Flight of the XP-38
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- 83 years ago First Lt Benjamin Kelsey of the United States Army Air Corps took off in an experimental army plane from March Field in Riverside California on what would be a very exciting trip that marked the debut of one of the iconic aircraft of the Second World War. There was only ever one Lockheed XP-38, but it would alter the face of aircraft design, and the course of the Second World War.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #WWII
Viewers have mentioned two claims: That the P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in large scale production during the entirety of the American involvement in the war, and that the P-38 shot down more Japanese combat aircraft than any other American fighter. While these claims are in several sources, when looking more closely they likely refer to only USAAF aircraft, and not Navy designs. As some have mentioned, the Grumman F4F was in production throughout the war, and the Grumman F6F shot down more Japanese aircraft. I apologize for any confusion I caused.
Where does the P51 D model (my choice for the most beautiful aircraft to follow a prop) fit in the above comments? I actually eventually worked for a man John Marusiak who flew with Chuck Yeager and trued out at 510 mph in a P51 that never made it into production
@@highpointsights That chunky monkey was an outstanding plane but it looked pregnant with any hope of having a sleek svelte figure dashed by that immense radiator. Not only did it need maternity pants but when the radiator was set for max cooling that unsightly wedge looked like the droopy drawers of a union suit. LOL The best fighter plane didn't have to be the prettiest. There are so many ways to envision beauty in a plane, the sweeping curves of a hand built Spitfire, the condensed fury of the angular Me-109, the utilitarian strength of an FW-190, Hell, even the P-47 had beautiful curves compared to a P-51 it wore a girdle to smooth it's belly. It was also superior to the P-51 as both a high altitude interceptor and an those eight fifties made it an impregnably rugged ground attack. With the same drop tanks as the P-51 it too had an impressive range. Oh, I forgot to mention a stock P-47 clocked an easy 553mph at altitude! :-0
My creed's 'each to his own' but it's enlightening to see things from a different angle through other eyes. I must add that even knowing the thrill of piloting Air Force jets I do wish I'd been born a few decades earlier. I'd probably be happier behind that snarling roar while hanging on a prop instead of strapping my ass to an afterburner. But then I'm a throwback who likes Duke Ellington and Nat king Cole much more than the Stones or, god forbid, rap! ;-) But then, using the stones still makes me sound paleolithic, doesn't it? LOL
But then, I think flying on the wing like a bird by the seat of your pants in a lightweight antique might beat them all for the shear pleasure of flight!
ruclips.net/video/-wRKSjTI7Do/видео.html
@@highpointsights The P-51 series was an offshoot of the lackluster NAA Mustang, designed and built for the RAF before American involvement. Allison-powered, the plane was barely suitable for use against the Luftwaffe and even the Regina Aeronautica. The P-51,. born after the US entered the war, is far more than a re-engined Mustang, largely sharing the aerodynamics but having major differences under the skin. While some P-51s were used in the Pacific Theater, most single-engine planes were USN, and the P-38 was the primary USAAF fighter, thus racked up the most AF kills, and only the P-51 had a better record over Europe.
Well it was just a 15 minute segment so there's a lot left out. One interesting thing I learned about the Lightning was in Charles Lindbergh's biography (Scott Berg's)was that Lindbergh realized that by adjusting the mixture and boost in cruise mode that you could extend the range by 400 miles. That directly contradicted the flight manual, but he proved that it would work and it was adopted later in the war.
@@mbryson2899 Operation Vengeance was a long time before Lindbergh was giving advice to P-38 pilots.
Back in the 80s in my home town of South Pasadena California, I was doing some gardening in the yard with my mom. Suddenly there was a drone of a high performance prop job from the sky. Before even looking up my mother said "that's a P38! I'd know that sound anywhere!" Joltin' Josie from the Chino Planes of Fame museum streaked overhead, sending chills down my spine. Mom had spent her teenage years, the war years, near Orange County California. Every day she saw P38s fly out from the Lockheed production facility airstrip, and off to war.
