Hello, P‑38 Fans:

This month has been a little crazy with activities, so we'll keep this short and sweet.  Enjoy!

Blue skies,

Kelly B. Kalcheim

PS -- There was a lot of material and contributed articles I wasn't able to get to this month. Next time!

• The Devil Went Down to Texas

• P-38 Photos on the Web

• Classic Warbirds in His Blood

• Passing it On

• Blast from the Past

• White Lightnin' Story

• That Makes Two

• P-38 Hardstand

• P-38 Association News

• New Members

• Hot Product

• Archives

THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO TEXAS

The fork-tailed devil, that is.  The Brownwood (TX) Bulletin did a nice write-up of a recent visit by three WWII warbirds, two Lightnings and a Mustang.  The three pilots were Nelson Ezell (whose company restored the Flying Bulls P‑38), Rod Lewis (owner of Glacier Girl) and Jim Dale in the Mustang. (Here's an interesting story about Rod Lewis in Forbes which tells a little about his background and how he came to own Glacier Girl.)

Great quote about the 38: “It's so funny that in the '30s they designed something like that. Amazing.  All with no computers. They used slide rules."

- Keith Marshall
(local businessman who
witnessed the gathering)

PASSING IT ON

Last month we gave a link to a printable coloring page of a P‑38.  Well, I guess a lot of you took us up on that and printed it out for the kids or grandkids. Maryann R. even sent us this great shot of her grandkids hard at work coloring the picture.  (You can click the photo to enlarge it.)

If you missed out on that last month, you can find it here on our website.

A blast from the past

Cool story about a local guy who saw a P‑38 flying overhead, grabbed his camera and rushed to the local airport, where the Lightning was headed.  (It was the Flying Bulls P‑38.)

WHITE LIGHTNIN' STORY

Here's an interesting read from the guy who should know -- he was behind the wheel when White Lightnin' crashed. It's a long article, which includes some of Ladd Gardner's bio, but you'll absolutely gets the bird's eye view of the accident.  (If you'd like to read the accident report, see crash photos, etc. you can visit the White Lightnin' page on our website.

That makes two

Many of you have heard that the early Cadillac fins were fashioned after the P‑38s twin booms, but did you know that Harley Earl (founder and then head of GMs in-house styling department) also modeled his 1951 LeSabre design after the P‑38? As automotive legend has it, Earl visited an aviation hangar at Lockheed during 1941 and became smitten with a test model of the then-new P‑38 Lightning fighter aircraft. The P‑38's twin engines, twin booms and twin tails inspired Earl's post-war designs, not the least of which was the aircraft-like 1951 LeSabre show car.

NEW P‑38 PHOTOS ON THE WEB

All these links will open in a new window.

Nice video of a heritage flight at Oshkosh, with a Lightning, Mustang and Raptor.  And another one from Oshkosh.

Here's a home video from the Duluth Air & Aviation Expo.  It seems like it had some nice narration to the flight, but unfortunately, it's difficult to follow. The person who took the video credits Kevin Eldridge as the pilot of "Ruff Stuff."

Interesting underwater slideshow of the P‑38 which sits at the bottom of the Pacific off La Jolla.  If you click on the "slideshow" button it will let you control the show. (Exactly what kind of creature IS that peeking out from the wreck?)  Photos credited to Volker Kilan.

Nice video of non-airshow startup and flybys of the Planes of Fame P‑38, "23 Skidoo."

Flying Bulls P‑38 run-up video

Wings Over Wine Country snaps taken by Mark von Raesfeld. Gotta love those bank shots.

Photo 1  |  Photo 2  |  Photo 3   |   Photo 4

steve hinton article

If you're curious about this primo classic warbird present-day pilot (and film stunt pilot), this article will give you his whole story.  Worth reading.

