Lockheed P-38 Lightning
The P-38 was a radical design, with its twin-boom configuration and turbosupercharged V-12s. The engines were actually counter-rotating so that the torques would cancel out, which made the plane very stable but also expensive, since the engines were not interchangeable. A long teething process meant that at the start of WW II the AAF's fighter units were equipped with the less advanced P-39 and P-40, and it took a year or more to replace them with P-38s. Although it had trouble in the cold air over northern Europe, the Lightning performed excellently in the Mediterranean and South Pacific theaters.
Photo taken at the National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles Airport.
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
The P-38 was a radical design, with its twin-boom configuration and turbosupercharged V-12s. The engines were actually counter-rotating so that the torques would cancel out, which made the plane very stable but also expensive, since the engines were not interchangeable. A long teething process meant that at the start of WW II the AAF's fighter units were equipped with the less advanced P-39 and P-40, and it took a year or more to replace them with P-38s. Although it had trouble in the cold air over northern Europe, the Lightning performed excellently in the Mediterranean and South Pacific theaters.
Photo taken at the National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles Airport.