As an aircraft enthusiast this bird is absolutely amazing. Nothing less expected from a project Kelly Johnson was involved with.
On the other hand or "toe" my brother and I each got 1 small die cast metal plane each in our Christmas stockings one year when I was 10 years old.
My brother got the P 38 while I got a B 29. As kids do they get bored with something and my brother decided to tie a string around one of the booms and twirl the plane around like it was flying.
I was standing nearby in bare feet when he decided to due a "Dive Bomber" move with his rather heavy and sharp leading edge of the wing , it hit my pinky toe with enough force to cut off the tip of my toe at the nail bed.
Blood, confusion and disfigurement were the words of the day as I went screaming and running around. My mom rushed me to the Doctor who said "well that's one less toe nail you'll have to worry about trimming".
50 years later if my Brother sees me wearing my sandals he will say "Wow what did you do to your toe?""" LMAO 🤣
Sounds like the pilot of the original fared better than you! It's amazing we survive childhood! Thanks for sharing! 👊🏼
Lol. That's what brothers do.
Lol
So a you're saying that fighter did more surface damage than a B-29? Did you fail to retaliate by dropping a Little Boy on that little boy? LOL
That's a great story! Thanks for sharing!
My all time favorite aircraft. My first flight instructor was a WASP and she spent a lot of time in P-47s and all manner of Grummans but when I asked her what her favorite was, hands down P-38 - it just loved to climb.
Was that at in California by any chance? Sounds awfully familiar, it's tickling a memory from way back when. I think I recall reading about her flying corsairs for Black Sheep Squadron... 🤔 🤷♂️ 😺
@@HM2SGT Nope - Williamsport, PA.
Wow, I bet she had great stories and an amazing scrapbook. Sounds like she flew more types of fighters than most of the men.
@@AndyFromBeaverton so I reckon she had a broad spectrum to choose from
@@AndyFromBeaverton She did. Single and multi engine ferry and a stint as the personal pilot for the CO at a P-47 training base in AL or MS - can't recall. She had never checked out in a P-47 and one day some Congressperson came down to visit and the CO ordered her to put on a show. With a lot of help from the ground crew, she took it airborne - no small feat according to the P-47 pilots there who went to ETO and posted the story on a P-47 website years ago which is now gone. When I had my first lesson, she had over 20,000 hours. Side note - it was her discharge paperwork that Sen Goldwater used to force Congress and the USAF to recognize WASP as having served in the military.
Always loved the '38'... When I was a kid in the 50's there were two 38's parked at Tulakes Airport in OK. Dad was a friend of the planes owners and when dad took his Experimental he designed out to fly or work on someone else's plane us kids got to play in and on the 38's and a couple other war birds that dads friend had bought to scrap and sell used parts. To think they ferried these planes in and dismantled them. What they'd be worth today!
They were parked facing the runway down on the end and I had hours of 'formation flying' with my brother and we 'shot down' a few others when they were landing. If they came in right you could get planes in the gun sights! I had to go inverted to 'bail out' once ... (the only time I was ever 'shot down'.. lol) We had these cheap walkie-talkies that wouldn't transmit more than a couple hundred feet and ate batteries like crazy and leather flying caps. More fun than a 10 year old deserved!
Thanks for the memories.
You had a rich childhood!
😊
That's amazing because I had nearly the same exact experience with two P-38s that were kept at the edge of the Santa Barbara CA airport when I was a kid in the early/mid 1960s! Geez, I loved those planes! And what a crazy coincidence! 🙂👍
@@petehealy9819 Only if we could go back in time.
In 1979 I went to visit my father's family in Northern Spain, one of my uncles had a lovely wood carved model of the P-38, not sure where he got it but being a 9 year old at the time I was facinated. My uncle noticing this and aware that I would not be able to take a big toy back with me, got me a pocket sized white metal die-cast one. It has been lost for over 40 years and I do not recall the manufacturer only that it was painted in what I assume to be Desert Livery for the North African / Mediterranean campain. But the feelings of speed and adventure that this childhood toy evoqued, are still fond memories to this day. Thank you for reminding me!
