A Brief History
On January 27, 1939, one of the great American fighter planes of World War II, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, made its first flight. Appropriately named, the Lightning was the fastest fighter in the world at that time, being the first to exceed 400 mph in level flight.
Digging Deeper
The Lightning was designed by the master aircraft architect Clarence Kelly Johnson who also designed the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
Conceived as a high-speed, high-altitude (44,000 feet!) interceptor, at its introduction, the twin-engine Lightning also had a greater range (1,300 combat miles) than any contemporary fighters. The long-range fighter could also be equipped with drop tanks.
The central nacelle (fuselage) containing the pilot and weapons was accompanied by twin booms that carried a turbo-supercharged engine on each side and connected by a common tail. The armament consisting of 4 x .50-caliber machine guns and 1 x 20mm cannon was clustered in the nose and gave the Lighting highly focused firepower instead of the spread of bullets fired from the usual wing-mounted guns of other Allied fighters.
For a fighter, the Lightning was capable of carrying a heavy load of bombs. These might include 2 x 2,000 lb bombs or a pair of smaller bombs. It was also commonly used as a rocket platform since it could launch rockets from its 4 x triple rocket launchers or its 10 x single rocket launchers.
Despite all of its capabilities, however, the Lightning did not have the maneuverability (roll rate) of the single-engine fighters used in Europe, which made it unsuitable for dog fighting.
The Lighting did achieve great success in the Pacific where Charles Lindbergh was used as a consultant to teach Lightning pilots how to get the most range and performance from their planes. It also served in the Pacific as well as Europe as a superb surface attack aircraft and even as a guide plane for bombers.
Over 10,000 of these fine fighters were produced through 1945 at a cost of just under $100,000 each (or about $1.3 million in today’s dollars). The beautiful design of this fine fighter was the inspiration for the late 1940’s and early 1950’s Cadillac and Studebaker cars.
The 2 top-scoring U.S. fighter aces of World War II (and all time so far) flew the Lightning and certainly thought highly of it. In fact, over 100 pilots became aces flying it, shooting down over 1,800 Japanese planes.
The last operational Lightnings were retired from service with the Honduran Air Force in 1965.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning certainly ranks among the greatest fighters of all time. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bodie, Warren M. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Motorbooks Intl, 1991.
Blake, Steve and Dayle L. DeBry. P-38 LIGHTNING Unforgettable Missions of Skill and Luck. P-38 National Association, 2011.
The featured image in this article, one of 13 YP-38s constructed, has been released into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
You can also watch a video version of this article on YouTube:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="8772 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=8772">28 Comments
The Lockheed p38 certainly was a great militaristic advancement. However being unable to participate in dog fights would greatly hinder it’s usefulness at the time.
– Ron Brown
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a great aircraft advancement for America. The fact that it was the fastest fighter in the world at that time demonstrates how important this innovation was.
The Lightning sounds like an impressive plane. It had guns that were not mounted on the side and had to be shot by pilots flying the plane which must have been much easier. It was used for around 20 years which just demonstrates how good it was.
The Lightning was a phenomenal plane that had tons of firepower to take out any Japense plane or land object. The plane covering termendous ground with it being the fastest plane at the time made the Lightning one dangerous plane to me wrecking with. Also, interesting that the design of the Lightning had a major impact on the Cadillac.
I think that its cool to see how the design of the planes has evolved as well through the pictures. Compared to the planes that were emerging during the first World War, this is pretty cool how it has a double engine and how it can go at such a fast speed of 400 mph.
Looking at the pictures of such a great innovation in the military history was really interesting. I can only imagine how afraid people must have been by the Lightning in the war given all its power and since it was also the fastest plane at the time.
Looking at the Lightning and seeing the technological advances made between WWI and WWII is humbling. No wonder over 100 pilots became aces in this machine.
The P-38’s fast speed as a fighter plane and ability to carry bombs gave it a huge advantage over other fighters. It was a multi-purpose plane that could do things such as be a guide plane for bombers. The fact that it could do so many things while traveling at a speed of up to 400 mph put it so far ahead of the competition.
I don’t know much about fighter planes but it seems that a lot of technological progress was made between the two world wars in this facet.
For the Lightning to be in service for over 26 years shows how advanced of a fighter plane it was. Although it was not able to participate in dog fights it still allowed over 100 pilots o become aces.
Th jump in technology between the two World Wars was incredible. The fact that this plane was the fastest of its time and had the ability to carry bombs gave us a huge advantage during the war. Its very impressive that nearly 100 pilots became aces while flying this plane, goes to show how well this plane performed in battle.
I also do not know much about how advanced countries were in technology and engineering during war periods. It does seem like this was a big improvement for planes during this time.
The Lightning was an impressive plane that was definitely put to good use by the Americans. The Lightning was better suited for battles in the Pacific against the Japanese. The name Lightning even sounds intimidating. No one would want to be on the wrong side of an airplane called the Lightning.
Lockheed has a long history of producing high quality military aircrafts, and they are still working hard to accomplish that today. The Lightning is another shining example of this. Fast and powerful, it is no surprise it accomplished so much in its years of service.
It is scary that a plane that can travel up to 400 mph is still able to carry two large bombs. That fighter aircraft had to be a powerful force during WWII.
Props to the U.S. and Lockheed for the accomplishments that this plane achieved. 400 mph was a big accomplishment during WW II and still carry weaponry with it. Plying high and fast gave the U.S. a big advantage.
Aptly named, the Lightning was the fastest plane of its time being the first plane to travel over 400 mph steadily. The Lightning, although not good for dogfighting, was used to drop bombs and to launch rockets. These planes had great success in their lifetime. They were retired in 1965.
The Lightning was put to good use by the Americans and was the fastest fighter in the world at that time. It is crazy that this plane could go more than 400 mph and still carry such heavy bombs. This plane shot down over 1,800 Japanese planes during its life.
It seems like this place earned its place on the list of top fighter planes. Many ace pilots used it with great success during WWII, and the Honduran military kept some Lightning in use until 1965, 20 years after the war was over!
Flying at 400 mph during this time must have been equally astounding as it was impressive during this time of need for air superiority. Innovation truly comes during a time of need.
I am a little surprised that they were able to build an aircraft at that time that was able to go 400 mph and carry two large bombs.
Flying at 400 mph must have been a huge accomplishment during this time. Especially with two huge bombs inside of it. The history of war planes really interests me and I would love to see this plane in person. It is amazing how many different planes have been made.
We can see just how much more advanced aerial warfare became from WWI to WWII. The Lightning is a good example of this; a powerful and effective warplane.
I would definitely have to say the Lightening ranks among the best fighters of all time. Being able to fly at a speed of 400 mph and carry two bombs is impressive. Not to mention it’s inspiration for new developments.
Impressive on how Lightening was able to do what it did. Once again just shows the improvements in aerial warfare that was made
Very cool how an airplane/fight plane had influence on cars. Lightning seems to be one of the greatest fight planes (and expensive planes) of its time.
Interesting that the airplane industry had a positive affect on car industry. I wouldn’t expect that.
I definitely think the P-38 is one of the greatest fighters, manly for it’s contribution to aviation. It would obviously get blown away by modern fighters.