The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament.

The twin-engine design of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and its high fuel capacity made it an ideal fighter and recon plane.

The pilot in a new American fighter, the P-38 Lightning, peeled down from the skies over Iceland on August14, 1942. True to its name, the P-38 was akin to a force of nature: fast, unforeseen and immensely powerful. The aircraft’s target, was a German Focke-Wulf …

2025年1月31日 · P-38, fighter and fighter-bomber employed by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. A large and powerful aircraft, it served as a bomber escort, a tactical bomber, and a photo-reconnaissance platform.

It shot down more Japanese airplanes than any other fighter during World War II—seven of the top scoring USAAF aces in the Pacific flew the P-38. It was as versatile as the de Havilland Mosquito, but it was the only truly successful twin-engine fighter of World War II. It was basically a hand-built airplane and was never meant to be mass produced.

The P-38 was originally conceived as an advanced, high-performance twin-engine interceptor. On Feb. 11, 1939, Lt. Ben Kelsey set a coast to coast record of 7 hours, 48 minutes in the sleek prototype Lightning, but crashed while landing.

The restored Glacier Girl in flight. In April 2016, a team en route to the crash site in Greenland and under the guidance of veteran pilot and explorer, Ron Sheardown, was interviewed while at the airport in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, [6] regarding plans to recover a second P-38. The team planned to extract another P-38 from the ice between May and August 2016.

2013年1月14日 · The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was the first military type developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corps. It was designed to meet an Air Corps specification issued in 1936 for a twin-engined interceptor…

Instantly recognizable for its twin-boom design and central nacelle, the P-38 cut one of the war’s most distinctive silhouettes, and was mass-produced with over 10,000 units made.

The P-38 had several variations which made it all the more versatile for use in combat. The Lightning was noted for its powerful firepower in the nose of the plane, but it could also be outfitted with rockets or bombs as part of its armament.