My dad flew P-38's "during the war." (He never saw combat.) After the war, his squadron was due to be discharged, but the authorities kept delaying things. Finally, after a very long wait the squadron was officially discharged. My dad says some time later he learned that the delay had been caused by authorities thinking about keeping the squadron active -- to become the first JET squadron in the service.
So close to making history worth remembering.
He flew P-38s! He MADE history worth remembering!
@@billchessell8213 Bill, you beat me to it, Sir.
He did indeed.
Susan & Tony here, Wow what a great video you did us justice. I served.
Wish my Father and my Father's friend were still around. Dad's friend was a mechanic on these birds in Italy during WWII
I remember him talking about how they'd come in all shot up and they got really good at making patches for the holes. I wish that we could of got more history from him about his time there, but he was pretty tight about it. He would talk mechanical and fixing things but never any of the personal things. The horror finally got to be too much for him and he took his own life. We think that he had terminal cancer and didn't want to go through it.
History is amazing and we need to keep it alive.
Thank you History Guy for doing just that. Amazing how a history of a fighter plane can bring back such deep memories. Miss and love you Dad.
Excellent story on this aircraft. My grandfather flew the P-38 in Europe and always said it was the greatest aircraft he ever flew. He also talked about having two engines gave him an advantage over other fighters.
Thank you for sharing.
I recall the first time I saw a P-38 in flight at an airshow in Michigan, back in the 60s. Tremendous sound coming from those twin V-12 engines that had this young aviation nut enthralled. I went out and found plans for a balsa wood model of the P-38 Lightening (I was already building the P-51 Mustang version) and started building it immediately. It took another couple months before I could afford the two engines (a pair of Cox Golden Bee 8cc models), while my father helped me create/build fuel bladders in the wings for more prolonged flight times. Controls weren't much different than today, but the servos weren't as responsive so it took a couple of hard landings (crashes) and repairs before I got the control issues ironed out. While it never quite sounded as sweet as those V12s, I built expansion chambers for the exhaust that helped both the sound quality and top-end power, just like my two-stroke motorcycle engine. Everyone laughed at the bulbous flared pipes running along each boom - until they saw it in action and just watched, slack-jawed, as I made some high-speed runs past the RC control area of the RC park I was at. I was the fastest RC airplane around for many months. That park was the place where all manner of RC models were brought to run and/or test, as it had a huge pond for boats and a giant field nextdoor split into two sections: one for RC cars/trucks, etc. and and the majority for RC aircraft. Great fun and competition!
I had the honor of knowing General Kelsey during the last 15 years of his life. A remarkable gentleman. Intelligent, insightful, humble and one who had a sense of joy in living until the end. Thank you for the early photographs of Ben. It is remarkable how much his son, grandson and great grandson look like him. When Ben died he left the fuselage and wings of a Pitts Special hanging in his barn. A project he was not given the time to complete. It may still be hanging there at his farm, Sherwood, if not, it always will be in my memory.
The P-38 was the first project my dad worked on at Lockheed, where he started in 1938. He met my mom at Lockheed during the war, when she was a Quality Control technician on the P-38. He went on to work for Lockheed until 1982, when he retired, though he continued as a consultant until the mid 90s. He worked on several iconic projects for Lockheed, including the P-38, Constellation, L-188 Electra, the C-130, F-104, U2, Agena (Corona) , Polaris, P-3, S-3, L-1011, Project Jennifer (Azorian), F-117.
My grandfather was hired by Allison in 1938 due to the anticipated large scale orders of the V1710. He was a master machinist and mechanical engineer there until his retirement in 1975.
Thank you for sharing
@@agloy63 thank you, as well, for sharing
I have worked for Lockheed for over 30 years and those are among the iconic programs that demonstrate how the original Lockheed led the world in innovation and engineering acheivement. I congratulate your father.
I have heard of all of those except Project Jennifer. What was that?
