The Lockheed P38 Lightning is an American singleseat, twin pistonengined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P38 incorporated a distinctive twinboom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as a highly effective fighterbomber, a night fighter, and a longrange escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks. The P38 was also used as a bomberpathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers, or even other P38s equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P38 accounted for 90 percent of the aerial film captured over Europe

The P38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the ChinaBurmaIndia Theater of Operations as the aircraft of America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories), Thomas McGuire (38 victories), and Charles H. MacDonald (27 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P38 was the primary longrange fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the introduction of large numbers of P51D Mustangs toward the end of the war. Unusual for an earlywar fighter design, both engines were supplemented by turbosuperchargers. This gave the P38 excellent highaltitude performance, making it one of the earliest Allied fighters capable of performing well at high altitudes. The turbosuperchargers also muffled the exhaust, making the P38's operation relatively quiet. The Lightning was extremely forgiving inflight and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll in early versions was low relative to other contemporary fighters; this was addressed in later variants with the introduction of hydraulically boosted ailerons. The P38 was the only American fighter aircraft in largescale production throughout American involvement in the war, from the Attack on Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.

The Lockheed Corporation designed the P38 in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Circular Proposal X608 was a set of aircraft performance goals authored by First Lieutenants Benjamin S. Kelsey and Gordon P. Saville for a twinengined, highaltitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude." Forty years later, Kelsey explained that Saville and he drew up the specification using the word "interceptor" as a way to bypass the inflexible Army Air Corps requirement for pursuit aircraft to carry no more than 500 lb (230 kg) of armament including ammunition, and to bypass the USAAC restriction of singleseat aircraft to one engine. Kelsey was looking for a minimum of 1,000 lb (450 kg) of armament.

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m)
Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)
Wing area: 327.5 sq ft (30.43 m2)
Aspect ratio: 8.26
Airfoil: root: NACA 23016; tip: NACA 4412
Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,806 kg)
Gross weight: 17,500 lb (7,938 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Allison V1710 (111 left hand rotation and 113 right hand rotation) V12 liquidcooled turbosupercharged piston engine, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) each WEP at 60 inHg (2.032 bar) and 3,000 rpm
Propellers: 3bladed Curtiss electric constantspeed propellers (LH and RH rotation)
Performance

Maximum speed: 414 mph (666 km/h, 360 kn) on Military Power: 1,425 hp (1,063 kW) at 54 inHg (1.829 bar), 3,000 rpm and 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h, 239 kn)
Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)
Combat range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km, 1,100 nmi)
Ferry range: 3,300 mi (5,300 km, 2,900 nmi)
Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,000 m)
Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s)
Lifttodrag: 13.5
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/sq ft (261 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.26 kW/kg)
Drag area: 8.78 sq ft (0.82 m2)
Zerolift drag coefficient: 0.0268
Armament
Guns:
1× Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
4× M2 Browning machine gun 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg.
Rockets: 4× M10 threetube 4.5 in (112 mm) M8 rocket launchers; or:
Bombs:
Inner hardpoints:
2× 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks; or
2× 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or drop tanks, plus either
4× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or
4× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs; or
6× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
6× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
Outer hardpoints:
10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity Aircraft Rockets); or
2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
2× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs

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