drgondog
Major
I've gotta say lesofprimus, you're a helluva story teller!
A shame indeed, that after all of the combat he saw, and all of the aircraft he shot down, he was to be killed as a test pilot. Christ!
And he did it all in the P-38, a plane initially favored by enemy pilots as easy pickings.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm not knocking the Lightning as I haven't researched it much, but it wasn't the aircraft that was inferior so much as the fact that early on, the American pilots didn't really know how to exploit it's capabilities properly. Is that correct, or am I (yet again ) way off base?
It would just be another testiment to Bong's skill and determination!
I may be wrong but I think he was Squadron CO of the first P-80 operational squadron - not a test pilot
Often wrong - rarely uncertain
The problem with the 38 in europe was the turbo and lack of dive brakes - the engines blew up when the oil froze and the 109 and 190 could do their spit S and dive that they couldn't do against the 47 and 51 because the 38 would accelerate into compressibility quickly - when the L model arrived it was a different ball game. Great fighter.
Regards,
Bill