One of the first bits of history I ever looked into myself as a kid was the P38, I can still remember the book in my elementary school library.
Cool subject and another hit from THG
Best thing to go with breakfast. New history guy episodes.
What a beautiful plane! Outstanding.
A little over 30 years ago Lefty Gardners P-38 was parked at the airport in Santa Maria, Ca along with a P-51 (my all time favorite). There was a security guard there, who I spoke to and after a bit and him realizing I knew what I was talking about, he allowed my wife and I to come in and me to get into the open cockpit of the Lightning. What an amazing experience, but the things that really stood out was how big the cockpit was compared to other fighters of the day and the WINGSPAN! A full 20 FEET more than the Mustang and other similar types. It seemed like the wing tips were in different zip codes. 20 years later I was visiting the air museum near BYU where Old Yeller was living at the time. Again, I got to finally sit in my dream airplane, and even close the canopy. Talk about exhilaration! Just to have sat in the same seat that Bob Hoover had spent so much time in and hold the same controls he'd held - I'll never forget it.
I met Lefty at the Madera Gathering of Warbirds airshows in the '80s (where I got numerous warbird rides including 3 P-51s). Followed the history of that aircraft closely for decades, through the airshow and racing days, to the engine fire and successful belly landing by Lefty's son Ladd, to the eventual restoration by Ezell Aviation. It's a bit sad that we'd have to go to Germany to see it again, but I have a lot of respect for Red Bull for taking on the restoration and making it a beautiful airworthy aircraft again. In my heart it will always be Lefty's Lightning.
My late friend, Brig Gen Bob Clements, flew P-38s in the Pacific. After the war he flew P-51s. He preferred the P-38 because he had several Mustang engines seize up in flight, which isn’t a big problem with the P-38. He loved the Lightning so much that his moniker became P-38 Bob.
Oh yeah the P51 was known to "seize" up.
What ?
@@donlove3741 The P-51 is a single engine fighter. If the engine seizes, you are now flying a very heavy glider. I have added the word "engine" to my comment to clarify my meaning.
@@Paladin1873 A P-38 with one engine is better than a P-51 with no engine every day of the week.
@@AndyFromBeaverton There was an old joke in the AAF that the Mustang could beat the P-38 at every task except returning home with one engine out.
There is a documentary about a modern-day British engineer who specializes in rebuilding Merlin V-12’s. Probably the foremost authority alive with true hands-on knowledge. He lamented that finding an original war years Merlin with over 200 hours on it was near impossible. Whether they were in a Mustang, Lancaster, or Spitfire, the engines simply never lasted long enough to get a true large-scale idea of their long-term reliability. The losses were from either being shot down, or mechanical failure, even simple failure just enough to cause the engine to stall, that caused the plane to crash land.
Floored me when I heard that. He stated that only post-war Merlins in the hands of collectors ever reach high hours, and that’s with meticulous care and lots of money.
The legend thats Kelly Johnson. Is worthy of an episode. Probably one of the greatest minds in American aviation history.
My favorite twin fighter. Thanks!
Please consider an episode covering Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. This one engineer took flight design from 400mph to over 3.5 times the speed of sound. He was either in charge of or intimately involved in the P-38, P-80, F-104, U-2, and SR-71. The argument could be made that he saved the nation multiple times.
The part of Kelly Johnson's contribution that makes me smile is that all that work that he and his designers did was with a slide rule! I still have two very good Picket slide rules in my desk but I don't think Boeing is going to be calling me to work any time soon!! 🤣
@@MrGaryGG48 Not to mention that skilled craftsmen built the aircraft on manual machines, long before CNC was a thing.
I love his quote about cutting edge aircraft technology and his Skunk Works - "If you want to know what we're up to, take the most advanced stuff you can think of - then fast forward that 50 years."
my dad knew a guy who was in Alaska in the 50's who saw an SR-71 land at a Coast Guard base and immediately disappear into a hangar
@@O-sa-car I had a hunting buddy that saw one through the fence when he was out. The base security stopped him and checked him out. Quickly apparent that he was not a bad guy so they let him go.
