One of the best fighters if WW2, for sure. However, according to many fighter pilots and bomber pilots, the F4u Corsair was the best fighter of that period. The F4u even fought in Korea in the fifties. Also, it was the longest produced WW2 fighter ever. I also love the P-47.
I love the p-38 lightning. It picks up where the mosquito leaves off. The only issue was compressibility and why didn't they fix it. It was such a simple fix! Removing the rear lateral attachment acting as to tie the tails together. If they had to remove that and made each tail independent, it would have solved that. I hate to be a Monday quarterback. It truly needed all the dive speed that it could get to. But nevertheless, in the flight Sims it is the best and will destroy and rip the wings off of bombers. Taking Top Gun maneuvers which I know was not available during world war II. Oh it has a big advantage over single engines props or a super prop. Loved it! I would like to add that the p38 lightning was the precursor to the A10. Absolutely! Being an old US Navy rotorhead 💯 I love the p-38 and the a-10. Remembering back in world war II. They were all in the European theater part of the Army Air Force. Or otherwise known before the thee usaac United States Army Air corps. That's what it was called before they integrated into the Army Air Force. Then the Pacific theater with the US Navy and the USMC, the army of the Navy. Hoorah semper Fi 👊😎
It was Mach tuck. Cutting away the tail stabilizer isn't going to solve that. They remedied the situation with dive flaps on the outboard wings, out of line with the tail, so tell me how did the horizontal tail factor into the problem?
My former father-in-law flew the P-38. He said if they would have allowed him to keep flying it, with newer aircraft on line, he would still be in the service. He was a hot shot. Flying over his grandmother’s farm in upstate NY at 100’, all of a sudden there was the silo directly ahead. He pulled the yoke to his chest, and lived to tell me the story.
That was a very enjoyable one hour twenty minutes. What an Ace Richard Bong was and Kelly Johnson was as naturally gifted in his capacity of invention, determination man's clarity in an era of pure human brain matter. No wonder America has sored 5o the heights it has and we need her now vis-a-vis China, but not its complicity with what Israel is doing to Palestine civilians.
Upon hearing about the plan for attack on the naval base at Pearl harbor, Admiral Yamamoto remarked," Is it wise to wake a sleeping giant?",, His remark was realized
It was cool but had a number of flaws they say, foremost it was vulnerable in a dogfight. The cockpit was freezing cold, and it could go out of control in a dive.
The P-38 was vulnerable when bounced. It was not disadvantaged in a dogfight, if the Pilot was able to dictate when and where it happened. (E.g. when doing the bouncing, or by joining a fight, or while defending bombers). The primary issue it had was human factors related. It was complex to operate all of the various engine, mixture, propeller, and turbocharger controls. So if ever bounced, the pilot could do little to avoid the attack because the number of steps required to prep for combat was excessive. Kelly Johnson learned, and all subsequent designs were pilot-focused.
The metric world knows not that caliber is 1/100th of an inch. Or a grain is 1/7000th of a pound. Or that American-Imperial measurements is the superior aeronautical engineering system. Altitude is measured in feet. And the world absolute altitude record is measured in feet. The evidence of these facts are enshrined in a photo of an American Footprint on the Moon.
@@alansiebert7029Not so the case. The War Department ran the US Army, the Army Reserve, and the National Guard. The Navy Department ran the US Navy and Marine Corps. In 1947 they were consolidated into the Defense Department, adding the US Air Force as new, separate branch.
At 44:12. My, my how far we've declined. Now, it takes multiple committees at every level of government, government agencies, contractor, subcontractor, middlemen, and others to accomplish something. And they all skim our tax dollars in the process, which certainly does not involve "brevity" and "clarity".
Crashed on the NY end of the speed run because the airport wasn't notified it was coming. The tower put it in a hold pattern and the P-38 ran out of fuel.. belly landing on a golf course. 23 mins faster than prev. speed record actually (- refueling)
You are correct. Read 2/11/39 Mitchel Field crash report. Held back for slow traffic in pattern, (4:55pm) swung wide, then couldn't accelerate. Icing stalled port engine, clipped tree and crashed on golf course. Pics in report and Time Magazine 2/20/1939
@ To further elaborate, the P-38 was not equipped with a carburetor heat control because the turbocharger supplied that heat through compression. If a P-38 pilot wanted to keep the carbs clear of ice he had to throttle up far enough to engage the turbo (2/3rds throttle or above).
The P38 could not match either the FW190 or BF109 at higher altitudes due to compressibility issues. It’s worth watching Eric ‘Winkle’ Browns assessment on the subject. Only the P51 could outmatch Luftwaffe fighters in higher altitude dogfights.
