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July 2009


Hi, P-38 Fans:

Well, it's not very often that you have a panel of P‑38 pilots and crew chiefs at your fingertips for a Q&A, but that's just what happened at the P‑38 Symposium we held during our annual Membership meeting.  It was a big hit with the folks who attended the meeting as well as visitors to the Planes of Fame Fly-in. And boy did the audience have questions for these guys!

Read all about it in the news below.  We hope to do it again next year, so stay tuned.

Now, on with this month's newsletter.

Kelly K

PS -- Links which take you away from the P‑38 website will, instead, open a new window for you. If you click on a photo to enlarge it, just click our browser's "back" button to return here after you're through looking at it.

In This Edition

RUFF STUFF DAMAGED

We heard from one of our readers, Mary Swensen, that she and her husband witnessed a mishap with Ruff Stuff in Nebraska a couple weeks back.  Apparently Ruff Stuff had an overspeed on a prop while trying to abort the takeoff and blew a tire. Both the plane and the pilot are fine, but Ruff Stuff will need a new wheel and tire now.

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P-38 trench art

The subject of trench art recently came up, and for you young 'uns out there who might not know what it is, we've added a few samples of P-38 trench art to the website.

Trench art is typically understood to mean any decorative item made by military personnel during wartime, created from available materials.


Decatur Honors the Lightning

Kind of hard to see, but if you click on the photo you can see it better.

This P‑38 has been sketched out in preparation to be painted on a building at the Decatur County Industrial Airpark.

P-38 fan?

Our good friend and fellow P‑38 Association member, Ed Rothermund, sent us this photo of his new license plate.  You think he's a fan?  You'd better believe he's one of its greatest!  This is definitely going in the You Might Just Love the P-38 section of our website.

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new photos on the web

Here are a few photos we've run across lately. They're not all brand new, but they're sure purdy. Clicking on photos will enlarge in this window, and clicking on links will enlarge in a separate window.

Red Bull P‑38 in her new home. Click to enlarge photo. (Thanks to P-38 Association Member, Jim Lux. To see all of Jim's photos, visit this page of our website.)
 

Here are some more beautiful pictures of the Red Bull P-38 found at airplane-pictures.net.

Photo 2 | Photo 3

 
The P-38 formerly known as White Lightnin'

Bob Cardin, Steve Hinton, Rod Lewis / Glacier Girl
(found on Air Show Buzz - an awesome website)

Sunrise photo taken at Lackland AFB. Found on Flickr.com

 

 

New P-38 Videos on the web

There are so many great P-38 videos on the internet now that it's not possible to cover them all.  But, if you'll go to YouTube or Google Videos or Metcafe you can watch them all day and night. Just enter the phrase "P-38 Lightning" in their search boxes. 

Here are a few new ones we found.

Australia Gets Their First 38s of the War. (Click on underlined text for larger view.)

Up close and personal with a P-38 Allison engine.

P-38 propeller repair at Chino Airport.

Found this great video on YouTube of a 1945 Ditching Test of a Model P‑38, done at various attitude, flaps and velocity measurements.  (You can find many more NASA videos like this at their YouTube channel.)

 

New 1:18 P-38 Model

We were afraid that after the demise of 21st Century Toys no one would be able to get those beautiful and popular models any more. (Someone did this rather sad image).

 

However, word on the street is that another great model (1:18) of "Putt-Putt Maru" will soon be on the market. If so, you know we'll have it available. Stay tuned.

 

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Warbirds for windows

For you flight sim fans out there, here's one you can play on your PC.  Among the available warbirds from which to choose is, of course, the Lightning.

Here's the info.

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Once, again time has run out and we didn't get all the photos and articles we wanted to into this issue.  I'm going to stop making promise on this stuff!  Can't seem to catch up.  But it's great to know that there are so many folks out there who love this bird.  Don't lose faith, and keep those pix and articles coming.  We will get to them. Yeah, we will.

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P-38 HARDSTAND
by John Stanaway

[Ed. Note: While we typically talk about the aircraft itself in the "Hardstand" column, this month we're taking a departure to talk about one of the extraordinary men who flew them.]

