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00:00It is July 26th of 1943, and over the South Pacific, a flight of twin-engine aircraft
00:08flown by the American Army Air Force storms across the Markham Valley in New Guinea.
00:14Soon, they spot their targets, Japanese fighters recently reported in the area.
00:22These aircraft, KI-43 Oscars and KI-61 Tonys from the 68th Sentai, are some of the best aircraft
00:30in Japanese hands.
00:32But today, they would be in for trouble.
00:36In an aircraft named Marge was a young man by the name of Richard Bong.
00:41In his hands, and many other pilots as well, this new fighter, the P-38 Lightning, courtesy
00:48of the Lockheed Company, was making waves all across the Pacific.
00:53Today would be no different.
00:55On this occasion, Bong would add four more kills to his tally, making for one of the best days
01:02of his career, and bringing his kill tally to 15 for the conflict.
01:07But how did we get here?
01:09Where did this new fighter come from, and had she always seen success like this?
01:15In reality, this popularized portion of her history is only a fraction of the story.
01:22More so than any other aircraft in the war, the tale of the P-38 Lightning is a complicated
01:29one, with highs, lows, and many misconceptions.
01:34In 1938, the United States Army Air Corps sent out a proposal, titled Circular Proposal X-608.
01:43This was a request for a new aircraft design, authored by two young men, who were apparently
01:50well ahead of their time.
01:52This would be Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey and Lieutenant Gordon P. Seville.
01:58These two minds saw a hole in the arsenal of the United States Army Air Corps, and sought
02:04to fill it.
02:04This was a high-altitude fighter, with serious power and a heavy armament, capable of reaching
02:12and destroying high-flying enemy aircraft.
02:15And this set of standards was no small order.
02:19According to Circular Proposal X-608, the Army Air Corps wanted a rare twin-engine fighter plane
02:26that could reach 360 miles per hour, at altitude, and climb to 20,000 feet in just six minutes.
02:35This would have been, on its own, a daunting set of parameters.
02:40But, in addition to that, head engineer Benjamin Kelsey was also searching for at least 1,000
02:47pounds of combat armament.
02:49This was actually one of the biggest problems with his design ambitions, as the United States
02:56Army Air Corps had a relatively arbitrary set of requirements that stated that any pursuit
03:02aircraft, now more commonly known as fighters, had to have no more than 500 pounds of armament.
03:10Thus, Kelsey drew up the specifications using the word interceptor as the aircraft type, rather
03:17than pursuit, in order to bypass this requirement.
03:21Then, to finish off the proposal, Kelsey and Seville also stated that any designs had to utilize
03:29the liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines with superchargers, and that any aircraft with tricycle
03:37landing gear would also be preferred.
03:40This was easily one of the most ambitious and unique design proposals ever set forth by the
03:47U.S. Armed Forces.
03:49But, fortunately, one company would rise to the challenge, Lockheed.
03:54In their attempt to meet these requirements, a few different design options were considered.
04:00But, in the end, a famous design would be selected.
04:04A twin boom with the cockpit in the center nacelle, as well as the armament.
04:09In these early prototype designs, the XP-38 and the YP-38 weaponry was still being decided.
04:18Originally, larger cannons were used, but would later be drawn back to a smaller 20mm Hispano
04:26cannon, supplemented by four Browning M2 machine guns.
04:30This was one of the most powerful armaments outfitted onto a combat aircraft at this point,
04:37and would surely deal a heavy blow to any target that it found.
04:42Interestingly, if you look closely at the later combat models of the P-38,
04:47these guns are actually staggered, protruding from the nose at different distances.
04:53This would be a change done after the D model, as it allowed for the guns to be straight-fed,
05:00eliminating a jamming problem that was encountered on early models.
05:04These allowed such a powerful armament to fire reliably and withstand the rigors of combat.
05:11But, that's not all the design offered.
05:15In addition to a powerful armament, the XP-38 exceeded the requirements for speed by a large margin.
05:23In fact, after the contract was awarded to Lockheed and the first prototype flew for the first time in 1939
05:30at the hands of Lieutenant Benjamin Kelsey himself, it topped at a speed of 420 miles per hour
05:38and set a transcontinental speed record by crossing from coast to coast in just 7 hours and 2 minutes.
05:47However, upon finally reaching the destination airfield,
05:52Kelsey was caught in a slow landing pattern, and the engines began to ice,
05:57causing Kelsey to fall short of the runway, making a belly landing into a creek nearby.
06:03Fortunately, however, the impression had already been made.
06:07The speedy aircraft had already impressed the Army Air Corps,
06:12and an order was made for the P-38 Atalanta,
06:16the original name given to the model,
06:18dubbed after the speedy-running Greek goddess.
06:22These first models of the P-38 were produced in the summer and fall of 1941.
06:28And here we can see an article from the New York Times,
06:33from November, just two weeks before Pearl Harbor.