You are technically right, as the Bell XP-59 was the first aircraft to fly on U.S. soil powered by a turbojet, given to General Electric by the Brits in great secrecy in 1941 (it flew in 1942). It was Whittle’s engine, the first turbojet in history. This said, the first operational turbojet aircraft was the F-80 Shooting Star, also powered by Whittle’s British engine. It also became Pratt & Whitney’s first turbojet under a license agreement. The F-80 first operated in limited capacity in Italy during WWII (we posted a photo about that.) In short the XP-59 was a mere prototype, unfit for operational purpose, and the Shooting Star was the first U.S. operational jet fighter, also initially operating in the Korean War theater, where it had to face the formidable MiG-15, ironically also powered by Whittle’s engine, which was reverse engineered by the Soviets and illegally mass produced after Rolls Royce gave the Russians a few units. The F-80 proved to be largely inferior to the MiG (swept wings), forcing the U.S. to deploy the F-86, which proved to be a better match.
@ …there was a lot of learning going on. America was playing catch up to the British. Needed a fighter ASAP. Kelly Johnson gave did it in six months. Whereas North American had the benefit of time
DP 51 mustang was faster and much more maneuverable and the P 38 I with the famous Merlin engine what is undoubtedly the most famous fighter aircraft in the world
8:32 So the U.S. didn’t want to give the Brits access to the supercharger technology but the Brits gave us the Jet engine amongst other things…sounds about right.
The brits gave Stalin the blueprints for the bomb. Then continued to funnel vast quantities of information to the USSR, leading to them developing ICBMS. The Brits of the 1940s and '50s were not to be trusted.
@@Triple_J.1. There were several soviet spies with links to the Manhattan project. Two of them were indeed British, the most important being Fuchs. Another was not himself British, but had links to the British contingent. Other spies were American, including Greenglass, Hall and of course the Rosenbergs, who went to the electric chair. These people were mostly dedicated communists, and bear in mind that the Soviet Union was on the Allied side in the war.
American metallurgy was superior to any European nation, be it the British or Germans. Those fellows across the pond may have invented the jet engine, but it was American-built jet engines that could last more than a hundred hours before a rebuild. That knowledge came from American experience with turbos.
Those early designs and the men who flew then tend to get less love. Not because they were inferior, but because they were there in the dark days of the early war before victory was certain. And enemy superiority was vastly inflated by the ignorant media. The later aircraft such as the P-51 and Corsair get the credit for winning the war. But it was the P-40, F4F, Hurricane and Spitfire that met the Axis of Evil on the enemies terms, and stopped them.
I think he's referring to the statement about the p-38 being the only american model to be in production all the way through the war. I'm not positive, but i think he's right - i'm pretty sure both the P40 and F4F were as well. Fancified late war variants were being made all the way through IIRC, just in fewer numbers than they had been, as most capacity had converted to other production lines.
Sighs, " unique is an absolute term like dead or pregnant; it is semantic gibberish to speak of" most unique"; X is unique dead or pregnant or it is not, thus it cannot be more less or 'most' unique
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Kelly Johnson. One of my all time heroes
Can you imagine if he was still alive and designing?
I mean, the SR71 Blackbird was far above anything else!
One of the greatest planes of WW2
Von wegen, gegen ein einmotorigen Jagdflugzeug hatte es keine Chance....
It wasnt used enough in the war in my opinion..
Probably the most underrated fighter of the war
My favorite WWII aircraft.
Me too, love the nightfighter variant pictured in the thumbnail.
Its awesome. P51 than P38. Both unreal and masterpieces.
Ditto 😊
Me too.
3:30 These men were on a different level, he designed that plane by hand with basic math tools.
Richard Bong ace of aces in that rig
One of the best fighters if WW2, for sure. However, according to many fighter pilots and bomber pilots, the F4u Corsair was the best fighter of that period. The F4u even fought in Korea in the fifties. Also, it was the longest produced WW2 fighter ever. I also love the P-47.
I love the p-38 lightning. It picks up where the mosquito leaves off. The only issue was compressibility and why didn't they fix it. It was such a simple fix! Removing the rear lateral attachment acting as to tie the tails together. If they had to remove that and made each tail independent, it would have solved that. I hate to be a Monday quarterback. It truly needed all the dive speed that it could get to. But nevertheless, in the flight Sims it is the best and will destroy and rip the wings off of bombers. Taking Top Gun maneuvers which I know was not available during world war II. Oh it has a big advantage over single engines props or a super prop. Loved it!
