Lockheed Lightning

Fighter · Lockheed · United States

Lockheed Lightning
ⓘ licence & creditCindyN / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P38_Lightning.jpg
Typical crew1
Engines2 × Allison V-1710
First flight1939
Number built10,037

Photographs

367th Fighter Group 392d FS P-38 Lightning at Carentan Airfield (A-10), France
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:367th_Fighter_Group_392d_FS_P-38_Lightning.jpgView source & full licence →
367th Fighter Group - 394th FS P-38 Lightning "Dotties Great Lady" at Beuzeville Airfield (A-6), France
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:367th_Fighter_Group_-_394th_FS_P-38_Lightning.jpgView source & full licence →
A P-38 Lightning (4N-O) of the 367th Fighter Group in flight over the Seine. Image stamped on reverse: 'Passed for publication 20 Aug 1944.' [stamp] and 354525.' [censor no.] Printed caption on reverse: '"P-38s fly over Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine, Scherschel LIFE.' Handwritten caption on reverse: '4NO, 394th FS, 367th FG.'
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:367th_FG_P-38_394th_FS.jpgView source & full licence →
A P-38 Lightning (serial number 42-68004) nicknamed "Moonlight Cock-tail" of the 367th Fighter Group, flown by Lieutenant Clark "Doc" Livingston. Handwritten caption on reverse: '392nd FS, 367th FG, 9th Air Force.'
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:367th_FG_P-38_392d_FS_42-68004.jpgView source & full licence →
Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning Serial 42-67978 "Betty A III" of the 383d Fighter Squadron on the right and "Mim" on the left of the 364th Fighter Group, based at RAF Honington, England.
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:364fg-p38.jpgView source & full licence →
P-38s of the 361st Fighter Group
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:361fg-p-38-lightnings.jpgView source & full licence →
24th Fighter Squadron P-38J Lightning (Squadron #12), France Field, Panama, 1945
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:24th_Fighter_Squadron_P-38J_1945.jpgView source & full licence →
P-38 Lightning of the 20th Fighter Group, Kings Cliffe airfield, England. This P-38 Lightning MC-Z was flown by my father, Glenn Martin Webb until it was replaced by a P-51 Mustang with the same MC-Z lettering. Both ships were named Glengary Guy for Glenn (Dad), Gary (my brother), and Guy (me). The right side cowling read Jackie (my mother). Dad was killed in a similarly named P-51D on December 7, 1951 in Amarillo, Texas. The name Julie (my sister) was added after Jackie on August 27, 1951. Julie was 3 months old when Dad perished.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20th_Fighter_Group_P38.jpgView source & full licence →
P-38 Lightnings from the 20th Fighter Group in formation over France, 29 June 1944
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20th_Fighter_Group_-_P-38_Formation.jpgView source & full licence →
20th Fighter Group P-38 FC-C
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20fg-p38-lc-c.jpgView source & full licence →
P-38 Lightnings, including (serial number 41-7631) of the 1st Fighter Group at Goxhill. Image stamped on reverse: 'Not to be published 20 Jul 1942.' [stamp] and '213031.' [censor no].
ⓘ licence & creditUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1st_Fighter_Group_P-38_Lightning_41-7631_at_RAF_Goxhill.jpgView source & full licence →
Rough field operations caused difficult working conditions for 9th Air Force maintenance personnel. Here a crew prepares to use an external heater to warm a P-38’s frozen engine so it can be started while an armorer works on the guns in the nose while atop a makeshift stand. (U.S. Air Force photo))
ⓘ licence & creditU.S. Air Force photo / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1944_P-38_en_mantenimiento.jpgView source & full licence →
P-38F of the 14th Fighter Group being serviced in North Africa, 1943
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14thfg-p38-northafrica-1943.jpgView source & full licence →
A USAAF Lockheed P-38F-5-LO Lightning fighter (s/n 42-12596) of the 50th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Group, at Camp Tripoli airfield, Iceland, November 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditUSAAF / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14fg-p38-iceland-1942.jpgView source & full licence →
YP-38
ⓘ licence & creditU.S. Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:020903-o-9999b-059.jpgView source & full licence →

About

The Lockheed Lightning is the great American twin-boom fighter that the RAF, almost uniquely, turned down. Britain had taken over a French order after the fall of France in 1940 and named the type the Lightning, but the export models supplied lacked the turbo-superchargers and handed propellers of the American originals, which crippled their high-altitude performance and handling.

RAF testing at Burbank produced a damning report, and the British cancelled all but three of the 143 Lightning Is on order; those three reached Britain by sea in 1942 and went only to test establishments. The RAF therefore never flew the P-38 operationally, even as it became a mainstay of the USAAF as a fighter, long-range escort, photo-reconnaissance and ground-attack aircraft. The Lightning stands as an instructive footnote — a first-rate aircraft compromised by the modifications demanded for export.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Lockheed Lightning Mk I — historyofwar.org and Lockheed P-38 Lightning — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.