hand, better to get twice as many planes in the air than to indulge in redundancy.
the fellow who taught me how to land an airplane both VFR and instrument had told me the P-38 had two critical engines hence the P-38 single engine demonstration in front of the pilots who flew them and also that's why there was so much emphasis on single engine configuration he should know he was in WWII. both props counter rotate outward hence two critical engines.
Fred N That's exactly what I thought when I saw the start up sequence in the video. Why in the world would they miss the opportunity of having a twin with no critical engine and have two, instead? Designers must have had an excellent reason for this. I wonder what it was.
Kelt4ever Only if the LH engine turns CW and the RH engine turns CCW as seen from behind the airplane (or as more commonly described, if the inboard prop blades go down as they turn). As described, each engine's torque tends to cancel out some of its off-center line of thrust, mitigating yaw and roll that naturally results from an engine failure in a twin. This is not what is shown in the video, so in an engine out situation the remaining engine's torque actually aggravates its off-center thrust. This is why twin airplanes that have both engines turning in the same direction are said to have one critical engine (usually the left, since most engines turn CW as seen from behind). Most twins are built with contra-rotating props with the descending blade on the inboard side, and as such are said to have no critical engine for the reason explained. The one seen in the video has two critical engines as they tun in the "wrong" direction (inboard blades go up as they turn). If any one of its engines fails, the remaining engine's torque AND its off-center thrust will both work against the pilot, making directional and lateral control that much more difficult.
+TcO FroooZeN This sounds almost like an after-thought feature, not unlike strakes and other aerodynamic appendixes added to airplanes after initial flight testing. The effect you described must have been quite substantial to forfeit the benefit of not having a critical engine (even worse, having *two*). Come to think of it, it makes perfect sense that there are other priorities in combat aircraft than engine-out handling characteristics. Yes, you provided very interesting insight about this splendid airplane. Cheers!
Why so much rudder on engine-out? What they don't tell you: unlike conventional twins, the P-38's engines are both critical, in spite of the counter-rotating props. The reason why: because both arcs turn away from the fuselage at their tops, this places the P-factor of both propellers on the outboard sides of the engines' centerlines. If one engine goes out, you'll notice it via resultant yaw. The P-38 is one of a small handful of aircraft that do this; other twins with counter-rotating props turn their props in opposite directions of the P-38's, meaning that since the P-factors are now on the inboard sides of the engines, neither engine is critical, making for smoother transition to single-engine operation. The Beech 77 Duchess is one example.
Not just P-factor is worse with outward spinning props, but also accelerated slipstream, spiralling slipstream, and torque. Safe single engine control speed of the P-38 was 130mph!
Me too. Today you'd have to have an indigenous cross-dressing woman of color as the student pilot to meet current requirements of diversity and inclusion
Not many pilots need to know how to fly the P-38 anymore, since they were allowed to go virtually extinct. They're so rare that Glacier Girl was restored at a cost of millions of dollars.
I wanted to say something without sounding pretentious so forgive me if this is common knowledge. A mentor of mine who flew the lightning over Europe in WWII told me the early series had both engines turning the same direction with the attendant problems of torque. Just a tidbit.
+psient +Fred N To have counter rotating props would require two different engines or at least gear boxes and props. This would have been financially and logistically challenging especially during wartime. With such horsepower though, it may have been determined a necessity, but why then would you make them both critical? Has to be a good reason, would be interesting to know;
+Steve Evans The bulk of P-38's built had counter rotating engines but opposite the conventional directions thus, as you say, makes either engine out a critical. Wiki says this was done for gunnery reasons and the Germans did the same thing on several of their twins.
+psient Watch @ 3:17 left engine starting with a left-handed prop, @:3:37 right engine starting with a right-handed prop. (This is opposite conventional counter-rotation; conventional is left-handed prop on the right engine, etc.)
I've heard that the British wanted the engines with the same rotation. To change the rotation you just need to change the cam, oil pump rotation (if it's a unidirectional pump) and the super charger rotation. There were a lot of marine diesel engines built with a special cam that could be shifted fore/aft to give the opposite valve lift to enable it to run in forward or reverse. If you watch the first engine start at about 3:00 min you can see the left engine start clockwise and the right engine start counter-clockwise.