Not a plane junky like most of you here, but I am a machine junky and lover of old stuff... So this is right in my wheel house. The P-38 was one of the first serious models I ever put together back in the 1970's. It hung in my room for a while until my friends and I had a "war" with fireworks and many of our old warbirds died in a blaze of glory.
As usual the History Guy does a great job and now sparks my interest to study this fine airplane in depth.
Thanks and RIP to those of the Greatest Generation who fought and died for our freedoms.
This is why I love the History Guy~!
The P38 was always a favorite of mine as a child. I was in mu late 30's before I ever got to see one live and my jaw was on the floor. It was at a War birds show in Cleveland, Ohio and this beast is nothing but engine and guns. It, to me, was tiny and I immediately thought of the sensation a pilot would have with twin V-12 monsters on both sides just roaring. MAN that had to be something and those pilots had formidable testicular fortitude to fly them......what a rush it had to be.
You sir, are a national treasure in these crazy time...
thanks
My dad grew up on a farm that bordered March Air Force Base during World War II. I grew up listening to dozens upon dozens of stories, including the P-38 as a kid. It's quite possible he witnessed the test flight of the yp-38.
My grandfather was a P38 mechanic in England during the war. It's a pretty majestic machine
My mother was a P-38 "mechanic's helper" during the war. She did safety wiring on the aircraft at Paine Field, later the home of Boeing's 747 factory.
If you go to March Field in California. You will find a air museum. They made a full size model of the P-38 and have documented all of the groups that flew the P-38s. Steven Sipes
I have a personal connection to the P-38.
In the early 1980s, I was stationed at McGuire AFB, named after P-38 pilot Tommy B. McGuire, who flew his P-38, nicknamed "Pudgy" during WWII. He was killed in action in 1945 over the Philippines.
A replica of "Pudgy" stands in a traffic circle at McGuire AFB in Wrightstown, New Jersey.
And to think, they almost lost the P-38 if it wasn't for Colonel Charles ~Lucky~ Lindbergh~!~ He saved the P-38
by teaching the pilots just how to fly it right,, and conserve a good amount of fuel~!~ Otherwise the P-38 was
to be no more~!~!!~!~
My grandfather was a test pilot during ww2 and the P-38 was his favorite aircraft he ever flew! Truely a beautiful and powerful machine
1876 2020 nothing new under the sun. Thank you for your work! We can all learn from history!
Another homerun! Great and interesting video! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍
What a great episode on the P-38. Thanks, history Guy.
Great piece! Nice to see LtC Benjamin Kelsey get some recognition.
I've always been fond of the lightning, it was a unique design that not only worked, but worked amazingly well, I find it amazing that a design could exceed expectations in such a spectacular way
I would find it amazing except that it was Kelly Johnson that designed it. So one would expect it to exceed all reasonable expectations.
My dad was a bombardier/navigator on a B24 Liberator in the South Pacific stationed in New Guinea. 90th bomb group. He loves the P38 because that fabulous airplane kept him alive. I wouldn't be writing this comment without the P38. Miss ya Dad
Thank you for the clear, fair history of the P-38.
One of the first books I wore out reading over and over from my school library was "Great American Fighter Pilots of WWII." That book started a lifelong fastination with fighter pilots and planes. The P-38 was my favorite plane from that era. Many thanks for this story.
I remember that book, and read and re-read it for years. Mine had that famous photo of the "Bottisham Four" Mustangs on the dust jacket.
@@andrewwaterman9240 That's the one I remember also.
This episode could be 4x longer and I'd still want more... Suggestion: Short Histories of Aviation in SoCal.
Kelly Johnson and Howard Hughes are so under appreciated in aviation now a days. Hughes in a lot of other fields. THG Please do videos on them. I'm going to buy a t-shirt now. 😁
This was my favorite World War 2 aircraft. Not much new about it, but I loved this episode
This video is the icing on the cake regarding the P-38 for me. I've watched a lot of videos regarding this plane including its' use in downing Adm, Yamamoto's plane. It was one hell of a plane. Thanks.
