What did the Germans call the P-38 Lightning?
fork-tailed devil
Developed for the United States Army Air Corps, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil (German: der Gabelschwanz-Teufel) by the Luftwaffe and “two planes, one pilot” by the Japanese.
How much is a p38 Lightning worth?
So far, a Ford Trimotor that flew the first transcontinental passenger route between New York and San Diego has been sold, and now, a 1945 P-38L Lightning airplane has been placed on the block with a price tag of $6.75 million.
How many guns did the P-38 Lightning have?
four
First conceived in 1937 by Lockheed chief engineer Hall L. Hibbard and his then assistant, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, the twin-boomed P-38 was the most innovative plane of its day, combining speed with unheard-of advances: two supercharged engines and a potent mix of four 50-caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon.
What was the purpose of the p38 Lightning?
P-38, also called Lightning, fighter and fighter-bomber employed by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. A large and powerful aircraft, it served as a bomber escort, a tactical bomber, and a photo-reconnaissance platform.
What was the P-38 Lightning called in World War 2?
The Germans called the P-38 Lightning ‘Gabelschwanz-Teufel’ (‘The Devil with the Cleft Tail’). The two leading American WW2 aces, Major Richard I. Bong and Major Thomas B. McGuire, made their last kills in the P-38. Bong shot down all his adversaries in a P-38 and had a total of 40 kills, while McGuire’s total was 38.
What did the Lockheed P-38 fighter look like?
Unlike most fighter planes of the Second World War, it had two booms, each with an engine, so that it looked almost like two planes bolted together. This unusual configuration created one of the most successful aircraft of the war and provided a great start to Lockheed’s work in military aviation.
What did Robert DeHaven think of the P-38 Lightning?
In Eric Bergerud’s Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific, Robert DeHaven, a 14-kill ace with the 49th Fighter Group, describes his reaction to the Lightning: The P-38 was very unusual. Imagine what I felt when first climbing on board that airplane.
When was the first P-38 shot down in World War 2?
When America entered World War Two in December 1941, P-38s were still being evaluated and were not generally in frontline service. Despite this, a P-38 was the first USAAF plane to destroy an enemy aircraft in the war. A P-38 based in Iceland shot down a German Focke-Wulf Condor hours after the declaration of war.