The Brits had the Mosquito and thought the P-38 was a threat to production of the Mosquito. The P-38 was my favorite WWII fighter and could replace ANY Allied fighter on ANY mission. It had the speed, range and combat advantages needed for any duty, so it ended up in the Pacific Theater where greater range was needed and crappy fields were normal. Best bird for toughest duty. Brits loved dogfights that ended in turning contests. The P-38 could win over any other fighter simply by using it's superior climbing ability and then diving on it's foe.
If I remember correctly, this is one of the most forgiving fighter aircraft (not including dive bombers, torpedo bombers, or trainers) of WWII. Correct me if I am wrong.
P-38 was also used in flights over Romania to protect attacks against the Romanian oil production and oil refineries. There the P-38's encountered the IAR 81C, the production version of an airplane designed by the Romanian engineers in 1937. At the moment of the maiden flight on April 12, 1939, the IAR 80 was among the best planes of the world. By 1944 the IAR 81C was already obsolete. Obsolete as they were, 26 of IAR 81C and their Romanian pilots took off to encounter a formation of 39 of P-38’s, on June 10, 1944. The result was 24 of P-38’s shot down in that day alone, with the Romanian pilot Dan Vizanty shooting down 3 of P-38 on his own. The IAR 81C was better known on the Eastern Front. For the American pilots it was an unknown factor. The pilots of the P-38's that survived the fight occurring between Bucharest and Ploesti on June 10, 1944 thought that they were attacked by FW-190.
Florin888 "That day" is a key phrase. The IAR 81'ies claimed 8 of those (which appear to be 22 lost), the rest fell to anti aircraft batteries and Luftwaffe. It was a really bad operation, using the P-38 as dive bomber at low altitude and the limit of its range. And the other side of the coin is that Romanian fighter losses against USAAF were so appalling that operations agains US air ceased entirely after a few months. Smarter than Luftwaffe, which frankly should have done the same, saved their pilots and planes for the eastern front. As it is, they did the opposite and lost them all.
Vermiliontea Hey "Vermiliontea", guess why "operations agains US air ceased entirely after a few months", to use your words. The Romanian Royal Air Force kept fighting to the very last day, while being in the Axis. A great Romanian ace, Alexandru Șerbănescu, died on August 18, 1944. At August 23rd, 1944, Romania ceased to be an Axis Ally. It just wanted to get out, but being immediately under attack from her former Axis Allies Germany and Hungary, the Romanian Royal Air Force, STILL FUNCTIONAL AS AN AIR FORCE, started to fight against the former friend Luftwaffe. With that occasion the Romanians set free more than one thousand (1000) American aviators that were prisoners of Romania after being shot down, and soon these pilots could join their units. By late August 24th, 1944 the fighting between Romanians and Germans, all over what was left of Romania, was quite fierce, so the 1000 Americans aviators volunteered to take parts alongside Romanians as infantry men. The Romanians understood how valuable they were as pilots and politely declined the offer, to spare them from fighting.
The P-61 used aircooled naval engines and worked best at somewhat lesser altitudes. It ended up in the radar night fighter role where it's guns and spare seat (for the radar operator) made it a natural.
I'm curious-what was the range of this plane with external tanks? I thought this plane would be more than capable of escorting bombers all the way and back.
