Hey Gary, I've been watching a documentary on TV and they said that Richard Bong was certainly a big player. When surfing the web his name comes up most of the time. My dad also flew a p38. His plane was shot down over Hungary, he was held captive for a year. You know you can't eject from that plane, you have to turn it over and fall out. My dad is my hero.

Hey Gary, I am now watching a documentary on the p38 and they do say that Richard Bong was indeed a major player. And when surfing the web his name comes up most of the time. It is a super interesting program. My dad also flew a p38 in wwll. He was shot down over Hungary and was captured and held captive for a year. You know they can't really eject from the plane, have to turn it over and fall out.

Can anyone tell me if the pilots trained to fly the P-38 were selected from the advanced twin engine (bomber) or advanced single engine (fighter) schools.

The big scoops on the booms are coolant radiators,which gave aerodynamicists shivers. Lightning pilots in Europe commonly shot at Mustangs. One advantage of the P38 was that it didn't look like any other plane. One disadvantage of the P38 was that it didn't look like any other plane from a great distance.A big problem in Eupope, the cockpit was unpressurised, drafty and cold. Few people behind providing the a/c,Air Ministries, DoD's manufaturers or designers gave any consideration to pilot comfort, even tho it has a real relationship with efficiency. P38E was pressurised and P49 locked a bit more comfy but didn't happen. The P38 had a learning curve before a pilot was proficient. some great planes are like that. Tommy MacGuire was dog-fighting an Oscar, one of the dog-fightingest airplanes ever, without dropping his tanks, when he lost it. If he hadn't been just above the trees, he probably would have recovered. Just that onetime, he had too much confidence in himself and his plane and stalled into the ground. The airplane suffered from "compressibility" in a dive from great altitude, like Hawker Typhoon. The temporary fix kits sent to Europe on one ship, sunk by U-boat. No replacements were sent. The little under-wing flaps appeared in production only into P38J run. Robin Olds encountered this effect. He survived, some didn't. When I finally perfect my Time Machine, I'll get rid of the outer tailplane stubs and fit an all-moving stabilator, then move the radiators into the cockpit and then...

My grandfather almost got killed by one of these in a friendly fire incident.

A pilot named Fred A______ wrote a book about his wartime experience training and flying a P-38. I thought the book was named "Doorknob 52" ("Doorknob" being the knickname of his squadron. Does anybody know of this book or author. His last name begins with A. That's all I know.

I am a WW II airplane buff. I have been trying to find out what the intake ducts between the wings and the tail section on the P38 do. If anyone can help me figure this out I would appreciate it.
Thank You Dave

Do you have blue prints or dimensions for the larger drop tanks on a p-38? Please let me know if you do, i would like to make one. thanks, Levi

Tommy McGuire americas second highest scoring ace with 38 to Richard Bong's 40 also flew the P-38 also with the fifth airforce and both the P-38 and the fifth airforce's contributions to the war effort are largely overshadowed. I don't know why but it is a travesty. What a great plane.

I'm always amazed that Americas # 1 ACE of WWII who was Richard Bong, and mdae most, if not all of his Kills in P-38's is ignored in the history of WWII. Do you know hwy this is?

My father, Wayne Dillon, ran the motor pool at Fort Wayne in Detroit in the early 1940's. An Italian prisoner of war, under his supervision, made an aluminum model P38 for my father, with material that apparently was melted and then formed into a scale model. Etched on the bottom of the stand base is my name and the artists name.