At the beginning of the Second World War, both Britain and France found themselves with a shortage of modern combat aircraft and although competent designs were in service, (and also in the design stage), there was a decided shortage of combat-ready machines. Both countries therefore looked to the aircraft industry in the USA to provide modern designs with which to fill the gap.
A joint British-French Purchasing Commission was set up in Washington to examine various possibilities and a number of aircraft, both in current production and in prototype form, were examined. Amongst these was the XP-38. Although there were no prototypes flying when the Commission was set up, the French placed an order early in 1940 for 667 aircraft, which were given the classification Lockheed model 322-F.
Shortly before the fall of France in June 1940, the British took over the French order and the aircraft were reclassified as model 322-Bs. Although the order was to have been for all the aircraft to be Lightning Mk Is, this was reduced so that only 143 were to be of this Mark, the remainder were to be designated Mk II and have later series engines, counter rotating propellers and turbochargers.
There is considerable controversy as to why the original order did not have turbochargers, including a materials shortage and possible US Government reluctance to allow export of a new technology, but it seems that the French simply ordered the aircraft without these features purely on the grounds of ease of maintenance and expedience. For whatever reason, the lack of these features in the early aircraft gave rise to a very marked reduction in performance, especially above 15,000 feet, and led to the machines acquiring the sobriquet 'Castrated Lightnings' by Lockheed employees.
The serials AE978 to AF220 were allocated to Mk. I production, and subsequent aircraft were to have been from the block AF221 to AF744. In the event, only two machines, AF105 and AF106, (plus possibly a third), were shipped to the UK, being assembled and test flown at Boscombe Down,
The results were so disappointing that the remainder of the order was cancelled, Production was already well under way, so the USAAF took over the balance of the Lightning Mk I airframes.
Twenty-two of these were unmodified, and used for trials and training, whilst the balance were modified with the fitting of Allison F series engines and counter rotating propellers, although they did not have turbocharging. These were used for training within the continental United States and looked outwardly similar to the P-38F, whilst retaining the Carburettor intakes on the top of the nacelles, and of course no turbochargers, The USAAF aircraft retained their British paint schemes and were designated P-322-1I. (These aircraft should not be confused with the British order for Mk II machines. In the event only one of these was built, the rest being changed whilst still on the production line to P-38F and G models and delivered directly to the USAAF.) These aircraft were painted in the then current RAF Temperate Land Scheme of Dark Earth and Dark Green upper surfaces with Sky undersides. However the shades differed slightly from those found in the UK as they were applied using paint made by US paint manufacturer DuPont. According to Dana Bell'
Dark Earth 71-009 (FS 30279)
Dark Green 71-013 (FS 34092)
Sky 71-021 (FS 34424)
You can use Humbrol 118 Matt US Tan for the Dark Earth; Humbrol 149 Matt for the Dark Green; and Humbrol 23 Matt Duck Egg Blue for the Sky Blue shade of Sky used by DuPont ..
Xtracolor have X101 Earth FS10118 and X112 Olive Drab which are supposed to be the DUuPont versions of Dark Earth and Dark Green.
Contemporary photographs seem to indicate that the British machines carried only a minimum of stencilling - unlike their later natural metal brethren. The propeller blades had data plates near their roots, but there appears to be no sign of filler caps being marked, or the prominent 'No Step' markings found later on the canopy framing.
I cannot see any gas patches, nor would I expect to in 1942. I have not seen any on any models or profiles either. They are found early in the war on aircraft, vehicles, and buildings (inside and outside). They were a yellow colour and square or diamond shaped on aircraft (depending upon the orientation) and usually painted on the upper surface of the port wing. Sometimes the top of the fuselage. e.g., Tiger Moths. At that tine there was a lot of concern that the Germans would use gas. Everyone had to carry a gasmask. Later in the war a different type of gas patch can be seen, mostly on 1 Group Lancasters. These were circular and a different colour. I have not been able to discover their purpose. The best suggestion is that 1 Group had been trained for carrying out gas attacks and the patches were to warn ground crew that the aircraft was contaminated.
The Heritage conversion is for the Hasegawa P-38/G/H kit.
P-322, AF116 still in RAF camouflage but operated a by a USAAF training unit in the USA.