They could and they did, it's just that early on in Europe they weren't provided with the necessary drop tanks to do it because the Generals in charge in Europe thought at first that the bombers wouldn't need escorts for a variety of reasons. Starting in January of 44 they started providing P38's and P47's with the right kind of drop tanks and both of them along with P51's were escorting bombers on missions to Berlin, the P51's didn't start doing escort missions until January of 44 when the drop tanks were being made available, contrary to popular opinion and the common myth they also couldn't have escorted bombers to Berlin without drop tanks, the P51 didn't swoop in and save the day the way everyone thinks, it wasn't a matter of getting P51's it was a matter of getting the right kind of drop tanks for the bombers to have escorts on long range deep penetration mission's. Something that's important to understand is no fighter's even with drop tanks had the range to go "all the way and back" with the bombers, they had to use a relay system to do it, that's because at the speed and altitude the bombers cruised at the fighter's would guzzle fuel, along with the fact that the bombers didn't take off in England and fly straight to their target, they had a "dog leg" in their flight path so their target wouldn't be so obvious adding hours to the mission, so one group of fighter's would meet up with the bombers and take them most of the way to the target where they'd be relieved by the next relay that'd taken off some time afterwards and flying at the altitude and speed that gave them maximum range would catch up, the first relay would then turn around and head for home at the altitude and speed that gave them their best mileage while the 2nd relay would take the bombers to the target, then on the way back they'd be relieved by a third relay that'd taken off at a time where flying at a speed and altitude that gave them best mileage would meet the others coming off the target and the 2nd relay that'd taken the bombers to the target could speed up to the speed that gave them their maximum range and head home, without being relieved they wouldn't have been able to stay with the bombers all the way back because at that speed they'd have run out of fuel before making it back to England. If a fighter relay screwed up their navigation or anything about their schedule and couldn't find the bombers then the bombers would have to fly that leg unescorted and it happened sometimes, when the fighter's with the bombers hit their mileage limit they had no choice they had to head for home at the correct speed. It's mind boggling when you think about all the math figuring out when the different relays of fighter's had to take off to meet up with the bombers at their designated position and time, sometimes they'd get there and the bombers would be there for any one of a number of reasons, so they'd fly around in circles until they had no choice and had to head for home.
mark r penn usa con u know it after figuring out counter rotating props was figured out an Mr lindberg increased range by 2 times in the pacific 47 51 this would be my choice if I was there . but this in my limited knowledge would by my choice and the fire power
I wonder if some p 38s have been altered ,,or upgraded with modern tech,like lighter kevlar for armor,,hub mounted saw, computer assist wing flex,lighter titanium engine, a dive of 600 mph,fit the supercharger with nitro & alckyhall,,,,,,whoosh,get the fuck outa my way dog,,guess these days they call this a warthog.
No offense intended, but on many of your video submissions, that "zenoswarbirds" crap at the bottom of the videos really gets in the way. I don't see any reason you couldn't have just put that stuff at the beginning or at the very end - just like credits in a movie. Having that junk there all the time throughout the films is extremely annoying as hell and ruins the picture so I stopped watching them. Food for thought, fella... :-(
I have uploaded a new high quality restoration of this video here th-cam.com/video/WZ55zlgsyus/w-d-xo.html Don't miss our P-38 DVD with five more P-38 videos & a P-38 pilot's manual bit.ly/J0owLJ Like what you see? Your DVD purchases at our store make this channel possible. www.zenosflightshop.com We need your support! Zeno
It is tragic that ZenosWarbirds' videos don't have a large viewership. These videos are priceless time capsules showing a vastly different world that existed within my 94-yr old mom's lifetime. And the P-38 Lightning is legendary
Thank you for posting. I have the official flight manual for the P-38 and other WW 2 aircraft. I had a great WW 2 vet as a client at my shop who flew the 38 and the B-25 and he loved them both. A really great guy that I will miss.
My neighbor's father was also a Flight Instructor and P-38 Pilot. He told me once that he flew the P-38 out of Palm Springs. He also flew many planes including the B-17, B-24, B29, etc. He would sit around telling me and his son so many stories including flying the 'Hump'. Dirt runways at DumDum and when when it rained landing in the mud was interesting
Thanks for sharing! It sure would be fun to take one of these up for an hour or two.
Thanks for uploading this video about this great aircraft!
Thanks for this wonderful video - I love warbirds, too! The P-38 is in my top 3! :)
Lemme guess.. The top 1 and two is spitfire and mustang... If its not then let me know
great video . great plane , great generation
Cool video, cool airplane
My paternal grandmother worked on the P-38 assembly line at the Burbank plant.
Thank God is was not your maternal grandmother.
CeaserInVa My uncle flew the P-38 in WW2. He came home from the war and became Vice President of Lockheed Burbank.
I’m logging this as ground training and the FAA can’t stop me
This is awesome! Now I finally get to take my P-38 up!! 👍👍😁
Yeah, state of the art fighter aircraft of the time. The F-22 of the day! 💪🏻🇺🇸✌
Hey folks, did any of you guys hear of "Glacier Girl"? a P-38 that was ditched along with 4-5 others on a glacier in Greenland during the war in 1942. Well it seems 23 years ago, or so, some pro plane enthusiasts and a heap of money heard the stories of the ditched planes and went searching and sure enough they did find ONE. It was 268 feet down , encased in ice like a bug in amber. So they burrowed down and piece by piece retrieved it and in 2012, the FLEW her. Dubbed "Glacier Girl" appropriately enough! TRUE STORY! Curt
Stick with me kiddo....you will learn a myriad of things!! love,curt
No,YOU got it!:)
Yeah, I visited all during the rebuild and the first flight. Interesting story. Ray died, and the kids sold it to someone in California.