ONCE AGAIN, MR. LANCE, AN EXCELLENT VIDEO!!
One of three of my favorite fighters from WW II: The P-38, The F6F Hellcat, and the Supermarine Spitfire.😊😊😊😊
I love the name the Luftwaffe gave it:THE FORK-TAILED DEVIL.😊😊😊😊
Puts a new meaning on a deal done on the golf course
Thank you.
My father, Uncle Earl and Uncle Clarence fought in WW2 on the Allied side. Italian cousins and a German aunt with the Axis Powers. I wished the war had not started, but it is now history.
Thanks again for your work.
someone might have mentioned this but Charles Lindberg showed them how to nearly double the range .a great contribution.
The P-38's design was also indirectly responsible for some Automotive designs during the late 40s and into the 50s. The first fins on a Cadillac, Circa 1948, were based on the tails of the P-38.
It also inspired the iconic nose of the '50 and '51 Studebakers.
I love your clear, clean presentations.
Well done THG, my father flew the P-38 as an instructor. More exactly he flew the P-322-2 an updated version of what we sold to Britain without the counter rotating props and no turbochargers. Britain rejected them and The USAAF took them and used them for training pilots to fly the P-38. The P-322-2 had counter rotating props and no turbochargers. The student would sit on the main spar hunched over (see 13.04 for how that worked) and look over the instructor's shoulders. Dad told me that the P-38 was the most fun airplane to flew in his thirty-year career.
History Guy, your love and passion for investigating and sharing history, is only matched by your masterful gift of telling a story.
My dad, a P51 Recon pilot over Germany, lamented he never got to fly the P38.
Flying a Mustang is nothing to sneeze at; the P-38 was mostly a Pacific plane anyway.
You sure have a knack for story telling.
Thanks again.
My Grandpa built P 38's, he was always proud of that! I passed March Air Reserve base last week, they have a great museum there!!
Hell, you should be proud of that too!
@@soaringvulture We as a family are proud of that and then some!! When those old war birds fly today! I like to think that those that had a hand in building them, are still around as well.
The P38 was one of my favorite models to build when I was younger.
I did not know that some of them were produced in an old distillery.
Gives a whole knew meaning to the word Lightning
A Beautiful design also !!!
I have been obsessed with P-38s since I received a Monogram model to build as a child in the 60s. In the 90s I spent hours in the Air and Space museum library on their third floor in DC where they have flight manuals and photos you can download off laser disc. This just to get data for a new Monogram model - which LOL I am finally finishing after all these years. The Air and Space Museum had the original contract documents at it's Silver Hill restoration facility near DC and I got to see those too. Air shows featuring restored P-38s are one of my favorite things...
A wonderful presentation. Thanks for making it.
I just completed an around the world flight in the P-38 with MSFS 2020. 27 legs. Very enjoyable.
I always look forward to seeing you sir.
Another excellent video. Thank you History guy.
I was a WWll war baby born and raised in Cleveland and an airplane nut since age 4. Mom was a Rosie the Riveter (B-29 flaps) and Dad was involved in the Manhattan Project. In the late 1970's a colleague gave me a photo of a parked P-38 (my favorite plane of all time). While viewing this video, I realized I had a photo of the XP-38 parked at March Field in exactly the same position as in the video. I think I may change my mind about donating it to the National WWll Air Museum in Colorado Springs.
FASCINATING!!!
I greatly enjoyed your P38 story, I see below lots and lots of arguments about details of the lightning versus everything else that ever flew. But that is not your job, you are not a technical historian you are a historian. The greatest compliment for the P38 is not a numerical analysis of aircraft shot down or miles flow or fuel milage or any of those numbers. It is the aircraft's place in history and in your 12 minutes, you defined that beautifully. Good on you sir. The lightning gave American pilots something they could fight in and survive in the early dark days of the war and the same airplane was still part of the US AAF's fighting team on the last day of the war. It is truly history that should be remembered.