06:36In the photo, we can see one of the first public displays of the brand new aircraft,
06:42as a few Allied fighters are presented for the public to view.
06:47However, we can still see the secrecy being undertaken in the caption.
06:52Although two British fighters were included in the display group,
06:55attention was directed toward a twin-engine Lockheed P-38 interceptor
06:59that has two fuselages,
07:01because the quality and quantity of its armament is still a secret.
07:08A twin-engine fighter like this was not a totally new innovation to aerial warfare,
07:15but it was one that had yet to see true success,
07:19especially as an interceptor.
07:22This would certainly be one of the reasons
07:24that an aircraft like this would have caught the eyes of the public in a special way.
07:29The Germans had recently implemented the Messerschmitt Bf 110 to the front lines,
07:35but in reality, this design would always struggle as an air superiority fighter,
07:41as it lacked the maneuverability of British hurricanes and spitfires.
07:45And even though it was faster than many of its adversaries, like the P-38,
07:51it lacked acceleration and also was easily spotted by the enemy,
07:56being a larger and easier-to-identify aircraft.
08:00But the Lockheed Company and the United States Army Air Corps
08:04would attempt to prove that a twin-engine fighter
08:07could indeed fight on the front lines in an air superiority role,
08:12but this would be easier said than done.
08:17One of the first to attempt to put this theory to the test
08:20was the Royal Air Force,
08:22who saw the Allison engines as a great way to ensure cohesiveness across aircraft,
08:28as it was the same engine that was used by the P-40,
08:32which they already had a large number of on order.
08:35Upon looking into the P-38, the British ordered hundreds of the new aircraft.
08:41Upon delivery and recognition of its high speed,
08:45the RAF dubbed the new fighter the Lightning,
08:48a name that would stick and replace Lockheed's name of the Atalanta.
08:53However, what would not stick is the P-38 with the Royal Air Force.
08:58Unfortunately, shortly after arrival to England,
09:02the British began to discover some very serious problems with the Lightning.
09:07For starters, the RAF decided that they wanted a specific version of the fighter
09:12with engines that rotated the same direction,
09:15unlike the standard design, which had counter-rotating props.
09:19This was done so that all of their Allison engines would be the same configuration,
09:25but it made the aircraft difficult to control on the ground.
09:29Furthermore, and even more serious of an issue,
09:33was a newly discovered problem with compressibility.
09:36Both British and American test pilots had recently begun to realize
09:41that there were issues when entering compressibility,
09:44which was the intense lockup of controls during a high-speed dive.
09:49When this point of a dive was reached,
09:52the nose of the aircraft had a tendency to dive even further,
09:56increasing the speed and steepness of the already problematic dive.
10:01This would then cause the tail to shake violently,
10:04and pilots had no choice but to bail out
10:08or attempt to gradually pull out at the denser air of low altitude.
10:13Because of this issue, and a few others,
10:16the Royal Air Force canceled their orders for the P-38.
10:21Lockheed went to immediate work trying to fix the main issue,
10:25compressibility, but it wasn't easy.
10:28With a few solutions tried and one test pilot killed,
10:32eventually the issue was solved.
10:35Quick-acting dive flaps were added,
10:38which allowed pilots to better control the aircraft during an intense dive.
10:43And although the issue was not completely fixed,
10:46the high-speed compressibility control was greatly improved,
10:50and pilots could now have a good chance of pulling out of an intense dive.
10:55Despite this, however,
10:57the Royal Air Force declined any further orders for the new fighter.
11:02Fortunately for Lockheed,
11:04with the attack on Pearl Harbor,
11:06the United States Army Air Corps
11:08immediately purchased all of the P-38s
11:11that had been ordered by the British,
11:13and then placed additional orders for more.
11:17Just like that, the Lightning was back on track.
11:21The first place that the P-38 was sent to serve in a combat role
11:25with the United States Army was in Alaska,
11:29operating out of the Aleutian Islands in the summer of 1942.
11:34Here, P-38s of the 343rd Fighter Group
11:38would score the first success of the Lightning on August 9th,
11:42when their pilots would stumble upon
11:45two large Japanese H-6K Mavis flying boats
11:49and shot them down for the P-38s' first kills in history.
11:54At the same time,
11:56additional P-38s had begun to arrive in the United Kingdom once again,
12:01but this time, they would be flying for the U.S. Army Air Force.
12:06Coincidentally, here,
12:08just five days after the first P-38 kill in the Pacific,
12:12her first victory against the Luftwaffe would also come.
12:16And once again,
12:18it would be another large transport plane,
12:21this time in the form of a Fakervolle 200 Condor,
12:25falling over the Atlantic
12:26at the hands of 2nd Lieutenant Elsa Schahan.
12:30This would be the first Luftwaffe aircraft
12:33to be shot down by a U.S. Army aircraft,
12:36but it would not be the last.
12:40Shortly after this,
12:41in late 1942,
12:43P-38s were sent to join the Mediterranean Theater,
12:47serving with the 12th Air Force.