Huh? I hadn't heard that development. I do agree it IS an interesting true tale. Thanks,Mate
Curtis Lucksinger I have seen video
A beautiful bird.
very insightful, thanks
The P-38 Lightening was a magnificent machine. It began life being talked down but by the end of the war, it was one of the most respected fighters in the skies... often called 'Angel in Overalls' by our bomber crews and 'Forked-Tailed Devil' by the Germans.
It's wonderful to watch this video and imagine what it would be like to fly a P38.
But I'd hate to have to fight in one
Thank you for sharing video
What a great video! Thanks for keeping it alive.
Anyone know where they are flying at?
There's an airworthy one in Madras, Oregon at the Erickson's Aviation Collection Museum.
Reply to meowmixy1: The numbers around the outside of the tachometer are HUNDREDS of rpm. Thousands are shown in the little window at 9 o'clock. When the pilot sets 3000 rpm, the needle points to 0 and 3 shows in little window.
why can't instructional videos still be like this?
감사합니다!
Love this video & #ZenosWarbirds
awesome video!!!!! question: everything they say seems to correspond to what they show except the RPMs...whenever they mention the rpms they're always a few thousand rpms higher than what they're talking about....that's a little confusing...can anyone reply to me comment as to why?
The most beautiful plane ever built
I couldn't agree more.
Thanks USA 🇺🇸 from American Grandson John Robert Bruffett Junior 🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️🌧️
I find it interesting that the P-38 did not have a generator in the starboard engine
It can accomodate a generator in the second engine, and many P-38s did have two generators-- but this was wartime: If you had a limited number of generators on-hand, better to get twice as many planes in the air than to indulge in redundancy.
the fellow who taught me how to land an airplane both VFR and instrument had told me the P-38 had two critical engines hence the P-38 single engine demonstration in front of the pilots who flew them and also that's why there was so much emphasis on single engine configuration he should know he was in WWII. both props counter rotate outward hence two critical engines.
Fred N That's exactly what I thought when I saw the start up sequence in the video. Why in the world would they miss the opportunity of having a twin with no critical engine and have two, instead? Designers must have had an excellent reason for this. I wonder what it was.
corisco tupi If you lost an engine, wouldn't the prop rotation of the remaining engine help to stabilize the flight?
Kelt4ever Only if the LH engine turns CW and the RH engine turns CCW as seen from behind the airplane (or as more commonly described, if the inboard prop blades go down as they turn). As described, each engine's torque tends to cancel out some of its off-center line of thrust, mitigating yaw and roll that naturally results from an engine failure in a twin. This is not what is shown in the video, so in an engine out situation the remaining engine's torque actually aggravates its off-center thrust.
This is why twin airplanes that have both engines turning in the same direction are said to have one critical engine (usually the left, since most engines turn CW as seen from behind).
Most twins are built with contra-rotating props with the descending blade on the inboard side, and as such are said to have no critical engine for the reason explained.
The one seen in the video has two critical engines as they tun in the "wrong" direction (inboard blades go up as they turn). If any one of its engines fails, the remaining engine's torque AND its off-center thrust will both work against the pilot, making directional and lateral control that much more difficult.
corisco tupi Thanks - I wasn't sure about the torque...
+TcO FroooZeN This sounds almost like an after-thought feature, not unlike strakes and other aerodynamic appendixes added to airplanes after initial flight testing. The effect you described must have been quite substantial to forfeit the benefit of not having a critical engine (even worse, having *two*). Come to think of it, it makes perfect sense that there are other priorities in combat aircraft than engine-out handling characteristics. Yes, you provided very interesting insight about this splendid airplane. Cheers!
15:20 OMG.
