IN THIS EDITION

• And then there Were 6!
• New P-38 Photos
• Mea Culpa
• Flyable vs Airworthy
• Profitable P-38s
• Next Generation of P-38s
• Glacier Girl at Oshkosh
• New P-38 Book
• P-38/Zero Special
• To the Rescue!
• Rear-View Mirror
• P-38 Hardstand
      by John Stanaway
• New Members
• Hot Product of the Month
• Newsletter Archives
• P-38 Association News

AND THEN THERE WERE 6

For those of you who may not have heard yet, the folks down at Ezell Aviation took the Red Bull P-38 (formerly known as White Lightnin') up for it's first flight on June 2.  (If anyone knows what it's going to be called in the future please let us know.)  Steve Hinton went down to Texas to do the piloting honors, and Ezell has some great photos of the event on their website.  Steve's the one in the pink shirt.  That makes five airworthy P-38s.

Another P-38 to just come back online is Putt Putt Maru, which was damaged a few years back. She's been fully restored and after the Red Bull flight in Breckinridge, TX, Steve Hinton

flew straight to Florida to take Putt Putt Maru up (thanks to Pat Carry for the link).  She's currently owned by Tom Blair and is in Kissimee, FL, from what we've been told). And then there were six!

23 Skidoo
Glacier Girl
Putt Putt Maru
Red Bull P-38
Ruff Stuff
Allied Fighters P-38

Gives a whole new meaning to "watch your 6"!

Another related story about Red Bull flight.

Side note: Steve Hinton told me recently that the Planes of Fame did a cost analysis on what it costs per hour to put a P-38 in the air.  Anyone care to venture a guess?
 

New P-38 Photos

Association Member, Frank Birtciel, sent us a great photo, taken by Frank Mormillo, from last year's Chino Air Show.  It has Glacier Girl and Miss Velma as they prepare for their (ill-fated) return flight to England.  It also has an interesting little bit of history.

Johnny Sirmon, proud son of Association Member Revis Sirmon (left) sent us in some great shots of the P-38 that you'll want to check out, especially those low passes!

This P-38 caught in the smoke was sent in to us by David Allen Recchione

Check it out here.

Dave “Drano” Steiner sent us in a link for this very cool slide show of "Ruff Stuff" from Max Haynes blog.  She's being piloted by Rob Ator, and the slide show is on the MaxAir2AirPictures website.  Just click on the arrows near the bottom of the page to view the slideshow.

We're hoping to add some more of these neat photos to our website. In the meantime, have a look at the P-38 (The San Joaquin Siren) crafted by Dave Brown in honor of P-38 veteran and P-38 Association member, Bill Behrns, and sent to us by David Steiner.

Mea Culpa

I received an email from Scott Perdue, the pilot who was in the "Ruff Stuff" photo featured in last month's newsletter (Photos on the Web).  I mentioned that the P-47 and P-38 looked like they were too close for comfort.  Not being a photographer, I didn't realize the "foreshortening" effect in that photo.  Scott assured me that the planes where not nearly as close as they look from our perspective, and the pilots always take the utmost care while in flight, which of course I should have stipulated, rather than making the cavalier remark I made. I've been to too many Thunderbirds shows quite clearly. I have nothing but admiration for Scott and the few other pilots who are actually qualified to fly these beautiful warbirds.  Ed Maloney told me during a recent P-38 meeting at the Planes of Fame in Valle, AZ, the amount of red tape and unbelievable tests that need to be passed to even keep the planes and the pilots in the air.  I apologized to Scott for the snafu, and he was nice enough to offer to write an article for us for a future issue on the "Pilot's Perspective" of flying the 38.

FLYABLE VERSUS AIRWORTHY

One of our readers, Steven Ponsi, said he had stopped by Tillamook Air Museum in OR and saw "Tangerine" -- referred to as a flyable P‑38.  Our understanding of this sometimes seemingly contradictory count of "flyable" P-38s is that there are a few other P-38s who may be considered "airworthy" per se, but they are not flown...by choice (the owners want to keep them as a static display, rather than in the air).

P-38s Now Very Profitable

Interesting article about a guy who buys and sells WWII airplanes -- including Glacier Girl. In case you're wondering what Rod Lewis paid for her -- it was close to $7,000,000, according to the article.

Next Generation

Want to know how realistic some of these video games featuring P-38s can look?  Check out these graphics. Pretty impressive, eh? Between the R/C models and these video games, they're keeping alive the memory!

TO THE RESCUE!

The August issue of "Flight Journal" magazine has the story of our own Association Member, Dick Willsie, along with the late Dick Andrews, who performed a dangerous and slim-chance-of-success rescue story.  It's well worth picking up if you want to know what a hero looks like.  You can also read the story here on our website.

Thanks again to Pat Carry for the tip.
 

GLACIER GIRL AT OSHKOSH

Mark your calendars.  I ran into Bob Cardin (Project Manager on Glacier Girl), and he mentioned that she'll be flying at 2008 AirVenture in Oshkosh in July (28-Aug 3). She leads off the Thursday (July 31) program with Steve Hinton behind the wheel. Rod Lewis, her new owner, will also be there as well as Bob Cardin.  Don't miss it!
 

NEW P-38 BOOK

...or so I'm told. 

It's called P-38 Lightning (Military Aircraft in Detail) and says it was due out on June 25, 2008.

MILITARY Channel Special

Don't forget to watch the "Showdown: Air Combat" special running on the Military-Discovery Channel.  The P-38/Zero episode is airing July 1 and July 2 in Southern California, but you can check here for where it's scheduled near you.

