The P-38 Lightning
has a unique twin-hulled, twin-engine style,
making it unique among American fighter aircraft during World War II.
The XP-38 made its first flight on January 27, 1939, but
during takeoff and ascent, the flaps vibrated and broke three hinges, making it
impossible to operate the flaps upon landing, causing the XP-38 to end up stranded. It has become.
After that, the aircraft was repaired and made several flights, and
many problems were corrected.
Then, on February 11, 1939,
a record flight was made to cross the North American continent from the west coast to the east coast, but
the landing attempt at Mitchell Field in New York failed, the
plane flew off the runway and was destroyed. I did.
However, during this flight,
the maximum speed of 676km/h was achieved with a tailwind,
and the pilot was unharmed.The
effect of this demonstration was so great that
Lockheed
succeeded in receiving orders for 13 YP-38s shortly after the accident. did.
At first, the essential mass production system was not in place, and
the first YP-38 made its first flight on September 7, 1940.
After that, the mass production system was gradually put in place, and
the E-type, a full-scale mass-produced model, discontinued the previous 37mm cannon and
was fitted with a 20mm M1 machine gun and four 12.7mm machine guns in the nose, which
became the basis of the P-38 series and
continued on . It was produced as F, G, and H types, and
in the J type, the problem of engine cooling was solved by moving the intercooler to
just behind the propeller under the engine nacelle , and the shape became a chin style, making it easier to identify. I did.
With a new cooling system, the P-38J was able to use
the same V-1710-89/91 engine as the P-38H to provide emergency output of 1600hp (at an altitude of 8077mm).
In addition, the P-38J-25 and later models use electric swoop flaps to eliminate
buffet (vibration of the aircraft caused by turbulent airflow) that affects the tail , and are used during recovery from a steep descent. We changed the direction of the airflow from the main wings to prevent it from hitting the tail. The L type has the same airframe structure as the J-25 type and later, except that the landing light is now embedded in the leading edge of the left wing , but it has a stronger engine with a V-1710-111/113 engine.
[Data]
Crew: 1 person
Overall length: 11.53m
Overall width: 15.85m
Overall height: 3.0m
Combat weight: 7,940kg
Engine: Allison V1710-89 (left side) / 91 (right side) 2 units
Output: 1,600hp (emergency rating) / 8,230 Maximum
speed: 666km/h/7,620m
Armament: 20mm AN-M2 machine gun x 1, 12.7mm machine gun x 4
First flight: 1939.1.27 (XP-38)