I would like to add that the p38 lightning was the precursor to the A10. Absolutely! Being an old US Navy rotorhead 💯 I love the p-38 and the a-10. Remembering back in world war II. They were all in the European theater part of the Army Air Force. Or otherwise known before the thee usaac United States Army Air corps. That's what it was called before they integrated into the Army Air Force. Then the Pacific theater with the US Navy and the USMC, the army of the Navy. Hoorah semper Fi 👊😎
It was Mach tuck. Cutting away the tail stabilizer isn't going to solve that.
They remedied the situation with dive flaps on the outboard wings, out of line with the tail, so tell me how did the horizontal tail factor into the problem?
I had one on my dressed. I had given it to my dad many years ago, becaust he had flown them. Now I have it.
My dad was a Lockheed engineer. He worked on the P-38's design team while he and my mom lived in CA.
MY dad was a crew chief on these in North Africa during WWII. That gave me the bug and I wnet on to work on combat aircraft in the USAF.
Bless him
Skunk works first aircraft !!!
Kelly was a visionary way ahead of his time
My former father-in-law flew the P-38. He said if they would have allowed him to keep flying it, with newer aircraft on line, he would still be in the service. He was a hot shot. Flying over his grandmother’s farm in upstate NY at 100’, all of a sudden there was the silo directly ahead. He pulled the yoke to his chest, and lived to tell me the story.
Sure looks a lot like the XF 11 built by Howard Hughes. The Japanese used his designs for the Zero.
The initial requirements in the specification already called for a twin engine, wasn't kellys idea
Siempre me gustó mucho ese avión
That was a very enjoyable one hour twenty minutes. What an Ace Richard Bong was and Kelly Johnson was as naturally gifted in his capacity of invention, determination man's clarity in an era of pure human brain matter. No wonder America has sored 5o the heights it has and we need her now vis-a-vis China, but not its complicity with what Israel is doing to Palestine civilians.
Upon hearing about the plan for attack on the naval base at Pearl harbor, Admiral Yamamoto remarked," Is it wise to wake a sleeping giant?",, His remark was realized
It was cool but had a number of flaws they say, foremost it was vulnerable in a dogfight. The cockpit was freezing cold, and it could go out of control in a dive.
High speed compressability was an issue for several WW2 aircraft that were capable of very high speed dives.
The P-38 was vulnerable when bounced.
It was not disadvantaged in a dogfight, if the Pilot was able to dictate when and where it happened. (E.g. when doing the bouncing, or by joining a fight, or while defending bombers).
The primary issue it had was human factors related. It was complex to operate all of the various engine, mixture, propeller, and turbocharger controls. So if ever bounced, the pilot could do little to avoid the attack because the number of steps required to prep for combat was excessive.
Kelly Johnson learned, and all subsequent designs were pilot-focused.
A failure in Europe.
That's simply not true about it being bad at dogfighting. Richard Bong flew one. He was America's top Ace of WWII. 40 kills.
The P 38 was a failure in Europe.
A Mach number 0.68 .it
was really overrated.
My favorite new Fighter F18
My favorite WWII air plane is P-51
The machine guns on the lightning prototype were 30 and 50 caliber, not millimeter. Just sayin.
The metric world knows not that caliber is 1/100th of an inch.
Or a grain is 1/7000th of a pound.
Or that American-Imperial measurements is the superior aeronautical engineering system.
Altitude is measured in feet. And the world absolute altitude record is measured in feet.
The evidence of these facts are enshrined in a photo of an American Footprint on the Moon.
The "Defense Department", mentioned several times , only came into existence in 1947.
At least they correctly referenced the "Army Air Force".
Wasn't it department of war prior, same thing different name
@@alansiebert7029Not so the case.
The War Department ran the US Army, the Army Reserve, and the National Guard.
The Navy Department ran the US Navy and Marine Corps.
In 1947 they were consolidated into the Defense Department, adding the US Air Force as new, separate branch.
My favorite overall air plane SR-71
My favorite Vietnam fighter F-4 Phantom
The 8th USAAF flew Photo recon Spitfires out of England. Painted in RAF pink
At 44:12. My, my how far we've declined. Now, it takes multiple committees at every level of government, government agencies, contractor, subcontractor, middlemen, and others to accomplish something. And they all skim our tax dollars in the process, which certainly does not involve "brevity" and "clarity".
Crashed on the NY end of the speed run because the airport wasn't notified it was coming. The tower put it in a hold pattern and the P-38 ran out of fuel.. belly landing on a golf course. 23 mins faster than prev. speed record actually (- refueling)
Heard it was carb icing since Kelsey had to loiter in the pattern.