And while we're on the subject, in the "like father, like son" category, check out this article on Steve's son, Steve Jr. (who the AAFO calls the "youngest certified race pilot"). AirShowBuzz has this to say about him: "Young Steven Hinton Jr. has impressed even the most jaded veterans with his meticulous flying skills and humble manner.") Maybe Jr. will follow Dad's footsteps in flying the P‑38s, too. (Thanks to  Association member, Ed Rothermund, for the lead.)

7th Air Force P‑38s

P‑38s served with virtually every American fighter command in the world during WWII. However, some commands gave minority attention to the venerable Lockheed for one reason or another, usually because limited stocks of the type prevented large-use (the VIII Fighter Command gobbled up four groups of the P‑38, while other commands screamed for every example they could get and usually operated 38s with less desirable fighters). The Seventh Air Force was searching for long-ranging fighters during the middle of 1944 to facilitate its assignment as escort for the nascent B-29 (MATTERHORN) bombing program against Japanese industries.

Eventually, the more abundant P-47 and P-51 fighters would provide excellent coverage for Japanese home-island-bound B-29s, but the P‑38 would provide a brief and glorious footnote to the Seventh Air Force effort. The P‑38 service would come about later in 1944 when the 21st Fighter Group gave up thirty-six of its Lockheed fighters to equip the operational 318th Fighter Group on newly won Saipan. Records indicate that some P‑38J and later P‑38L models, equipped with unpopular tail-warning radar, were originally planned to be assigned equally to the three squadrons of the group before all of them were attached to the 333rd Fighter Squadron.

The first success enjoyed by these 333rd FS Lightnings was during a bomber escort to Truck on November 22, 1944. Three Zeros were credited to the P‑38s while they protected the bombers (reports specify that the 333rd escorted both B-24s and B-29s on practice missions during this period). Captain Winston M. Park claimed one of the Japanese fighters while First Lieutenants James M. DeYonker and William D. Fancher accounted for the other two.

Three more claims were made during the day on January 14, 1945. Details are sketchy, but it could have been a defense of Saipan, which was enduring more attention from a desperate enemy that was trying to interfere with an expanding American presence coming from the Marianas. In the course of events Captain Marsden Dupuy, and Lts. Ottenstein and Rivas each claimed one of the Japanese shot down.

The biggest day for the squadron’s P‑38s was February 11, 1945 when four bombers and three fighters fell to the Lightnings. Captain Judge Wolfe was the star of the day when he accounted for two Betty bombers over the Iwo Jima area before they could be directed against the approaching invasion fleet.

For its final P‑38 accounting the 333rd Fighter Squadron was credited with thirteen Japanese aircraft shot down, and two others claimed on the ground for the cost of four P‑38s lost. In April 1945, the 318th Fighter Group converted completely to P-47N fighters for long range duty. Judge Wolfe became the leading ace of the group when he added seven P-47 victories to the two he claimed with the P‑38
 

P‑38 National Association News

two members signing autographs

Last month we mentioned the the P‑38 Association went to a fly-in hosted by the Valley Airport near the Grand Canyon. and that we had two of our P‑38 vets there signing autographs for the crowd.  Well...here they are!

Bob Waggoner (L)
and "Fox" Olsen (R)

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE

ADVISORY COUNCIL FORMING

For those of you who have watched the online video of our General Membership Meeting in AZ a couple of months back, we now have the guidelines and the application available online for the Advisory Council which was mentioned in the video.  It's being formed now, so visit our website and read all about it, then fill in the app if you'd like to be considered for the Council.

IN MEMORY OF "GIL"

We're sorry to report the death of our good friend and long-time Association member, Archie "Gil" Jackson.  Archie was a dear friend of the P‑38 Association. He was always there to lend a hand and help support our cause, and he will be dearly missed by all of us.

	click photo to enlarge
Here's a nice photo from the Planes of Fame Air show of Archie with Bob Cardin, who was there with Glacier Girl (background).	Another one of him signing autographs at one of the many air shows we attend, and one with his dear friend and constant companion, Patsy Peters.