Johnny Eager

Gerald Richard Johnson and his twin, Harold Johnson, were born on June 23, 1920 in Kenmore, Ohio. The two boys grew up in Salem, Oregon and both entered the Army Air Forces in 1941. Gerald got his wings in October, and excelled as a fighter pilot from that time until he was assigned to the Alaskan Theater in June 1942.

From the very beginning of his cadet days, Jerry Johnson displayed a keen exuberance for flying, and took to piloting like a fledgling bird. He quickly mastered his PT‑17 trainer, and then took to the P‑39 which equipped the 57th Fighter Squadron in Alaska. By the end of September the squadron was operating from Kodiak Island, and Johnson was credited with two probable A6m‑2 Rufe floatplane fighters after the first of October, 1942.

However, his great period of aerial combat came about when he was transferred to the P‑38 equipped 9th Fighter Squadron of the 49th Fighter Group in New Guinea around April 1943. The 9th was in its initial glory days with the P‑38, and every assigned mission promised engagement with Japanese aircraft around the Huon Gulf and the Japanese occupied fortress of Wewak. Johnson earned his nickname of “Johnny Eager” when he insisted on flying every possible mission to see action against the enemy.

He often teamed up with Dick Bong in a friendly rivalry that perhaps earned each man more confirmed claims during the rest of the year. Johnson's first confirmed victories were a Tony and an Oscar claimed over the Markham Valley on July 26, the same day that Bong claimed four Japanese shot down to score his fifteenth victory. During one of these July missions the rivalry was so intense that both pilots radioed a warning to a B‑25 under fire not to shoot at its attacker because one of them would account for the Japanese interceptor!

Johnson went on to confirm a twin‑engine ki‑45 Nick around Cape Gloucester, New Britain on September 2, and two Val dive bombers and another Oscar over Oro Bay to claim his sixth victory and status as fighter ace on October 15. The Fifth Air Force assault on Rabaul had begun during this same time, and Johnson got one Zero over the base on October 23, scoring against two others on the “Bloody Tuesday” raid of November 2 to raise his total to nine Japanese claimed before the 9th was obliged to temporarily switch to P‑47s for a few months.

The 49th Fighter Group converted entirely to the P‑38 in September 1944, and Johnson returned from a short leave home in time for the Philippines invasion in October 1944. He scored his twenty‑first victory over the water around Leyte's Ormoc bay when he claimed three Oscars and a Helen bomber on December 7, 1944. A few months later he tallied his final kill when he claimed a Tojo fighter north of Hong Kong on April 2, 1945.

Johnson was described as a very religious person and a scamp. It is a fact from his diaries that he had deep spiritual feelings, and he was held in high regard as a very professional and painstaking leader who went from neophyte fighter pilot to group commander in a very short time. His prowess as a pilot is legendary, evinced by the story of a postwar mock combat in which he feathered one propeller of his P‑38 and followed his P‑51 opponent move for move. He is also reputed to have looped both a P‑38 and B‑25 bomber with both engines feathered!

Circumstances did finally catch up to Johnny Eager, however, on October 7, 1945 when he was ferrying several passengers into the path of a typhoon while he was piloting a B‑25. Johnson gave his parachute to one of the passengers, who safely bailed out, while Johnson and his co-pilot perished in the crash of their bomber in the storm.
 

John Stanaway is a world-renowned aviation author,
including his newest one on the "479th Fighter Group"
(Riddles Raiders) . Check it out here.

 
DONATIONS

We thank all of those who have showed that extra measure of support for the P‑38 Association by sending in their generous donations during the past month.  Much appreciated!

While we don't mention the dollar amount of the donations we receive, the ones from Archie Jackson's family, Candice Burroughs and Terry Jackson, as well as Tom & Sally Hyatt Kearney this month were so generous we want to extend our special thanks to them for their support.

Candice Burroughs

Sally Hyatt-Kearney

Terry Jackson

Tom Kearney

Rita Levine

Max Pyles

 Thanks to all the visitors to our exhibit at the Planes of Fame fly‑in, who donated hundreds of dollars in appreciation to the P‑38 pilots and crew members who were signing autographs during the event.

If you'd like to help out, you can donate any amount by clicking this button.  Thanks!
(A new, secure window will open where you can enter any donation amount. Thanks!)
 