You are correct. Read 2/11/39 Mitchel Field crash report. Held back for slow traffic in pattern, (4:55pm) swung wide, then couldn't accelerate. Icing stalled port engine, clipped tree and crashed on golf course. Pics in report and Time Magazine 2/20/1939
@ To further elaborate, the P-38 was not equipped with a carburetor heat control because the turbocharger supplied that heat through compression. If a P-38 pilot wanted to keep the carbs clear of ice he had to throttle up far enough to engage the turbo (2/3rds throttle or above).
The P38 could not match either the FW190 or BF109 at higher altitudes due to compressibility issues. It’s worth watching Eric ‘Winkle’ Browns assessment on the subject. Only the P51 could outmatch Luftwaffe fighters in higher altitude dogfights.
The F4G-2 was faster and more maneuverable than those German aircraft as well as the Lightning especially at altitude.
Visit the Richard Bong museum in Superior Wisconsin✌🇺🇸
Great suggestion Scott
Der Gabelschwanz Teufel
The P-80 wasn’t the first American jet .aircraft. The P-80 was the first successful American jet aircraft. The Bell P-59 came first
You are technically right, as the Bell XP-59 was the first aircraft to fly on U.S. soil powered by a turbojet, given to General Electric by the Brits in great secrecy in 1941 (it flew in 1942).
It was Whittle’s engine, the first turbojet in history.
This said, the first operational turbojet aircraft was the F-80 Shooting Star, also powered by Whittle’s British engine.
It also became Pratt & Whitney’s first turbojet under a license agreement.
The F-80 first operated in limited capacity in Italy during WWII (we posted a photo about that.)
In short the XP-59 was a mere prototype, unfit for operational purpose, and the Shooting Star was the first U.S. operational jet fighter, also initially operating in the Korean War theater, where it had to face the formidable MiG-15, ironically also powered by Whittle’s engine, which was reverse engineered by the Soviets and illegally mass produced after Rolls Royce gave the Russians a few units.
The F-80 proved to be largely inferior to the MiG (swept wings), forcing the U.S. to deploy the F-86, which proved to be a better match.
@ …there was a lot of learning going on. America was playing catch up to the British. Needed a fighter ASAP. Kelly Johnson gave did it in six months. Whereas North American had the benefit of time
There are no degrees of uniqueness.
DP 51 mustang was faster and much more maneuverable and the P 38 I with the famous Merlin engine what is undoubtedly the most famous fighter aircraft in the world
The 51 was still slower and less produced than the F4U
8:32 So the U.S. didn’t want to give the Brits access to the supercharger technology but the Brits gave us the Jet engine amongst other things…sounds about right.
We did quite a bit to assist our British allies before we entered the war, during the war and after the war.
The brits gave Stalin the blueprints for the bomb. Then continued to funnel vast quantities of information to the USSR, leading to them developing ICBMS. The Brits of the 1940s and '50s were not to be trusted.
@@Triple_J.1. There were several soviet spies with links to the Manhattan project. Two of them were indeed British, the most important being Fuchs. Another was not himself British, but had links to the British contingent. Other spies were American, including Greenglass, Hall and of course the Rosenbergs, who went to the electric chair. These people were mostly dedicated communists, and bear in mind that the Soviet Union was on the Allied side in the war.
@@georgebrooks3873yes, lend-lease began long before Pearl Harbor. And before lend lease there was cash and carry, and destroyers for bases.
American metallurgy was superior to any European nation, be it the British or Germans. Those fellows across the pond may have invented the jet engine, but it was American-built jet engines that could last more than a hundred hours before a rebuild.
That knowledge came from American experience with turbos.
What's with the "Can we have a moment of silence ..." caption buried in this video?
The bomb was dropped on Huroshima August 6th not 7th. Nagasaki the 9th
No me imteresa en ingles
How about the P 40 or the F4F wildcat
Those early designs and the men who flew then tend to get less love.
Not because they were inferior, but because they were there in the dark days of the early war before victory was certain. And enemy superiority was vastly inflated by the ignorant media.
The later aircraft such as the P-51 and Corsair get the credit for winning the war.
But it was the P-40, F4F, Hurricane and Spitfire that met the Axis of Evil on the enemies terms, and stopped them.
I think he's referring to the statement about the p-38 being the only american model to be in production all the way through the war. I'm not positive, but i think he's right - i'm pretty sure both the P40 and F4F were as well. Fancified late war variants were being made all the way through IIRC, just in fewer numbers than they had been, as most capacity had converted to other production lines.
@Tissamo yes you are right about that and they were
They stopped building the F4F in 1943. They stopped building the P-40 at the end of 1944.
@BogeyTheBear better go back and check that again
Sighs, " unique is an absolute term like dead or pregnant; it is semantic gibberish to speak of" most unique"; X is unique dead or pregnant or it is not, thus it cannot be more less or 'most' unique