Hello, P-38 Fans:

Lots of activity this month, so let's just get to it.

Blue skies,

Kelly B. Kalcheim

• Leaving America
• Up Close at Oshkosh
• Color Page for Kids
• Captured P-38 (Redux)
• Dang!
• Wings Over Wine Country
• New P-38s on the Web
• Whatever Happened...
• "Batman" P-38?
• P-38 Wreck Eyewitness
• P-38 Hardstand
• P-38 Association News
• New Members
• Hot Product
• Archives

leaving america

Well, we knew it had to happen, and it has.  The Flying Bull P-38, formerly known as "White Lightnin'" has left American soil for it's new home in Austria.

We posted this story on our blog on the day it happened, but wanted to let you know here as well - in case you missed the blog post.

We were contacted for some P-38 info by Bill Hanna, a reporter at the Fort Worth Star Telegram who was covering the story, and he's done a good job of describing the whole event. You can read about it here.  If it's any consolation to the US, it sure sounds like a fancy, new home for the old gal! A quote from the article:

"Hangar 7 also includes several bars and a high-end restaurant, where a new celebrity chef takes up residence every month." Have a look.

COLORING PAGE FOR KIDS

Childfun.com has very generously allowed us to reprint their printable coloring page of a P-38 for the kids (or the kid in you). Just go to the page and then print it. (This will open a new window so you can go directly to "print.")

WINGS OVER WINE COUNTRY

As we mentioned in our blog, Sonoma County,  CA,  got only their second visit from a P-38 since WWII a few days ago. There's a nice article about it here. In addition, Jeffrey M. Harris of Allied Fighters sent us some completely gorgeous photos from this air show and a couple of others. Have a look.

PS -- There was also a P-38 at Offutt AFB for their air show apparently, but we don't know which one and haven't gotten any photos yet.  (If you have any, send them on over!)

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...?

Ever wonder whatever happened with some of those early P-38s? Maybe the ones that crashed in training exercises -- or maybe that never even made it into combat? That's why we thought this database, put together by Joseph F. Baugher was so interesting.

OSHKOSH UP CLOSE
(REALLY CLOSE)

Jay Honeck has written a fun column from his point of view of AirVenture.

A small excerpt:

"We started this day with a bang, when a P-38 Lightning (Ruff Stuff) landed low right over our tent! Luckily I saw him coming, and managed to get a couple of great pictures. This is one of the truly fantastic things about camping in the North 40 -- the ability to watch the "other airshow" coming in (or taking off) on RWY 9/27. We spent the entire week with incredibly rare aircraft flying directly overhead, often so close that we could see the expression on the pilots face."

Read the whole article here.

Captured P-38 (REDUX)

We received all kinds of reader feedback on this story from last month's newsletter.

For those of you who don't know yet, this P-38 was not "captured" by the Germans, but was flown there courtesy of USAAF Lt. Martin Monti, the only USAAF pilot to desert to Germany...which didn't turn out so well for him.

Thanks to all of our readers who contributed info and links on this story.

Since it seems to have sparked so much interest, here's a P-38 that really was  captured, sort of. A US pilot got off course and landed where he didn't intend to in Italy. Lots of links.

Dang!

Nice article and photo of Kirk Deardorff, who dontated his P-38 control wheel to his local airport museum! Sure wish we'd known about that.  Maybe we could have begged him to donate it to the P-38 Museum!  Still, a very nice thing.

NEW P-38 PHOTOS ON THE WEB

From Santa Rosa show

Courtesy of Gunter G. Gillot Jr.
of Belgium:
P-38 Crash Site
P-38 Crash Site

P-38 Batmobile?

For you Batman fans out there, funny to learn that the cockpit of a P-38 Lightning model served as the chassis for the Batman "Tumbler" jet engine. CNN story here.

P-38 Wreck - Eyewitness Account

Interesting story plus photos of the wreckage. Here's an excerpt from that story:

"We saw two planes just moments before they crashed," said Roger Putnam, now 69... "Later, I found out it was two fighter planes. We saw the pilots push back their canopies and parachute to the ground. I can picture it in my mind to this day; it really made an impression on a young kid."

YIPPEE
(Click photo to enlarge)

It was a milestone for Lockheed when P-38J‑20, serial # 44‑23296, was rolled out of the factory in May 1944. This Lightning was the 5,000th example produced, and was a far cry from expectations of mere hundreds when the prototype was built in 1938-39. The latest P‑38 was painted a vermillion red, and the sobriquet YIPPEE was applied under the wings and along the nose.

Few people realize that after publicity photos were taken the precious fighter was stripped of its manufacturer markings, and sent out to the Pacific where it was desperately needed. At this point in the war, the P‑38 was still in high demand by USAAF commanders around the world (except the 8th Fighter Command, which was on the verge of converting to the P‑51 as its fighter of choice) so there was no room for a permanent mascot decorating the skies over Burbank.

Appropriately, YIPPEE was re-adorned in military markings and sent out to the only all‑P‑38 group operating at the time in the Southwest Pacific. The 475th Fighter Group acquired 44‑23296 probably sometime in June or July 1944, and assigned it to the 431st Fighter Squadron. There is apparently no record of the fighter being assigned a regular pilot or squadron number; the next piece of documentary evidence being a note that Lieutenant Floyd Fulkerson developed some mechanical problem during a mission over the Philippines on December 20, 1944, and returned early.

I was able to contact Fulkerson through the diligence of another P‑38 researcher, but found that the old P‑38 veteran remembered very little about the incident. At that time of the war, the newer pilots of the 431st were not ordinarily assigned permanent aircraft, so he took anything he could get. That was probably the case on that day, and the luck of the draw had him returning early with some routine malfunction.

The gallant P‑38 served on for a few weeks more when it was reported damaged in a taxi accident sometime in January 1945. The operational life a P‑38 out in the Pacific was generally around six months, so YIPPEE was almost certainly turned over to a service squadron, probably ending its days in a fighter pool before it joined other surplus aircraft in the scrap yard or was simply cut up and buried. It would have been an ignominious end for a P‑38 with such a name.

P-38 National Association News

One more visit to Valle, AZ

The P-38 Association was well represented at the fly-in last weekend hosted by the Valley Airport near the Grand Canyon.  We had two of our veteran pilots there, signing autographs for the crowd ("Fox" Olsen and Bob Waggoner), and they were -- as usual -- a big hit with the fans.  We'll be posting pictures of the event, so watch our blog for news on that.

Abe Lasker Interview

There is a great interview with long-time Association member, Arthur E. Lasker, at the Providence Journal website, and you can read it here. It's a compelling story of his finall WWII mission in his P-38 and well worth the read.