Subject: Number Thirty-Eight in the Series--Lockheed P-38 Lightning

From: [email-masked] (Joseph F Baugher)
Date: 30 Nov 92 17:25:20 GMT

>From Joseph F Baugher <[email-masked]>

The P-38L was the final production version of the Lightning and was 
numerically the most important of all the Lightning versions.  
Lockheed built 3810 P-38Ls and Consolidated-Vultee at Nashville built 
113 more.  The P-38L was powered by 1475 hp Allison V-1710-111/113 
engines with a war emergency rating of 1600 hp at 28,700 feet and a 
military rating of 1475 hp at 30,000 feet.  Except for the more 
powerful engines, the P-38L was generally quite similar to the 
previous P-38J.  

The P-38L was produced in two blocks.  The 1290 P-38L-1-LOs were 
similar to the P-38J-25-LOs except for the new engines.  Some were 
modified by the USAAF as TP-38L-1-LO two-seat familiarization 
trainers.  The 2520 P-38L-5-LOs had submerged fuel pumps and, after 
the unsatisfactory testing fourteen five-inch HVAR on zero-length 
launchers beneath the wing outer panel, underwing rocket "trees" for 
ten five-inch rockets were mounted.  The racks underneath the wing 
center sections were strengthened to enable either 2000-lb bombs or 
300-US gallon drop tanks to be carried.  

Like the P-38J, the P-38L could be fitted with either a glazed 
bombardier station or bombing radar in the nose.  

P-38L-1-LO Ser No 44-23601 was fitted with three 0.60-inch machine 
guns in a postwar experiment.  However, tests at Elgin AFB in 1946 
were not successful.  The guns themselves betrayed structural 
deficiencies, and the shell links failed whenever the aircraft 
underwent either positive or negative acceleration.  

P-38L-1-LO Serial No 44-24649 was modified as a specialized ground 
strafing version with eight 0.50-inch guns in the nose and two 
underwing pods each carrying two more 0.50-in machine guns 

P-38L-5-LO Ser No 44-25605 was rebuilt by Hindustan Aircraft in India 
as a special VIP aircraft for a General Stratemeyer.  The plane had a 
transparent nose, which made it look a lot like the "Droop Snoot" 
pathfinder Lightnings used in the European theatre.  The General sat 
in a special seat inside the nose, and the inside walls of his 
"office" were lined with leather.  There were even provisions for a 
built-in Thermos jug (I won't even ask what was IN the jug :-)).  Sort 
of reminds me of General Dreedle in the movie *Catch 22*.  Nowadays, 
if *Sixty Minutes* were to get wind of such an extravagance on the 
part of the military, heads would roll.  

Performance of the P-38L: 

14,100 lbs empty, 17,500 lbs combat loaded.  Maximum speed was 360 mph 
at 5000 feet, 390 mph at 15,000 feet, 414 mph at 25,000 feet.  An 
altitude of 20,000 feet could be reached in 7 minutes.  Service 
ceiling was 40,000 feet.  Maximum range at sea level was 900 miles.  
At 30,000 feet, maximum range was 2260 miles (with drop tanks).  
Dimensions were wingspan 52 feet 0 inches, length 37 feet 10 inches, 
height 12 feet 10 inches, and wing area 328 square feet Armed with one 
20-mm Hispano AN-M2C cannon with 150 rounds and four 0.50-inch 
Browning machine guns with 500 rounds per gun.  

There were two photographic reconnaissance versions of the P-38L, 
designated F-5F and F-5G.  All F-5F and F-5G photo-reconnaissance 
planes were modified from existing P-38L airframes at Lockheed's 
modification center in Dallas.  The photographic-reconnaissance 
version of the P-38L-5-LO was designated F-5F-3-LO.  It combined the 
P-38L-5-LO airframe and engines with the revised camera installation 
of the F-5F-LO.  The last photographic-reconnaissance version of the 
Lightning was the F-5G-6-LO.  It was modified in Dallas from 
P-38L-5-LO airframes.  It differed from the F-5F-3-LO in having 
revised nose contours to provide more space for photographic equipment 
and a wider selection of cameras.  No record seems to survive of the 
serial numbers of the P-38Ls that were converted to F-5F and F-5G 
photo-reconnaissance aircraft.  

In June 1944, the USAAF had supplemented Lockheed's production 
capacity with a order from the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft 
Corporation of Nashville, Tennessee for 2000 P-38L-5-VN fighters.  
These planes were similar to the Lockheed-built P-38L-5-LO.  Delays in 
getting the new production line started resulted in only 113 
P-38L-5-VNs being delivered to the USAAF by the end of the war in 
August of 1945.  Shortly after V-J Day, the remaining 1887 aircraft of 
the order were cancelled.  A similar fate befell 1380 P-38L-5-LO 
fighters then on order from Lockheed.  

After the war was over, large numbers of P-38Ls were scrapped or sold 
off as surplus.  The small number of P-38Ls still remaining in USAF 
service in 1948 were redesignated F-38L.  

There is a P-38L currently on display at the Wright-Patterson Air 
Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  However, it is painted as a P-38J-10-LO 
with a serial number of 42-67855.  

The serial numbers of the P-38L were as follows: 

44-23769/25058 	Lockheed P-38L-1-LO Lightning 
44-23059/27258 	Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning 
44-53008/53327 	Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning 
44-53328/54707 	Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning - order cancelled.  
43-50226/50338 	Convair P-38L-5-VN Lightning 
43-50339/52225 	Convair P-38L-5-VN Lightning - contract cancelled.  

Sources:

  Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute Press,
  1987

  The P-38J-M Lockheed Lightning, Profile Publications, Le Roy Weber
  Profile Publications, Ltd, 1965.

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William Green,
  Doubleday, 1964.

  Famous Fighters of the Second World War, William Green, Doubleday, 1967.

  The American Fighter, Enzo Anguluci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987.

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter 
  M. Bowers, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548