Movies
These are all the movies we could find in which a P‑38 plays some part in the plot. Some of them feature the Lightning prominently (like Iron Eagle III and A Guy Names Joe), and some include it briefly. But, it’s fun to see our favorite plane show up on film, either way!
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Aces:
Iron Eagle III
Colonel (later Brigadier General) Charles “Chappy” Sinclair (Louis Gossett, Jr.), is a pilot who flies a restored P‑38 in air shows.
When he discovers a drug smuggling scheme operating between a Peruvian cartel and a US Air Force base he decides to recruit three senior citizen Aces to shut down the cartel.
SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the film the P‑38 is given to “Chappy” by its owner.
The plane featured so prominently in this film is the Planes of Fame P‑38 “23 Skidoo.”
Also available in Blu-Ray</u? and VHS.
A Guy Named Joe
Original 1943 version. None of the film’s characters are actually named Joe. The title refers to the fact that at the time of the film’s release, Army personnel were referred to informally as “Joe” (like G.I.Joe)
The main character is actually Major Pete Sandidge (played by Spencer Tracy). The movie tells the story of a B‑25 pilot who is killed in action, but is sent back to Earth so he can pass on his experience and knowledge to a P‑38 pilot in the South Pacific.
There’s also a nice little love triangle thrown in about his beautiful girlfriend (played by Irene Dunne), herself a qualified pilot who ferries aircraft to different bases, and the new guy that Pete is supposed to be training.
Also available to rent or buy from Amazon Prime Video.
Von Ryan’s Express
The action in this film mostly takes place on a train; however, there is some P‑38 action at the beginning. Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra), a P‑38 pilot, is shot down over Italy and taken to a POW camp.
While at the camp Ryan plots a daring escape and leads his fellow prisoners on a dangerous run from the Germans in Italy. Having seemingly made errors of judgment, Ryan has to win the support of the mainly British soldiers he is commanding.
Also available on Blu-Ray, Prime Video and VHS
Saint-Exupéry
La Dernière Mission
(The Last Mission)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is best known by civilians as the author of the popular children’s book “The Little Prince” but he was also known to all in France as an aviator. He became a P‑38 pilot during World War II, fighting and dying over the Mediterranean.
Saint-Exupéry’s last assigned reconnaissance mission was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around the Rhone Valley preceding the Allied invasion of southern France (“Operation Dragoon”).
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Although he had been reinstated to his old squadron with the provision that he was to fly only five missions, on July 31, 1944, he took off in an unarmed P‑38 on his ninth reconnaissance mission from an airbase on Corsica. To the great alarm of the squadron compatriots who revered him, he did not return, dramatically vanishing without a trace
In May 2000 a diver found the partial remains of a Lockheed P‑38 Lightning spread over thousands of square metres of the seabed off the coast of Marseille. On April 7, 2004, it was confirmed that the remnants of the crash wreckage were, indeed, from Saint-Exupéry’s Lockheed P‑38.