From open cockpit biplanes the P38 was lightyears ahead and yet in a short 15 years the B-52 takes it first flight April 1952. What a time for flight.
That does seem amazing, but that happens in aviation all the time, props to jets, then supersonic, and finally Whitcolm winglets on all the airliners!
Fantastic episode ! Thank you.
The P-38 was one of my favorite planes of WWII. I loved the twin tail design so much I now have a 1961 Ercoupe with twin tails.
Yet another great well told story of a great and iconic American fighter aircraft. Thanks for the story that we did need to know.
Fantastic presentation... thank THG!
Thank you for your work 👍🇺🇸👍
My father worked for Lockheed during the war on the P-38. The planes would be 98% assembled inside the building and then towed outside into one of two lines under camouflage for final assembly, systems tests and tweaking. My father was in charge of one of the lines. When a plane was "finished" he would sign off for Lockheed and an Army Air Corp rep would sign off for the Army. The plane was then flown off to war. I think most all of the WWII fighters on all sides were the most beautiful planes ever built but I feel the P-38 was at the top (not that I'm bias). When i see pictures or video of the plane, I enjoy thinking there was a chance my father had been involved with it.
Who does your intros? They are great and different every time.
I bet my parents knew your dad. My dad was a manufacturing engineer, designing tooling to build the P-38, and my mom was a QC tech on the P-38. They met at the Burbank plant. My uncle too. I have a picture that my dad took of my mom with her tools, sitting on the wing of a P-38 on the tarmac at Burbank after final checkouts.
@@johngeorges7708 I bet you are probably right. That's cool. Thank you.
Actually, it was all the more likely that a P-38 delivered from Burbank was flown over the the modification center in Dallas before going off to war. Production rate was so high that plant line would crank out P-38s in their original factory standards, then they would be brought up to mod standards at Dallas or the Army depots. Stuff like setting up the radios/IFF gear, adding a second generator to the airplane (all P-38s came with a generator in the left engine, but not all got one in the right), tweaking out the gremlins and (later on in the war) installing the dive flaps.
@@BogeyTheBear That makes sense. Dad just said they flew off to war. Thank you.
Thank you for this great video. A wonderful story about lockheed and a great aircraft.
The P38 has been my favorite aircraft since I was a kid. My uncle had a brass model with a 12" wingspan which peaked my interest. Research showed it was tssted with 5,2oo lbs of bombs or 2 torpedos with a ceiling of 44000'. My father was stations at Wright-Patt designing modifications to fighters, so I saw the 38 there several times. Flying into LAX, I was thrilled to spot one parked off the end of the runway.
I attended undergrad school at Hofstra University on Long Island, part of which was located on the old Mitchel Field site. The crash site for the XP-38 was about a mile east of Hofstra at what is now Nassau County's Eisenhower Park.
I grew up out around March AFB (didn’t know it was a “field” before). Saw so many great planes and even saw a fully loaded F15 Eagle do a takeoff at the a$$ end of the runway in an unincorporated industrial area I delivered parts to for a time. During my service when I was in the area I’d visit and go to the PX there. Thanks for reminding me of those happy memories.
I grew up there too. But I only visited the commissary once 🤣
Simply one of your best episodes!
I read a book on the P38 when I was a kid 50 years ago. I checked it out of the library because I had built a model of one and had it on my dresser.
All this was known to me and more: That Richard Bond said it was his favorite fighter and that one of the kinks in the design was called "compressibility", that when in a high-speed dive it made it impossible to pull out of the dive and that's what killed a few pilots until they put a flap under the wing that would act as an air brake so the pilot could pull out of the dive.
Good to see you've gotten your millionth subscriber. I've been one for three years and it's always a pleasure to see your next surprise, always about a very important ingredient of an advanced culture...
...its history.
I grew up making models of WW2 aircraft in the 60s. One of them was a P38. I always dreamt of becoming a military pilot. My dream came true in 1987 when I graduated from US Army flight training. I went on to fly AH64s, UH-60s, Hueys, and Cobras. 3 combat tours as an operational pilot, too.Thank you to the folks who came before me!
