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Admiral Beez
Major
Did the British get any?
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Did the British get any?Without a doubt the "worst" would be the Lockheed P-322. It was known as the "Castrated P-38." After Pearl Harbor, most of these airplanes were retained in the USA
Did the British get any?
Then we might have the winner.At least one.
(Actually 3, from the link Greyman posted.)
The Electra and Electra Junior were too small to do anything but training and liaison duties.Weren't the Lockheed 10's and 12's actually useful?
Baltimores/Havocs
The RAF also had a current twin-engined fighter, and may have decided that installing Merlins into the P-38s they had would not be worth the engineering involved. I believe a Merlin-engined P-38 variant was considered (the largely mythical P-38K?) by Lockheed but not proceeded with.
Without a doubt the "worst" would be the Lockheed P-322. It was known as the "Castrated P-38." The turbos were removed and the engines were the right-handed Allison V-1710-C15, a good engine but the "P-38" really needed counter-rotating propellers, i.e., one left turning and the other right turning. These airplanes were acquired when the French were overrun by the Nazis. The French wanted the engines to be exactly the same as the engines in their P-40 Tomahawks, hence no turbos, and both right turning.
After Pearl Harbor, most of these airplanes were retained in the USA and used for pilot training, with many being refit with L/R turning V-1710-F2 engines, but still without turbos.
The French and British jointly contracted for 667 P-322s. With the fall of France the entire order was taken over by the British and the order amended so that the final 524 would be powered by Allison V-1710-F5 handed engines. The first two aircraft were shipped to England in January and March 1942, and a third, was converted by Lockheed to V-1710-F2R/L engines and shipped to England in March 1942 as well. These were the only P-322s to reach England.Did the British get any?
And if you look at this time line compared to US orders, the RAF order kept the production line open.The French and British jointly contracted for 667 P-322s. With the fall of France the entire order was taken over by the British and the order amended so that the final 524 would be powered by Allison V-1710-F5 handed engines. The first two aircraft were shipped to England in January and March 1942, and a third, was converted by Lockheed to V-1710-F2R/L engines and shipped to England in March 1942 as well. These were the only P-322s to reach England.
In June 1941 the US Joint Aircraft Committee decided only 143 V-1710-C15 powered P-322s would be built, and the balance of the contract powered by the V-1710-FR/Ls. A total of 23 P-322s without handed engines were actually delivered. With the exception of the three aircraft shipped to England, the balance were taken over as advanced trainers for the USAAC with the batch 524 finished a P-38F-13/15 and P-38G-13/15 models. See "Vee's for Victory" for additional information.
What's interesting, is how many US types the British ended up with, that were destined for France.
France had a substantial aircraft manufacturing base and if they had focused more on their native designs and not imported US types pre-war, Britain may not have had many of these on hand.
Used correctly, I'd say the quantity of types of combat aircraft the French has could have held on against France. What the French needed was well led and equipped ground forces. Proper tanks, like the Pzkw III with its three man turret and radio. And France desperately needed a tactical genius like Napoleon. France has the aircraft it needs, but not the leadership.One of the major reasons France ordered so many US aircraft was because the French government in 1936 decided to nationalise and reorganise on regional lines the aviation industry. This disrupted the design and development of many aircraft.
Take the example of the Dewoitine 520, the design work on it started in 1936 but the disruption of Dewoitine being merged into SNCAM meant hardly any proper work was done until 1938 and production didnt start until 1940. The factories that built propellers, gunsights, undercarriage and oxygen systems also suffered from the nationalisation and regionalisation leading to shortages of all the above into 1940. Imagine the French Air Force with a thousand D520s in May 1940 the LW might not have had enough aircraft and pilots left to take on the RAF in the Battle of Britain.
The decision to put Merlins in the P-38 would not have been made entirely by the British and was a lot more difficult than it seems. The P-38K wasn't mythical as one was actually produced and flown unlike the Merlin P-38. (P-38K-1-LO built. This prototype (42-13558) combined a P-38G-10-LO airframe with more powerful 1425 hp V-1710-75/77 (V-1710F-15) engines; Joe B.)