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P-38 Association Product of the Month
   

Joel Adelstone

Thomas H. Bennett III

Candice Burroughs

Don Costanza

Reginald Emmons

Juanita Ferguson

Carter Greene

Mike Jackson
(Son, P-38 pilot Archie Jackson)

Al Jandro

Annabelle Kehl

 

Rudy Lerma
(March Field Air Museum)

Mike Merryman
(Son, P-38 crew chief)

Bob Neumann
(P-38 pilot)

Keith Pyles (Gift from his father, P-38 crew chief, Max Pyles)

Sandra Pyles (Gift from her father-in-law, P-38 crew chief, Max Pyles)

Craig Steele
(Son, P-38 crew chief)

Jonathan Watson

Andreas Ziegler
(USAF pilot)

 
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P-38 Designer Drinkware
P-38  Association EXCLUSIVE

We usually take these specials down after the month is over, but we've decided to leave this one up, exclusively for our newsletter readers.

 

SMALL MUG

LARGE MUG

BEER STEIN

WATER BOTTLE
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR DETAILS

Special Prices Here

These products were created with the beautiful artwork of renown aviation artist, Jack Fellows, who has granted the P-38 Association the right to use them for our fundraising purposes.

P-38 National Association News


General Membership Meeting

I'll keep this short because the next issue of Lightning Strikes will have all the details of our enormously successful meeting last month.  If you weren't there, you missed a good one.

Friday, June 26

The meeting ran about two hours, and we had a panel with President Bob Alvis, Treasurer Howard Ramshorn, Membership Chairman/Lightning Strikes Editor Steve Blake and me, Director of Internet Operations, Kelly Kalcheim. After the pledge and invocation, we had a brief moment of silence for our members who have folded their wings since last year's meeting. Then, each gave a brief overview of the events which have taken place in our areas of responsibility since the 2008 annual meeting of the P-38 National Association.

Afterwards...PAR-TAY!  The Planes of Fame once again hosted a fantastic BBQ with Museum personnel manning the grills. Everyone had a great time, and we appreciate their exceptional hospitality.

Saturday, June 27

Archie Jackson Exhibit

The Archie Jackson dedication went off without a hitch, and I have to say it was an absolutely stunning exhibit. Thanks to all the original memorabilia included (all donated by the Archie Jackson family), the beautiful construction and awesome signage, it turned out to be just a magnificent memorial to one of our favorite members.  We will have lots of coverage and photos in the next issue of Lightning Strikes so keep an eye out.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to the crew who designed and constructed the exhibit: P‑38 President, Bob Alvis, Treasurer Howard Ramshorn, Director Lowell Stacy and Bob Reed from the Planes of Fame, Valle Museum.

And a special thanks to Archie's friends and relatives who flew in from all over the world especially for the dedication ceremony:  Candice Burroughs, Hollie Burroughs, Rick Burroughs, Mike & Val Jackson, Terry Jackson, Pat Peters, Lauren Halsted and Bill Bauer.

P-38 Symposium

This was a tremendous success.  We had standing room only for the panel of P-38 experts.

The panel included four P-38 pilots (Bob Waggoner, Joe Onesty, Lynn Shubert and Ralph Wandrey, Dick Bong's wingman) plus one crew chief (Max Pyles, who gave us some great memorabilia for the P-38 Museum in Riverside, CA). All are active members of the P-38 National Association.

They each told a story or two, most of which had the audience laughing, all of which had them in awe.  Then we opened it up to a Q&A from the audience.  Great panel, and a great time was had by all.

Hopefully, we can do a rerun next year.  It was a hugely popular event with the crowd.

Grand Finale

To close things out, on Saturday night we all went to Rod's Steak House on the famous Old Route 66.  The pressure was off and we all enjoyed an adult beverage or two to send off the event in grand style. I especially enjoyed the company of two of my table mates: Sally Hyatt-Kearney and her husband Tom Kearney, a couple of very nice people that I'm glad I got to know better.

We want to thank Ed Maloney, Steve Hinton, Bob Reed, Connie Freson and everyone at both Planes of Fame locations for their tremendous, ongoing support.  They make everything special.

Apart from the huge disappointment of the radiator failure which kept "23 Skidoo" on the ground in Chino (safely, thank goodness!) we all had such a good time, and can't wait to do it again next year.   Same bat time, same bat location.