This
article and the accompanying photos are reprinted with Permission of Pacific
Flyer and its Editor, Wayman Dunlap. Pacific Flyer is a 30-year-old
monthly aviation publication intended for pilots and aviation enthusiasts. I've
added a comment or two when I found terms that may not be familiar to our
readers.
A New, Airworthy P-38?
Like many dreamers, Larry Buchanan's
original plans kind of got out of hand.
For example, he wanted a reduced-scale but flyable P-38 Lightning, using perhaps Rotax engines in a plane about half the size of the original 17,500 lb. version.
Now, Buchanan has himself a near full-size, all composite and carbon fiber version, a couple of super high performance Chevy race engines and is the envy of everyone at the El Monte, Calif. Airport, where the plane is under construction.
There are a few glitches yet to overcome.
"Money, mostly," smiled the gregarious 49-year-old owner of an FBO [Kelly comment: FBO=fixed base operator] called "Lightning Aviation." No, it's not a coincidence. When he started his flight school and maintenance service, he already knew he wanted a Lightning, especially since there's only three left of the original versions. "I didn't want one of the scale P-51s or P-47s or Spitfires that are out there," the 49-year-old A&P and twin-rated pilot said. "I wanted a Lightning; that's why I named the FBO that."
Luckily, he found a partner, a respected San Marino trial attorney named Theodore Matthews who at first started renting then bought a Cessna 182 to fly around the southwest for trial dates. "He must fly 200-250 hours a year," Buchanan said.
But although they've already invested more than $1 million in the equipment needed, included a gigantic oven to mold the wings, fuselage and twin tail booms, plus a pair of fuel injected Dart Racing Engines now displacing 582 cubic inches and putting out 450-475 hp (each) at a cost of $28,000 each, there's still things to buy.
For example, they haven't decided on a three-bladed aluminum props or carbon fibre, which will be driven by gear reduction boxes, the manufacturer of which is still in question. IF everything goes as planned, the 80% scale P-38 will be a heated, air conditioned, tandem seated hot rod that will burn about 18 gallons an hour (each engine) in cruise, while whistling through the air at 250-300 kph (knots per hour) up to 25,000 feet. It even has an inverted fuel and oil system.
The outer fuselage is composite, the spar is carbon fiber and the frame is chromoly tubing, [Kelly comment: chromoly is an abbreviation for "chromium-molybdenum steel" (sometimes spelled "cro-mo")] accounting for the light weight.
Actually, it's not even a true 80 percent scale; only parts of it are. The wings for example are 38' wide (original wingspan was 52 feet) because, Buchanan says, "most hangars are 40' wide." The airplane is 30' long - 7' 10" shorter than the original. It stands 7' 8" tall whereas the original twin-tailed devil, as the enemy called it, stands 12' 10."
On the other hand, the fuselage is 100% the same size as are the rudders. The wings equal 72-73%, he said, and the same for the twin booms. The structural design was credited to an engineer named Sonja Englert who came up with the modifications necessary to change the original Lightning from its high performance fighter version (although there were plenty of other missions allotted to it) to one that could be handled by a civilian.
And not only handled, but built, because that's Buchanan's ultimate goal - to sell 51% kits, meaning that under FAA rules the new Lightning will be built 51% by the new owner, with the help of the specialists at Buchanan's place. In fact, he's erecting a building adjacent to his FBO where as many as eight P-38s can be under construction at one time. Cost of the kit will be around $350 to $375K, with another $25K for Lightning's help. "We're hoping to get people who want to reserve a plane and will pay for the right to do that," Buchanan said. "With that money we can finish ours."
They started building it on July 4, two years ago and just because he runs an FBO one shouldn't think Buchanan doesn't know a thing or two about building airplanes. Not only did he build a Lancair, he was, for a long time, a "deep hull rebuilder," which meant insurance companies would truck in smashed Cessnas and six months later, Buchanan would deliver them a fully certified, flyable, like-new airplane.
Moreover, most the aircraft setting around the ramp had been rebuilt by him.
Every finished P-38 will be a sophisticated, high performance aerobatic airplane complete not only with heat, AC and oxygen and a carbon fiber spar, but also carry around 500 gallons of fuel in the wings and boom as far as 2,800 miles. The full avionics panel (manufacturer not yet chosen) will offer plenty of options and even the seat with a five-point harness has been custom designed.
Although the original Lightning (9,923 various models built from 1940 to 1945) had an amazing kill ratio in WW II (leading AF Ace Maj. Richard Bong shot down 40 enemy planes in his P-38, for example), could cruise at 414 mph behind a pair of turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710s of 1,475 hp each, Buchanan's plane only weighs 6,000 lbs fully loaded. And, of course, doesn't need to carry guns or ammunition (as far as we know).
Stressed to plus six, minus four G's (with some strength reserve over that built in), the plane, as did its predecessor, has contra-rotating props, meaning they both turn away from the fuselage. If they turned the other way, he said, the vortices from the prop wash would wash out the horizontal tail.
The actual performance of the plane with one engine out has yet to be determined but the engineer is convinced it'll fly fine on just one motor, if necessary.
Buchanan said external tanks or baggage compartments can be fitted to hard points and the radiators for the two V-8s are in the same place, the tail booms, with electric doors to open their cowl flaps. Both engines will be upright and, the ones we saw, at least, are works of art with cylinders the size of manhole covers and four-bolt mains (which, Buchanan says, is a very good thing).
They
started as Chevy 454 blocks before Dart got hold of them and, with the gear
reduction device, will be turning 3100 rpm through unmuffled straight pipes
while the prop is going around at 2,400 revs. Rate of climb and take off
distance should be spectacular but at this point are still conjecture.
Why a racing engine? "Even though I'm a Cessna Pilot Center," Buchanan said, "I called both Continental and Lycoming to see if they wanted to get involved in our project; neither one ever returned my calls."
When it's finished, they're going to paint it silver (Buchanan said he wanted black but was voted down), so it will look like it's made of aluminum. New owners, of course, can paint theirs however they wish so look for lots of Bong replicas with "Marge" on the front.
Buchanan said he expects it will be another eight or nine months before they're finished, especially considering the money is having to come from his FBO. But he's nothing if not optimistic.
NOTE: There have been some developments since this article came out. Apparently the FAA is going to be cracking down on home built aviation "kits" -- per this article -- so don't know if Larry Buchanan's dream of selling them will work out. This article was also sent to us by Pacific Flyer.
Reprinted with Permission of Pacific Flyer and its Editor, Wayman Dunlap.