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But the most effective one ever to actually serve was the P-38. For a whole host of other reasons!
Ya' know, I can't think of many posts from outright fans of the Lightning. Spitfire v. Mustang v. Wurger v. Bf 109 v. Typhoon..... yeah. Does the P-38 have fans, other than aficionados of its Art Deco look?...Probably stepped on some P-38 toes right there but the fact still remains that later in WW2, much of the maneuverability research came to center on roll performance and there it was simply out of its depth.
Grabs hat, starts running!
Ya' know, I can't think of many posts from outright fans of the Lightning. Spitfire v. Mustang v. Wurger v. Bf 109 v. Typhoon..... yeah. Does the P-38 have fans, other than aficionados of its Art Deco look?
I'm a bomber guy, myself.
Would it be churlish to point out that it has two engines? It therefore needs twice as many engines to make the same number of planes, you also need twice of a lot of other stuff like fuel, cooling systems gauges etc etc etc and the pilot needs more training to fly a twin in combat. However good the P-38 was and it was great in some roles, no one would ever think 10 x P-38s versus 20 x a contemporary single engined fighter was a great ida.
Depends.However good the P-38 was and it was great in some roles, no one would ever think 10 x P-38s versus 20 x a contemporary single engined fighter was a great ida.
The P-3.8 absolutely showed it could tangle with single-seaters and win.In the interceptor role then maybe yes, but when someone says fighter, then that would imply tangling with single-engined fighters as well and there the P-38 would be completely out of its depth IMHO: Because even if the later models got boosted ailerons, what counts is not the top roll rate (which the boost certainly helped with) but how fast you can go to say 60 deg bank in one direction, and then rapidly roll over to reverse into a 60 deg turn in the other direction. And this goes for both offense and defense. But the moment of inertia two engines placed out on the wings gives you kills all that. Ergo the P-38 may have been a decent interceptor, but a fighter it is not.
Probably stepped on some P-38 toes right there but the fact still remains that later in WW2, much of the maneuverability research came to center on roll performance and there it was simply out of its depth.
Grabs hat, starts running!
To put this in context/timeline.After these four things were fixed, the P-38 was fine but, by that time, the P-51 was in Europe and there was no point supplying two logistics chains, so the bulk of the P-38s went to the MTO, and Pacific areas
A P38 and Spit 14 had a low level fight in front of a crowd of spectators, the fight was called off when the P38 was forced into the ground almost crashing when the pilot lost control, the Spit just flew around it in circles. The report is on here somewhere.("one" = fighter)
Care to elaborate?
The pilot was cutting the throttle of the inner engine to sharpen his turn, it almost went into a flat spin so the fight was called off.I'm not suggesting an early P-38 could take a Spitfire, but almost flying it into the ground say a large amount about the pilot's familiarity with the P-38 ... not very!
Everything was against it so not a fair comparison.Spitfire didn't do very well in Australia over Darwin, either versus Zeros. That didn't mean Spitfires were bad fighters. It meant the Spitfire pilots were unfamiliar with their Japanese opponents, their mounts, and their tactics.
Ya' know, I can't think of many posts from outright fans of the Lightning. Spitfire v. Mustang v. Wurger v. Bf 109 v. Typhoon..... yeah. Does the P-38 have fans, other than aficionados of its Art Deco look?
The last Spitfire Vc were delivered from Castle Bromwich in Aug 1943.Depends.
Feb 1944 10 x P-38Js vs 20 P-51Bs is a very bad idea.
However, in late summer and early fall of 1942 10 x P-38Gs might very well be a better deal than 20 x P-40Ks or 20 x P-39 K/L. Or Spitfires without two stage Merlins. When did Spitfire V production stop?
The P-3.8 absolutely showed it could tangle with single-seaters and win.