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Hello P-38 Fans:
Welcome to 2008. Another year
tacked onto the "been there, done that" list.
Some years are better than others, and
2007 was a rough one for my family. We lost my Mother in August and then
my Dad (a decorated P-38 pilot) on Christmas day. He was a great guy, and
if you'd like to read about him, you can do so
here. Now the last thing in the world he'd want is for us to be sitting
around feeling all sad, so we "press on" as he would say. Lots of news
this month, so let's get going...
Kelly
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IN THIS EDITION
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White Lightnin?
P-38 Newsletter Member, Pat Carry, sent us a link to photos of the new paint
job (paint?) for White Lightnin'. We haven't heard whether this is the
permanent finish, although I suspect it might be -- which would mean that we
can't very well call her White Lightnin' anymore.
In any case, this creative approach turns this proud lady into one gorgeous
P-38!
Check out the photos here
(We're not putting a photo here because we want you to be completely surprised.)
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P-38's on the Web
Here are some nice photos of
the P-38L 44-26981,
as well as an update on her condition. Last we heard, she was owned by
Jack Croul in Rialto, CA. If anyone has more current info,
let us know.
Ken's Aviation posted
this gorgeous
photo of the P-38 at the War Eagles Air Museum in New Mexico.
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P-38 Cockpit View
Found
this interesting page online of the P-38 cockpit.
On this Day
I received several notices in my email box that January 27 celebrated the first
flight of the P-38 Lockheed Lightning. This is what one timeline website had to
say:
"The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was the first Lockheed-designed military aircraft to
go into series production. It was the first twin-engined interceptor to
serve with the USAAC. It was the first production fighter powered by the
Allison V-1710 inline engine. It was the first modern fighter equipped
with a tricycle landing
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gear. It was the first fighter to use bubble canopy right from the start.
It was the first fighter with speeds over 400 mph. It was the first US
twin-boom fighter to go into production. It was the only American fighter
in production at the time of Pearl Harbor to be still in production at the war's
end, and it accounted for more Japanese aircraft destroyed in combat than any
other US fighter."
P-38 Model in Progress
We've been receiving a lot of emails of late from P-38 enthusiasts who are
building their own models - some from scratch! We've posted a few photos
sent to us from newsletter reader Will Smith. We'll keep you posted on this
ambitious project as he progresses!
Will's P-38
model.
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A Little Research
One thing we've
been noticing lately is the interest in the P-38 by the younger generations,
typically because they've been given a P-38 model when they were very young and
grew to love it as we all do. So, in the name of preserving the memory of the
P-38, here are a few ways to
do some research on our favorite plane:
Internet
You can do a
Google search for the phrase "P-38 Lightning" which will get you a lot of
good links -- but you'll also find it links you to a lot of pages about the P-38
Lightning
bicycle with the same name. Nonetheless, a good place to start. You can
also do searches for Aircraft Historical Societies. There are endless
combinations of keywords you can use in a Google search.
If you go to
YouTube you can do a search for some great videos to watch. Also use the
keywords "P-38 Lightning."
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Check out the
Library of Congress and the
EyeWitness
to History (Charles Lindberg's P-38 experience) websites, too.
Libraries
Your local
library probably has plenty of info available for you to either borrow or view
while at the library including books, historic microfiche, videos and/or DVDs.
Check their catalogs for biographies also. You may find books on Richard Bong,
Tommy McGuire, Kelly Johnson, Tony LeVier, etc., which will give you some good
background.
You can also do
inter-library searches and borrow materials from other locations if your library
doesn't carry them.
Check the
library's newspaper and magazine indexes as well. The library's pamphlet files
will probably contain articles of interest.
Have fun in the
pursuit.
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Bong Heritage Center
Although we typically focus this missive
on the aircraft itself, P-38 Association Member, Bill Anderson recently
took a trip to the WWII Museum dedicated to America's top P-38 ace, Richard Bong
-- and sent us this nice photo and note:
I returned last night from Superior WI and the
Richard I. Bong
Heritage Center. The trip to see it and his grave sight are well worth it
and I urge all members to see it if they pass through the area.
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Glacier Girl Video Walkaround
I recently ran across this cool
video that Kris from San Diego put online of his walkaround of Glacier Girl
at the Planes of Fame in Chino. Although I've done that myself, I didn't
have the foresight to video it! 23-Skidoo can also be seen in the
background, and near the end of the video you can hear some dialog indicating
that this was taken last year right before Glacier Girl attempted her ill-fated
return trip to England.
Neat stuff!
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Website Focus
Visit us on the web. Here's a sample of one of our current website sections:
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For those of you who may not have had a
chance to visit the P-38 Museum, this area of the website will
interest you.
You will find all the
basic info you need about
our Museum, including the location adjacent to March ARB, our hours of
operation and directions with maps. The Museum also houses a beautiful
P-38 Monument and various historic
exhibits, priceless photographs and genuine WWII P-38 related artifacts. It's
well worth the visit if you're ever in our neck of the woods.