Why so much rudder on engine-out? What they don't tell you: unlike conventional twins, the P-38's engines are both critical, in spite of the counter-rotating props. The reason why: because both arcs turn away from the fuselage at their tops, this places the P-factor of both propellers on the outboard sides of the engines' centerlines. If one engine goes out, you'll notice it via resultant yaw. The P-38 is one of a small handful of aircraft that do this; other twins with counter-rotating props turn their props in opposite directions of the P-38's, meaning that since the P-factors are now on the inboard sides of the engines, neither engine is critical, making for smoother transition to single-engine operation. The Beech 77 Duchess is one example.
Not just P-factor is worse with outward spinning props, but also accelerated slipstream, spiralling slipstream, and torque. Safe single engine control speed of the P-38 was 130mph!
34:30 "The P-38 is a Man's Airplane "God, I miss the Old Days
Me too. Today you'd have to have an indigenous cross-dressing woman of color as the student pilot to meet current requirements of diversity and inclusion
Interesting that throttle levers are coloured red on this aircraft. This is usually the Mixture control lever colours on later/modern piston types.
I wonder if that was for the piggyback training version.
Too bad there aren't more of these in flying condition
Actually, there have been examples recovered and restored to flying status. I saw one flying at the 2009 EAA fly-in
Not many pilots need to know how to fly the P-38 anymore, since they were allowed to go virtually extinct. They're so rare that Glacier Girl was restored at a cost of millions of dollars.
I wanted to say something without sounding pretentious so forgive me if this is common knowledge. A mentor of mine who flew the lightning over Europe in WWII told me the early series had both engines turning the same direction with the attendant problems of torque. Just a tidbit.
+psient +Fred N To have counter rotating props would require two different engines or at least gear boxes and props. This would have been financially and logistically challenging especially during wartime. With such horsepower though, it may have been determined a necessity, but why then would you make them both critical? Has to be a good reason, would be interesting to know;
+Steve Evans The bulk of P-38's built had counter rotating engines but opposite the conventional directions thus, as you say, makes either engine out a critical. Wiki says this was done for gunnery reasons and the Germans did the same thing on several of their twins.
+psient Watch @ 3:17 left engine starting with a left-handed prop, @:3:37 right engine starting with a right-handed prop. (This is opposite conventional counter-rotation; conventional is left-handed prop on the right engine, etc.)
I've heard that the British wanted the engines with the same rotation. To change the rotation you just need to change the cam, oil pump rotation (if it's a unidirectional pump) and the super charger rotation. There were a lot of marine diesel engines built with a special cam that could be shifted fore/aft to give the opposite valve lift to enable it to run in forward or reverse. If you watch the first engine start at about 3:00 min you can see the left engine start clockwise and the right engine start counter-clockwise.
The Brits had the Mosquito and thought the P-38 was a threat to production of the Mosquito. The P-38 was my favorite WWII fighter and could replace ANY Allied fighter on ANY mission. It had the speed, range and combat advantages needed for any duty, so it ended up in the Pacific Theater where greater range was needed and crappy fields were normal. Best bird for toughest duty. Brits loved dogfights that ended in turning contests. The P-38 could win over any other fighter simply by using it's superior climbing ability and then diving on it's foe.
okay, I'm ready for my check ride. thanks
A guy I know did a checkride in a P-38 a few years ago and the examiner was on the ground talking to him by radio during the "exam"!
Thanks!
14:20 If the flaps will not extend, the airplane lands well enough without them. This is redundancy to the best. Brilliant! :)
Kind of like seatbelts.
If the runway is long enough. The P 38 was redundant by the time it flew.
The P-38 flew in 1941 and was not obsolete in any way then.
If I remember correctly, this is one of the most forgiving fighter aircraft (not including dive bombers, torpedo bombers, or trainers) of WWII.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Yak-3 was one of those too. Yak-3 was one of the best planes in the war.
***** Agreed. Russia sure had some diamonds in the rut.
Like all aircraft of the era, there were problems with compressibility. Dive brakes were added (like the SBD Dauntless) and, the '38 was a winner!!
P-38 was also used in flights over Romania to protect attacks against the Romanian oil production and oil refineries.
There the P-38's encountered the IAR 81C, the production version of an airplane designed by the Romanian engineers in 1937. At the moment of the maiden flight on April 12, 1939, the IAR 80 was among the best planes of the world. By 1944 the IAR 81C was already obsolete. Obsolete as they were, 26 of IAR 81C and their Romanian pilots took off to encounter a formation of 39 of P-38’s, on June 10, 1944.
