Lockheed P-38 Lightning Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

P-38H of the AAF Tactical Center, Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, carrying two 1,000 lb bombs during capability tests in March 1944
Role	Heavy fighter
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Lockheed Corporation
Designer	Clarence "Kelly" Johnson
First flight	27 January 1939
Introduction	July 1941
Retired	1949 (United States Air Force) 1965 (Honduran Air Force)
Primary users	United States Army Air Forces Free French Air Force
Produced	1941–45
Number built	10,037
Unit cost	US$97,147 in 1944
Developed into	Lockheed XP-49 Lockheed XP-58

The P-38 Lightning is a World War II fighter aircraft made by Lockheed. It was mainly used by the United States Air Force. It first flew in 1939. It was different from other fighters because it had two engines instead of one, and was twice the size of other fighters. The plane fought in the Pacific and in Europe. It could carry 4 50-caliber machine guns and a 20mm cannon. With a top speed of over 400 miles per hour the P-38 was one of the fastest fighters of its time. The P-38 is also accounted for capturing 90% of all aerial footage over Europe. By 1944, it was replaced by the faster P-51 Mustang in Europe. The P-38 was the only American fighter being built at the beginning and the end of the war. The Germans called it the "fork tailed devil."

Images for kids

Preliminary Lockheed twin-engine P-38 fighter concepts
P-38 armament, concentrated in the nose of the aircraft
One of 13 YP-38s constructed
Mechanized P-38 assembly lines in Burbank, California: Planes start at the back of the building on the far right (without wings, so that section of the line is narrower). When they reach the end of that line, they shift to the center line, gain wings, and move backward down this line. Upon reaching the end, they are then shifted to the line at the left, and progress forward to the end of the line.
The P-38 was flown with a yoke, rather than the more-usual stick.
The P-38 pilot training manual compressibility chart shows speed limit vs. altitude.
Airfield crew working on Lockheed P-38 fighter plane engines, c. 1944
P-38 rear view
Cocooned Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs line the decks of a U.S. Navy Escort "Jeep" Carrier (CVE) ready for shipment to Europe from New York.
Reconnaissance P-38 with bold black and white invasion stripes participating in the Normandy Campaign
P-38s of the 370th Fighter Group at RAF Andover in southern England
Wartime poster encouraging greater production of P-38s
Col. MacDonald and Al Nelson in the Pacific with MacDonald's P-38J
Pilot and aircraft armorer inspect ammunition for the central 20 mm cannon
P-38J 42-68008 flying over Southern California
Ground crew members of the 459th Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the "Twin Dragon Squadron", working on a Lockheed P-38 at an air base in Chittagong, India – January 1945
Lockheed P-38G-1-LO Lightning, serial 42-12723
A P-38H
Four P-38Hs flying in formation
F-5A Lightning of the 7th Photo Group, 8th Air Force based at Mount Farm: The national insignia was bordered in red with overall finish in synthetic haze.
44-27234, a former P-38L converted as a P-38M Night Lightning
P-38E testbed 41-1986 shown with second version of upswept tail designed to keep tail out of water upon takeoff for a proposed twin-float variant
P-38J Lightning YIPPEE
Major Richard Bong in his P-38
(L–R) Thomas B. McGuire and Charles Lindbergh discussing a mission on Biak Island in July 1944
The left main landing gear of Saint-Exupéry's F-5B Lightning, recovered in 2003 from the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille, France
Lockheed P-38L Lightning at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, marked as a P-38J of the 55th Fighter Squadron, based in England
M2 machine gun armament in the nose of the P-38
1950 Studebaker Champion

Lockheed P-38 Lightning facts for kids

Images for kids

See also