We're in the process of building a new
structure within the Museum where our hard-working docents will now be able to
sit in blessed comfort, even in the 100° heat of Riverside, CA. It will
also have a nice "ready room" for viewing P-38 DVDs and videos and (down the
road) maybe an interactive aspect as well. By the way, we're always looking for
folks to become one of our Museum docents, so if you're a fan of the P-38,
contact us. Don't
worry if you're not an "expert" as we're happy to walk you through the training,
and it'll be a good opportunity for you to meet our P-38 pilots in person and
hear their stories!
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NOTE: As a follow-up to last month's column on the Romanian Rescue Mission,
we're sorry to report that Dick Andrews has passed away. We lost several
of our P-38 pilots this past month, which only makes us appreciate those you are
still with us even more than we already did. We're not giving up on
our
mission to have his medal upgraded, although now it will, of course, be awarded
posthumously if we succeed. | |
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Print out for your favorite P-38 fan!
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ACROSS |
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DOWN |
| 4 |
Name of P-38 excavated
from beneath Greenland icecap. |
1 |
German nickname for the
P-38: fork-tailed __________. |
| 7 |
Lefty Gardner's famous
P-38. |
2 |
Air base which first
flew the P-38. |
| 10 |
P-38s which carried
cameras instead of guns. |
3 |
P-38 developed for use
with radar pod. |
| 11 |
In which California city
were P-38s manufactured? |
5 |
What famous aviator
helped improve the P-38 fuel economy? |
| 12 |
Nickname of 5,000th P-38
produced (bright red color) |
6 |
In which theater of
operation was Italy? |
| 13 |
Highest scoring P-38
ace. |
8 |
Can you safely bail out
of a P-38? |
| 14 |
Who manufactured the
P-38 engines? |
9 |
The company which
manufactured the P-38. |
| 15 |
P-38 with Plexiglas
bubble nose cone for bombardier. |
12 |
Famous Japanese military
leader killed by a mission of P-38s. |
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Give up? Find the answers here. |
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P-38 Hardstand
By John Stanaway
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a continuation of John's series
on Photo Recon Squadrons, which he began in the
November newsletter.]
The ETO demanded greater air resources
than any other theater, and the reconnaissance role was no exception. At least
four groups in the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces used F-5 aircraft to some extent,
making the northern Europe area the major user of Lockheed Lightning
reconnaissance aircraft. Some seven or eight squadrons were equipped
operationally with the F-5 in the area at some time from 1943 until the end of
the war.
One typical squadron was the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance, which operated
the F-5 operationally from April 19, 1944 until May 7, 1945. Originally equipped
with O-46, O-47, O-49, O-52 and O-59 observation aircraft from its inception in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin until it moved between northeast, south and western
continental United States before it was deployed to Chalgrove, England late in
March 1944, and it was equipped with F-5 and F-10 (Douglas A-20).
Operations began with pre-Normandy invasion sorties in the 10th Photo Group
around 29 April 1944. Many of the squadron’s missions through the D-Day period
were the dangerous dicing, or low-level mapping and detail photo sorties that
took a toll of pilots and aircraft from every sort of anti-aircraft defense.
The 34th operated with the 10th PR Group throughout the breakout period until
the end of September 1944. On the last operational day of September the 34th was
assigned a bomb damage mission over Bingen and Bad Kreuznach when Lieutenant
Lively encountered heavy flak at 11,000 feet. His F-5 was flipped over on its
back and he wrestled for control in a dive to the deck. When he finally got back
on an even keel, his aircraft had been hit twenty times but the trusty Lockheed
managed to get him home.
In October the squadron was attached to a provisional reconnaissance group
supporting the southern advance in France. Later it was assigned to the
F-6-equipped 69th Reconnaissance Group, adding its F-5s to the service of 9th
Air Force reconnaissance until it was returned to the 10th Photo Group in summer
1945. It was inactivated on November 22, 1945.
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The Briefing Room (Ask
a P-38 Veteran a Question)
Nobody has to tell us how lucky we are to still have so many pilots and crew
members still with us. At the P-38 National Association we are especially
lucky to have so many of them as Members.
Since our
organization is focused on the P-38 Lightning, please keep your questions
on the topic of the aircraft itself. We will have our first responses in
the February issue.
If you have personnel-related questions,
you can try contacting:
USAF Archives, HQ AFHRA/ISR
600 Chennault Circle
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424
Tel: 334-953-5834
Their microfilm records usually vary in quality from excellent to infuriating,
but offer the best chance of finding what you would want.
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Franklin Arnold
(Pilot with 21st PRS)
Tom Britton (gift)
Nelson Cochrane
Jacob Duede
(USAF Academy cadet - gift from his grandfather, WWII P-38 pilot and Association
member Mike McGonigal)
Lou Duplessis
Daniel Edwards
Cathie Godwin
Steve Hespe (Gift)
Kenneth Keller
(WWII Air Transport Command pilot)
Walter Kieseling, Jr.
(Father served with USAAF in Burma)
Steve Krick
David Krigbaum
Richard Marchand
David McCurdy
Bob Miner
Frank Nixon
Craig Porter
(His Father and his Uncle were WWII P-38 pilots)
Gary Weber
Tom Woolton
(WWII USAAF flight instructor)
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JOIN
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These prices are good from now until the
February newsletter is emailed.
P-38
EMBROIDERED
GOLF SHIRT
$25
(Regularly $30)
THIS
MONTHLY SPECIAL
IS OVER
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