Recent content by scottmsw

The Lightning was the number one fighter in the MTO. The P-38 first flew combat in the MTO in December of 1942. It flew more escort missions with the 15th Air Force then the Mustang. The 15th Air Force was responsible for destroying the Luftwaffe in their area of operations. I have read a book...

In Jeff Ethall's book the P-38 Lightning, Jeff states that the P-38 was available for service 75% of the time versus 72% of the time for the P-51 in the MTO. The three P-38 groups in the MTO used the Lightning the entire time that the groups were in the MTO. The 82nd Fighter Group had a score of...

The USAAF did not use the P-38 K because they were concerned that Allison could not deliver the engines and so the USAAF went with the P-38 L instead. This is from a book on the Lightning by Jeff Ethell.

The P-38 was better then the P-51 because of its superior performance in both the PTO and MTO. The P-38 shot down more enemy aircraft then the P-51 in these theatres of war. The P-38 shot down more then 1400 in the MTO and over 1800 in the PTO. The P-38 was rated as the third highest scoring US...