Keep your SR-71, This is my Johnson bird. It was also the worlds first successful twin piston-engined single seat fighter. But, I digress. The video could have been seven minutes on how Johnson sharpened his pencils on Monday mornings, I'd have been engrossed from 0:00 to 7:00. Kelly Johnson, the John Moses Browning of aeronautical design.
Great episode.
I highly recommend Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles three very detailed and informative videos on the P-38.
Thank you for an enjoyable episode.
Kelsey was promoted after crashing the XP-38. An earlier crash of the Boeing Model 299 resulted in an air depot in Utah being named for the pilot, Major Hill. Flying used to be very dangerous and pilots who crashed were often given a Darwin Award if they didn't survive or promoted if they did survive. Things are different now--safety violations result in being kicked out of the Air Force. Back in the pre-WW2 era, Danger was an Army Air Corps pilot's middle name.
Somehow you added a few previously unheard details while keeping the story quite concise, with greater understanding and appreciation being the result. My favorite plane. Thanks!
Good to see my bow tied friend is still telling people about history worth remembering.
I lived in Santa Maria CA when it was a sleepy farm town. The 483rd Air Base Squadron was assigned to Santa Maria, California - a Replacement Training Unit providing combat crew training for P-38s during WWII.
Noteworthy - or newsworthy - was the crash of a P 38 into the middle of town slightly before lunch hour in 1945. Only a few people were killed but if it were a half hour later, it would have been a decidedly different story. I guess this was an example of learning how to handle one of these planes as a trainee.
Your words have done this plane all glory and justice she deserves. Especially for the Hunter Killer that took down Yamamoto! Salute! 😎
Very interesting story. It was fun to hear of the origins of the P38. Had I not left the USAF after my tour in Germany I would have been sent to March AFB (previously March Field).
fyi: it's now March ARB, used to train air force reservist.
Love the video! My father was an armorer on the P-38 in the war.
I was stationed at March AFB from 1982 to 90. My grandmother worked for Lockheed during the war on the Hudson, Ventura, and the P-38.
One of my favorite aircraft of all time. Thanks for covering it!
Missed opportunity THG: the SOUND of the P38 is outta this world! History that deserves to be heard! 😉
To a New Englander, you don't speak too quickly at all... Really interesting work - thanks!
At a presentation on the P-38 at the March Field Museum, a former Lockheed employee said he had driven the truck and flatbed taking the XP-38 (covered by tarps since it was a well kept secret up to then), to March Field the night of Dec 31, 1938. His wife didn't believe he had to work that night but finally believed him when she saw him driving the rig down Colorado Blvd , where she had camped out to get a good viewing spot for the Rose Bowl Parade the morning of Jan 1, 1939.
So much for sneaking the secret aircraft past the public since that section of Colorado Blvd was likely to have the greatest number of people at the wee hours of the morning than almost any other street.
One of my favorite aircraft. And the plane out top aces flew. And, it had an influence on automobile styling, as Harley Earl of GM was impressed with it and started putting small fins on the Cadillacs in the late 40s.
This is by far one of my absolute favorite youtube channels. thank you so much for all the hard work and dedication!
Great episode. The P-38 was my favorite plane as a young boy during World War II. I lived in San Diego. CA . We would run outside when we heard airplane engines and I was always the most thrilled when it or they were P-38s. We saw many Navy Aircraft even saw a TBF crash in a canyon behind our house. I was a horrible time for the World but exciting for five and seven year old boys.
I saw one idling on the ramp at Chino Airport, California once. I was standing back by the tail and all was so smooth you would have thought the motors were electric. I was beyond amazed. God Bless America....
Great video! It is always interesting to see the growing pains of these iconic World War II aircraft.
Love this episode! Thanks!
Wonderful presentation, it really made me smile. Thank you!
Ah, Lockheed. What a remarkable organization. Thanks, Lance
Very interesting R&D story. Thanks for posting!