Hello, P‑38 Fans:

Halloween is almost upon us, so we thought it was only appropriate to give you a good old spooky P-38 Halloween story. Enjoy the story of the "Ghostly P‑38"!

Blue skies,

Kelly

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• The Ghostly P-38

• Boys & Their Toys

• View from the Cockpit

• The P-38 Stays With You

• New Photos on the Web

• Story Update

• P-38 Pilot PTSD Speech

• Modelers Dream

• Youngest P-38 Pilot

• P-38 Hardstand

• P-38 Association News

• New Members

• Hot Product

• Archives

The ghostly P-38

Have you heard the one about the P-38 that flew back to home base with no fuel and no pilot?  Read all about it here!

BOYS & THEIR TOYS

We ran across this very cool photo of a Lego P‑38, built by 13-year-old Zachary Pasquini (Just click on the image to enlarge.) Fantastic!  If you'd like to see some of his other aviation Lego creations, check out his site.

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the p-38 stAYS WITH YOU

We received an email from Marvin McGee, who asked us this question: "When I was a kid (over 40 years ago) there was a P‑38 sitting in a field near the previous Austin Municipal Airport in Texas. We kids would climb all over it for years. Then someone came and picked it up to restore. I believe it might have been the "Confederate Air Force" out of Texas. Just wondering what might have happened to old girl?"  We pointed him in the right direction and, after a little research he found out the fate of his boyhood friend. Find out what happened here.  (You can find some video footage on our website, but it is not for the very young or the faint of heart.)

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UPDATE

Glad to say we have IDs from the photo we mentioned in the August newsletter.  Keith Breckler came through with the name of (and story about) his grandfather Lt. Joe Breckler of the 402FS, 370FG.  We've added the extraordinary details here, and a special thanks to Jeff Harris of Allied Fighters (you'll see why when you read the story).
 

VIEW FROM THE COCKPIT

All these links will open in a new window.

We found this birdseye- view‑video of footage taken from the cockpit (select to enlarge photo) of the Red Bull P-38.  Not sure who's at the wheel, but you can also find this footage at the Ezell website.

P-38 Photos on the Web

Here are some new photos of the Red Bull P-38, including a couple of shots of the new nose art  These are from the Warbirds Resource Group courtesy of our friend Pat Carry.

California Cutie video during happier times.

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We've added several new pictures sent in by P-38 members and newsletter readers.  Have a look, especially if you're a whittler!

Video taken by Jim Climo and submitted to us by P-38 Assn member B.E. Hollister -- a P-38 at the "Wings Over Wine Country" air show we  mentioned in our blog.  And a beautiful photo taken at the same show.
 

POIGNANT SPEECH

If you haven't seen this touching video speech of former P-38 pilot Frederic Arnold about PTSD (long before they had a name for it), it's well worth the listen.  Pump up the volume on your speakers as it's a little low.

Part 1
Part 2

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Modelers Dream

We received some beautiful photos of a P-38 model of Dick Bong's plane, Marge, from Joe McDonald.  Have a look.  It's quite extraordinary.

KILROY GRAPHIC

© Special thanks to Patrick A. Tillery for the Kilroy portion of our Halloween graphic. Make sure to help him in his efforts to get Kilroy on a US postage stamp.

Youngest P-38 Pilot

We printed a story in our membership publication about the youngest P-38 pilot in history (17 years old!), William P. Lear, Jr. Since Bill has just joined us (or re-joined us, we can't say for sure!), we thought it worth printing here for those who haven't heard his story.

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First Order Firepower

There were a number of features that made the P‑38 uniquely effective, and its battery of four Colt .50 caliber machine guns and single Oldsmobile/Hispano 20 mm cannon was the most devastating and universally feared by enemy aircrew. Other fighters featured formidable batteries of cannon and/or machine guns, but the P‑38 had the most formidable arrangement that caused the Lockheed Lightning to live up to its sobriquet.

Other fighters had more massive batteries of guns and cannon, but the P‑38 was designed to give maximum effect to its centrally mounted grouping of guns. Without the necessity of spreading out the armament on the wings to avoid firing through the propeller, the P‑38 had a grouping of guns about the size of a basketball with an impact effect capable of penetrating the armored side of a locomotive or even a destroyer.

Another advantage of this arrangement was that the limiting effect of the G‑forces in a turn was minimized. The canted four‑gun arrangement of the P‑51B, for example, meant that in a steep turn one or more guns would likely stop firing to reduce even the scattered pattern of the wing‑mounted .50s. Even the eight .50 arrangement of the P‑47 meant that the pilot had to judge his range carefully if he wanted a full pattern convergence.

Of course, with a small circle of impact the P‑38 pilot had to be a good shot. But when he was on target the result was devastating. Lockheed boasted in its wartime advertising that one well‑placed burst from a P-38 battery could “blast a Zero to bits or slice off a Messerschmitt wing.”[ed.note: see sample poster here] This description was highly dramatized, but the truth could not be denied that enemy pilots with any sense of the peril they faced would give the Lightning's bite a wide berth.

Similarly, the P‑38 was deadly on ground attack. Many 9th Air Force P‑38 pilots deplored the switch to P‑47s because their weapon of choice could carry a greater weapons load over a larger area, and could maneuver almost silently at low altitude to surprise enemy troops with a hopelessly lethal attack. The German and Italian troops who survived being attacked by P‑38s were especially wary of the deadly fighter and learned to avoid it or perish at its mercy.

The lore of World War II gives the P‑51 the reputation of being a superior air fighter and the P‑47 of being a superior ground attack aircraft, but the P‑38 had its own factor of superiority that translated into respect by a brave and experienced enemy.

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P‑38 National Association News

P-38 CALENDAR NOW AVAILABLE

We've just added our new 2009 P-38 Calendar to the website.  They are $17 plus shipping this year, so if you'd like to order one, you can do so here.  The beautiful images were generously donated by famed aviation artist Jack Fellows, who has granted the P-38 Association the right to use them in our fundraising efforts.

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arthur lasker article

Long-time Association Member, Arthur E. Lasker, has sent us an article you will enjoy about his last mission.  You can read it here.
 

MORE DONATIONS

We received some more donations this month, most notably a very generous one from Director of Docents, Joe Onesty, in memory of three members: Ed Baquet, Archie Jackson and Tom Yarwood.  Bob & Marie Waggoner sent in yet another donation.  Bob's one of our most generous supporters. We also received another donation from Ron & Marilyn Smith in memory of Archie.

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DOCENT'S PLAQUE

The P-38 Association will be adding two recognition plaques in our Museum.  One will be dedicated, belatedly, to the men and women who helped to build and finance the construction of the Museum.  The second one will be for the men and women who have volunteered their time to act as Docents at the Museum over the years.  It will include the names of all who have done so since we first opened our doors. This plaque will be an ongoing project, with new names added as time progresses and we have new Docents join the team.  If you would like to help pay for these two plaques, you can do so here.

Congrats to Don Pechous

Our congratulations go out to Don Pechous (who worked so hard on getting the Dick Andrews medal upgrade).  He has just been named "Veteran of the Year in the Temecula Valley, CA.  Don is an Association Director and long-time supporter of the military. We're very proud of him!

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ADVISORY COUNCIL update

We've started receiving applications for the Council, and it looks like we'll be having some pretty impressive names on board.  If you have an interest in being more involved with the Association and our expansion and development, be sure to send in your app now.

Guidelines

Application

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