Not really seeing the similarity between the P-38 and C-122 Connie tail section
Vertical Stabilizer profile used was the near identical as on P-38.
It was low drag and effective compared to late B24 / PB4Y / B32 Dominator large version.
Helped with the streamlining and cross wind landing.
Also know from talking to aircraft restoration guys and pilots at Titusville, FL.
The Rudder authority worked well on the P-38 which had very good climb and energy retention.
Working throttles a good pilot could perform a quick Hammerhead Reversal.
There was an article in one of the Warbird's Magazines a while back.
Found this description on the P38 from the Jeff Ethell article at Flight Journal
Without much thought, I was entering his preferred combat maneuver; power up, I pictured a 109 on my tail and began an increasingly steep right-hand climbing turn.
In turning and twisting with 109s and 190s, Dad never got a bullet hole in Tangerine, his P-38F.
As the speed dropped below 150mph, I flipped the flap handle to the maneuver stop (which can be used up to 250mph) and steepened the turn.
At this point, the 109 pilot, at full power with the right rudder all the way down, would have snap-rolled into a vicious stall if he had chosen to follow.
I pulled the power back on the inside (right) engine, pushed the power up on the outside (left) engine, shoved right rudder pedal, and the Lightning smoothly swapped ends.
Not only did it turn on a dime, but it actually rotated around its vertical axis as if spinning on a pole running through the top of the canopy and out the bottom of the cockpit.
The maneuver was absolutely comfortable with no heavy G-loading.
As the nose came through 180 degrees, I threw the flap lever back to full up, evened the throttles and headed downhill going through 300mph in less time than it takes to tell it.
The 109 would have been a sitting duck.