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Yeah, some of what I read talked about that complexity, to the point that if a P-38 got jumped, the pilot had to do so many different things to prepare to fight that he could get shot down while he was still flipping switches.There was not a dedicated training path for high performance twin engine aircraft, let alone the P-38. This combined to the complexity of the aircraft, let alone the compressibility issue let to many accidents, especially with green pilots. I do know that some of the better P-38 pilots who survived getting checked out in the aircraft managed to get several hundred hours in aircraft like the B-25 or A-20.
IMO, that was an exaggeration. Sure it was a complex aircraft, it had 2 engines! Two of everything! And you train for this. Compare the P-38's cockpit to the Beaufighter, Mosquito, Bf110 and Ki-45. Lot's of switches and gauges but you'll find a lot of this stuff was located in the same or similar placesYeah, some of what I read talked about that complexity, to the point that if a P-38 got jumped, the pilot had to do so many different things to prepare to fight that he could get shot down while he was still flipping switches.
Mach issues were an issue everywhere. Ken Sparks, one of the early top P-38 drivers in the SWP with 11 victory credits was killed in a P-38 as it went into a terminal dive over Muroc AFB (Edwards) 1944.My understanding is that the engines had trouble with the high cold air in ETO, whereas in SWPac, with fights lower in the atmosphere, the issue wasn't nearly so problematic. Mach issues were reduced as a result.
The plane itself, as noted above, was a burner and not a turner (at least until the flaps were added to later models). BnZ worked well against Japanese planes and doctrine, not so much against LW planes and doctrine. Hard to dive out of trouble against LW bounces.
It's one of my favorite WWII airplanes precisely because it was so outré. It's both beautiful and ridiculous in appearance, but was formidably fast, formidably armed, and just plain weird.
Mach issues were an issue everywhere. Ken Sparks, one of the early top P-38 drivers in the SWP with 11 victory credits was killed in a P-38 as it went into a terminal dive over Muroc AFB (Edwards) 1944.
The plane itself, as noted above, was a burner and not a turner (at least until the flaps were added to later models).
Well, if we take out the nose armor.............So, how does it compare to the P-39?
Here is an interesting passage from John A. Tilley, who flew the P-38 in the 457th Fighter Group in the Pacific theater. It starts with him remarking on how in training the instructors warned him not to engage in a turning fight with a Japanese fighter, and then telling of an encounter in which one moment he was behind a Zero and the next it was coming at him head-on. Then he says:
"Alright, so how come I got my second kill by turning a full 360-degree circle to the left, at low speeds and on the deck with an Oscar? Primarily I think it happened because the Jap and I both believed he could out turn me. I never would have tried to stay with him if there hadn't been 12 of us and only two of them. I figured I could always holler for help if I got in a jam. And I'm sure the Jap figured his usual tight turn was his best bet when he didn't have enough air under him for a split-S. Miracle of miracles, the big old P-38 actually turned inside the nimble little Oscar. I was on the deck, in a vertical bank, the airspeed under 90 mph, and the yoke was bucking and shuddering in my hands. That turn was nothing more nor less than a controlled stall. But without torque (good old counter-rotating engines) I didn't worry about 'snapping' out of control into a spin, as with a single engine aircraft, so I was able to pull enough lead for my guns to hit him hard."
The above appears on page 47 of The Great Book of World War II Airplanes (multiple authors).
Here is an interesting passage from John A. Tilley, who flew the P-38 in the 457th Fighter Group in the Pacific theater. It starts with him remarking on how in training the instructors warned him not to engage in a turning fight with a Japanese fighter, and then telling of an encounter in which one moment he was behind a Zero and the next it was coming at him head-on. Then he says:
"Alright, so how come I got my second kill by turning a full 360-degree circle to the left, at low speeds and on the deck with an Oscar? Primarily I think it happened because the Jap and I both believed he could out turn me. I never would have tried to stay with him if there hadn't been 12 of us and only two of them. I figured I could always holler for help if I got in a jam. And I'm sure the Jap figured his usual tight turn was his best bet when he didn't have enough air under him for a split-S. Miracle of miracles, the big old P-38 actually turned inside the nimble little Oscar. I was on the deck, in a vertical bank, the airspeed under 90 mph, and the yoke was bucking and shuddering in my hands. That turn was nothing more nor less than a controlled stall. But without torque (good old counter-rotating engines) I didn't worry about 'snapping' out of control into a spin, as with a single engine aircraft, so I was able to pull enough lead for my guns to hit him hard."
The above appears on page 47 of The Great Book of World War II Airplanes (multiple authors).
So, how does it compare to the P-39?
I see where you're going!
Actually many top P-38 PTO aces had time in P-39s and some did quite well in them. Tom Lynch, Tom McGuire, Jack Jones, Donald McGee to name a few. Actually the P-39 did hold it's own to a point (as I said many times before) but it was limited in range and altitude performance. When the P-38 arrived in numbers the whole face of the battle changed, several memorable air battles took place at the end of December 1942 when Bong, Lynch, and Sparks scored multiple kills as the P-38 flew it's first combat missions. At that point the writing was on the wall.
!2 on 2 certainly makes the tactic less chancy. Throw a little high yo-yo in while the enemy's got his head swiveling, yeah, you've got the power for it.