Design Team
The creative brain behind the design of the fiesty P‑38.
Kelly Johnson
Read more about Kelly Johnson HERE.
Here is a nice memorial dedicated to Johnson, about his full body of work.
...and he wrote a book!
TEST PILOTS
P-38 test pilots truly needed nerves of steel because they were taking up these unique planes for the first time...and things didn't always go as well as hoped. Here are a few of them:
Tony LeVier
Ben Kelsey
Milo Burcham
ACES
There were quite a few pilots who reached "Ace" status in the P‑38, including the two highest scoring American Aces of World War II, Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire.
Here's an alphabetical listing of the Aces.
NOTE: This section of the website has a former design. Updates are in progress.
P-38 Personnel
The P-38 had lots of help in making it the best all-around combat airplane of WWII.
There were the designers at Lockheed who created the unique and powerful concept, the test pilots (who made sure everything was working like it should), the assembly workers at Lockheed, the pilots, and among the most important, the crew chief and other members of the crew who kept these birds in the air so the pilots could do their job.
Once you've visited all the pages about the P-38 and its human contributors to the mission, stop by and find out about our P-38 Museum adjacent to the air field where it all started - the March ARB in Riverside, CA.
This great picture was sent to us by Edgar Wolf, Jr. What we know is that this photo was taken from original negatives by photo specialists and only recently discovered.
It is thought that it was from the 59th Fighter Squadron stationed at a field about five miles from Chabua, Assam, India. If anyone recognizes this troop, let us know his name!
P-38 WASPs
If you don't know about the role of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) in P-38 History, you must visit this section of our website. You'll be amazed...
Plant Assembly Workers
None of this could have happened, of course, without the personnel working long, hard hours at the Lockheed Burbank assembly plant.
Click to enlarge
Check out these amazing pictures of the line workers doing their honorable work.
Here is a clever poem written by them and dedicated to the enemy.
Crew
A P-38 pilot in our organization once said "My crew kept me alive." That about says it all.
Alhough the pilots are often given the recognition and the glory, they wouldn't be in the air without the crew keeping their Lightnings in tip-top shape for their missions.
A nice poem called "We Also Loved the Lady" dedicated to all the crews and written by a crew chief.
And other one called "To the P‑38 Ground Crews."