The result was 24 of P-38’s shot down in that day alone, with the Romanian pilot Dan Vizanty shooting down 3 of P-38 on his own.
The IAR 81C was better known on the Eastern Front. For the American pilots it was an unknown factor.
The pilots of the P-38's that survived the fight occurring between Bucharest and Ploesti on June 10, 1944 thought that they were attacked by FW-190.
Florin888 "That day" is a key phrase. The IAR 81'ies claimed 8 of those (which appear to be 22 lost), the rest fell to anti aircraft batteries and Luftwaffe. It was a really bad operation, using the P-38 as dive bomber at low altitude and the limit of its range.
And the other side of the coin is that Romanian fighter losses against USAAF were so appalling that operations agains US air ceased entirely after a few months. Smarter than Luftwaffe, which frankly should have done the same, saved their pilots and planes for the eastern front. As it is, they did the opposite and lost them all.
Vermiliontea Hey "Vermiliontea", guess why "operations agains US air ceased entirely after a few months", to use your words.
The Romanian Royal Air Force kept fighting to the very last day, while being in the Axis. A great Romanian ace, Alexandru Șerbănescu, died on August 18, 1944.
At August 23rd, 1944, Romania ceased to be an Axis Ally. It just wanted to get out, but being immediately under attack from her former Axis Allies Germany and Hungary, the Romanian Royal Air Force, STILL FUNCTIONAL AS AN AIR FORCE, started to fight against the former friend Luftwaffe. With that occasion the Romanians set free more than one thousand (1000) American aviators that were prisoners of Romania after being shot down, and soon these pilots could join their units. By late August 24th, 1944 the fighting between Romanians and Germans, all over what was left of Romania, was quite fierce, so the 1000 Americans aviators volunteered to take parts alongside Romanians as infantry men. The Romanians understood how valuable they were as pilots and politely declined the offer, to spare them from fighting.
Were the engines Allison's like the one on the p40? If so why didn't they super charge the P40?
Yes and because superchargers would be too large to fit in the P40's engine bay.
This is to all of you who Love the Lightning. Check out the Northrop P-61 Black Widow, it's a much larger, more powerful version of the P-38.
The P-61 used aircooled naval engines and worked best at somewhat lesser altitudes. It ended up in the radar night fighter role where it's guns and spare seat (for the radar operator) made it a natural.
Completely different aircraft in any number of ways.
Can you imagine all this on/off under the stress of combat, dog fight, while trying not getting shot down, staying alive ?
Are trim tabs used on this type of aircraft
@@brucewhite7069 For certain.
How do you fly the lightning? Don't try and maneuver with more nimble single-engine fighters. Use boom-and-zoom tactics, and you will succeed.
Zeno the fact that your still doing this makes you 100% "Awesometonium" . - Bagr 44th SOS
ammo, rtb ,/S
Yves Torquest Thanks!😎
@@ZenosWarbirds What squad did you fly for in WB?
XXX.
It's in the bag. Famous last words......
I'm curious-what was the range of this plane with external tanks? I thought this plane would be more than capable of escorting bombers all the way and back.
They could and they did, it's just that early on in Europe they weren't provided with the necessary drop tanks to do it because the Generals in charge in Europe thought at first that the bombers wouldn't need escorts for a variety of reasons.
Starting in January of 44 they started providing P38's and P47's with the right kind of drop tanks and both of them along with P51's were escorting bombers on missions to Berlin, the P51's didn't start doing escort missions until January of 44 when the drop tanks were being made available, contrary to popular opinion and the common myth they also couldn't have escorted bombers to Berlin without drop tanks, the P51 didn't swoop in and save the day the way everyone thinks, it wasn't a matter of getting P51's it was a matter of getting the right kind of drop tanks for the bombers to have escorts on long range deep penetration mission's.