The Rearview Mirror

Check out the archives if you've missed past topics.

I Hate It When That Happens!

More than one P-38 pilot has had to bail or belly land during their training period because they forgot to keep an eye on their fuel gauges.  One of them had to set his 38 down in the Pacific after flying more than 35 minutes on a single engine because he wasn't familiar with the cross-feed switch for pumping gas to the live engine from the tanks of the dead one. If he had followed three simple steps he would have saved the plane -- and himself a swim.

And how many of you (without cheating) can tell the location of the "Right Hand Tank Selector" with respect to the "Left Hand Tank Selector?" Is it forward or aft? If you aren't sure and take a guess, chances are you will guess wrong, because reading clockwise around the cockpit from left to right one would normally figure that the L.H. Tank Selector would be aft or to the left

of the R.H. Tank Selector Valve. But it isn't. The L.H. Tank Selector is forward of the R.H. Tank Selector. Above all, remember this, so that in a single-engine emergency you won't accidentally stop the flow of fuel to your live engine and be forced down.

Cross-feed operation:

1) Set the tank selector valve to the tank to supply fuel (in this case, it would have been the fullest tank of the dead engine).

2) Turn the crossfeed switch to "Crossfeed" (makes sense).

3) Turn the other tank selector valve "Off."

P-38 Hardstand by john stanaway

P-38 Stuka Victory Recovered

On October 5, 2006, The Greek Royal Hellenic Air Force recovered the remains of a Ju‑87 “Stuka” dive bomber in fifty feet of water off the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. It was Ju‑87D-3/Trop coded S7+GM, lost on 9 October 1943 -- pilot Lt. Rolf Metzger and crew member Uffz Hans Sopnemann of II\STG 3. The Stuka was flying a mission against Royal Navy and Royal Hellenic warships when a flight of 37th Fighter Squadron P‑38s came down to intercept the Germans. Major Bill Leverette was leading the P‑38s, and claimed a record for the ETO when he was given credit for seven Ju‑88s. Others in the P‑38 flight were credited with nine others Stukas and Ju‑88 bombers.

The records of II\StG 3 document seven Ju‑87s shot down over the sea while two others made crash landings on Rhodes itself, but the credit remained for a remarkable mission that was largely overlooked for the P‑38 in Europe. At least one of the P‑38s descended low enough to count at least ten splashes in the water. Perhaps some of the widening ripples on the surface were made by Ju‑88s crashing, or by broken pieces of the same Ju‑87, but the credits remain, including seven for Leverette and five for Lieutenant Harry Hanna, three others for Homer Sprinkle, one for Bob Margison as well as a Ju‑88 for Wayne Blue.

In other theaters of operations the feat of claiming seven aircraft shot down in combat would have meant the award of the Medal of Honor (ironically, Leverette’s close friend, Colonel Neel Kearby, was awarded the medal for claiming six Japanese aircraft over New Guinea in his P‑47 just two days later) but Leverette was awarded the next best decoration when he was given the Distinguished Service Cross. Perhaps if the Stukas had been diverted from their purpose before they had sunk the Royal Navy cruiser Carlisle and destroyer panther, the powers that be would have been more generous, and awarded the efficient and intrepid P‑38 pilots with the recognition they so richly deserved.

 
$2,700 per hour!
 

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P-38 National Association News

WARBIRD FLY-IN

We had a fun time at the Planes of Fame in Valle, AZ, last week -- where we went to hold our Annual General Membership meeting.  It was great fun, not too hot, and we were able to enjoy the day much more because the management invited us to set up our exhibit INSIDE the hangar.  A great time was had by all who attended and included P-38 pilot autograph signings (we even had a WASP Betty "Tack" Blake stop by and sign a few autographs and pose for pictures.)  We ended the weekend with a delicious dinner at the famous  Rod's Steak House on Historic Route 66. 

The Planes of Fame group was extremely hospitable to us and even asked us back to participate in their August fly-in, so we may be returning sooner than we thought!  Thanks to Ed Maloney, Founder of Planes of Fame, for this excellent presentation on the intricacies of owning all those expensive warbirds that we, the public, still get to enjoy thanks to him and his crew. And a special thank you with gratitude to the folks at PoF Valle Museum, most especially to Bob Reed for inviting us and Connie Freson for breaking her neck, bending over backwards and doing every other possible contortion to make sure our meeting went well -- it did!

Press coverage:
Grand Canyon News -- Jackie Brown
Aero-News Net

P-38 MUSEUM PROJECT COMPLETED

It's done!  A long and expensive project has been completed at our P-38 Museum adjacent to March Air Reserve Base.  It took longer than the volunteers thought (what doesn't?), but it was well worth their effort.  It looks beautiful and feels nice and coool in the hot Riverside summer.  Much nicer for our P-38 vets who docent there each weekend.  Congratulations to Bob Alvis, Howard Ramshorn and Lowell Stacy for their months of love and labor in completing the job.  Great contribution to the guys and gals who will be enjoying their docent duties so much more, now that it's not 110°in their during the summer anymore! Job well done.

Thanks very much for reading our newsletter. We hope you enjoyed it. If someone referred you to this newsletter, but you do not receive it directly and would like to, you can join by sending a blank email here mailto:p38updates@aweber.com.

For questions regarding anything in this newsletter, please send an email to the Editor, Kelly B. Kalcheim at: newsletter@p38assn.org

If you'd like to donate an article or have an interesting tidbit to contribute, you can send them to us here. We will credit you with the information.

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