Something that's important to understand is no fighter's even with drop tanks had the range to go "all the way and back" with the bombers, they had to use a relay system to do it, that's because at the speed and altitude the bombers cruised at the fighter's would guzzle fuel, along with the fact that the bombers didn't take off in England and fly straight to their target, they had a "dog leg" in their flight path so their target wouldn't be so obvious adding hours to the mission, so one group of fighter's would meet up with the bombers and take them most of the way to the target where they'd be relieved by the next relay that'd taken off some time afterwards and flying at the altitude and speed that gave them maximum range would catch up, the first relay would then turn around and head for home at the altitude and speed that gave them their best mileage while the 2nd relay would take the bombers to the target, then on the way back they'd be relieved by a third relay that'd taken off at a time where flying at a speed and altitude that gave them best mileage would meet the others coming off the target and the 2nd relay that'd taken the bombers to the target could speed up to the speed that gave them their maximum range and head home, without being relieved they wouldn't have been able to stay with the bombers all the way back because at that speed they'd have run out of fuel before making it back to England.
If a fighter relay screwed up their navigation or anything about their schedule and couldn't find the bombers then the bombers would have to fly that leg unescorted and it happened sometimes, when the fighter's with the bombers hit their mileage limit they had no choice they had to head for home at the correct speed.
It's mind boggling when you think about all the math figuring out when the different relays of fighter's had to take off to meet up with the bombers at their designated position and time, sometimes they'd get there and the bombers would be there for any one of a number of reasons, so they'd fly around in circles until they had no choice and had to head for home.
Is this for the early or for the later variants? I would think it's for the early ones but who knows lol
Judging by the profile of the cooling intakes, it's an early model.
Off the bat 🦇, lol
Coolest looking WW2 fighter
_____________________________
Change my mind
I have a set of P-38 wheels-New condition...
control surfaces locked up close to mac 1
@@michaelexman5474 More like 60% of Mach 1.
I always like it if they mention the model when starting the video. This might be an H.
Too bad they couldn't have rescued more of them from that glacier on Greenland.
This thing should not be near a couple of IAR 81
mark r penn usa con u know it after figuring out counter rotating props was figured out an Mr lindberg increased range by 2 times in the pacific 47 51 this would be my choice if I was there . but this in my limited knowledge would by my choice and the fire power
Alrighty.
mark r killed yamamoto on the thx 2 the breaking of of the Japanese code, u know
I have like 5 P-38’s.
I wonder if some p 38s have been altered ,,or upgraded with modern tech,like lighter kevlar for armor,,hub mounted saw, computer assist wing flex,lighter titanium engine, a dive of 600 mph,fit the supercharger with nitro & alckyhall,,,,,,whoosh,get the fuck outa my way dog,,guess these days they call this a warthog.
walther p- 38
Matter fact, no nonsense men demonstrating a war machine. No gender confusions here.
St Helena's Finest
Complicated machine.
No offense intended, but on many of your video submissions, that "zenoswarbirds" crap at the bottom of the videos really gets in the way. I don't see any reason you couldn't have just put that stuff at the beginning or at the very end - just like credits in a movie. Having that junk there all the time throughout the films is extremely annoying as hell and ruins the picture so I stopped watching them. Food for thought, fella... :-(
It's a *man's* weapon, cooled with *Prestone*.
If any of you P-38 enthusiasts are also into gaming/simulations, check out my take on War Thunder's P-38G
th-cam.com/video/NIc7ArJT0eU/w-d-xo.html
that plane is just to much
Yyyyyyyyy
I have uploaded a new high quality restoration of this video here
th-cam.com/video/WZ55zlgsyus/w-d-xo.html
Don't miss our P-38 DVD with five more P-38 videos & a P-38 pilot's manual bit.ly/J0owLJ
Like what you see? Your DVD purchases at our store make this channel possible.
www.zenosflightshop.com
We need your support! Zeno
Hello... z warbirds.... I. Need. To. Say. I. Really. Really. Like. These. Old. Instructional film. Video.s. i.ve. watched... the. Lightning... a...cobra... warhawk...wildcat..hellcat... Thunderbolt. And. Mustang... many. Times. And. I. Also. Noticed.. some. Bomber. Footage... I. Figure. What. The. Hell..... some. People. Tell. Me. They. Have. Watched.. movies. Like....summer...42...Black. beauty. And. Top. Gun. Hundreds. Of. Times... and. I. Really. Dig. These.. it's. Like. Watching. An. Old. Movie. To. Me... so. Again. I. Say. What. The...hell... thankyou. For. Making. These. Available. Because. These. Things. We're. Very. Real. At. That. Time.... have. A. Nice. Day....
Thanks!