12:50Here, the P-38 saw its first real baptism by fire.
12:54Over North Africa,
12:57lightning pilots met experienced and skilled Germans,
13:00and although some P-38s scored victories and aces were made,
13:05more losses were taken.
13:07The American fighter doctrine at this point was still young,
13:12and pilots were lost due to poor tactics and inexperience.
13:17Eventually,
13:18in this theater,
13:19American P-38s took such high losses
13:22that large groups of aircraft
13:23had to be brought in from England
13:26to bring squadron numbers back to fighting strength.
13:29As 1943 came along,
13:32more of the same took place
13:34as the battle moved towards Italy and Southern Europe.
13:37With American B-24 Liberators
13:41now operating out of North Africa,
13:44fighter escorts were ordered.
13:46But here,
13:47American doctrine at the time still lagged behind
13:50and saw fighters remaining alongside the bombers
13:53during the mission,
13:54leaving them exposed and vulnerable to German interceptors.
13:59Furthermore,
14:01German fighters quickly discovered
14:03the problems that the P-38 had with compressibility.
14:07These German pilots in dogfights
14:10figured out that if they did not want to fight
14:12with a lightning
14:13or found themselves in a disadvantaged position,
14:17they could simply enter a dive
14:19and, almost always,
14:21the P-38s would avoid following.
14:23This left the German 109s and 190s
14:27with more kills than losses
14:28at the hands of the American P-38
14:31in the Mediterranean.
14:33It was clear to the Air Force
14:36that the P-38 was in need of some good publicity.
14:39So in the spring of 1943,
14:41they made sure to find some.
14:43In April,
14:45the 82nd Fighter Group flew a mission
14:47in which they claimed
14:4831 German aircraft destroyed.
14:51A somewhat rare successful day for the P-38.
14:55And, supposedly,
14:56reported by a Life magazine reporter,
14:59an interesting story was captured.
15:01A famous phrase uttered
15:03by one of the downed German pilots
15:05upon being captured.
15:08Fortunately,
15:09I have hunted down
15:10this exact edition of Life magazine
15:13and found the story.
15:14In August of 1943,
15:17an article reads as follows
15:19on page 51.
15:21P-38,
15:22Lockheed's twin-tailed fighter,
15:25lives down its hoodoo
15:26to sweep enemy skies.
15:28Now,
15:29hoodoo here
15:30basically means voodoo,
15:31or cursed bad luck.
15:33This shows how bad
15:35the P-38
15:35is currently struggling
15:37in regards to perception
15:39and name.
15:40Continuing the reading below,
15:42we can see more.
15:43The P-38
15:45had the unhappy reputation
15:47of being the most hoodooed warplane
15:50in aviation history.
15:52Perhaps this successful action
15:54in Iceland marked the beginning
15:56of the end to its jinx.
15:58It would have pleased
15:59the same Mr. Bufton
16:01immeasurably
16:01if he could have been present
16:03at a certain allied camp
16:05close to the Tunisian front
16:07six months later,
16:08not long before
16:09the Tunisia skies
16:11collapsed on Rommel.
16:12Into that camp,
16:14the military police
16:15brought a disheveled
16:17German flyer
16:18who was mumbling hysterically
16:19and repeating
16:20something about
16:23An interpreter was called
16:26and he had the translation quickly
16:28the fork-tailed devil.
16:31The German was talking
16:32about the P-38.
16:34During the six months
16:36between Mr. Bufton's
16:37happy night in Iceland
16:38and the incident
16:39of the hysterical German
16:41in Tunisia,
16:42the P-38
16:43had dispelled its jinx
16:45and proven itself
16:46to be the most versatile
16:47fighting plane in the air.
16:51Quite a statement.
16:53But is it true?
16:54Well, there is some debate.
16:56According to most historians,
16:58it seems that there is
16:59little verification
17:00or evidence
17:01to back this claim
17:03as there's no reference
17:04to any German pilot
17:05ever using this name
17:07before this occasion.
17:09Nor are there any specifics
17:11offered about the identity
17:12of the German pilot
17:14making the statement.
17:15It instead seems almost certain
17:17that this article
17:18was a piece put together
17:20to try and repair
17:21the damaged reputation
17:22of the P-38.
17:24This seems even more likely
17:26when we look at
17:27what many of the other
17:28German pilots
17:29said about the P-38
17:31later on.
17:33Esteemed ace
17:34Adolf Galland
17:35said
17:36it had similar shortcomings
17:37in combat
17:38to our BF-110.
17:40Our fighters
17:41were clearly superior to it.
17:44Likewise,
17:45fellow high-scored
17:46Luftwaffe leader
17:47Hans Barr
17:48said
17:49the P-38s
17:50were not difficult at all.
17:52They were easy
17:53to outmaneuver
17:54and were generally
17:55a sure kill.
17:56However,
17:58not everyone believed
17:59that they were quite
18:00so easy an adversary.
18:02Franz Stigler,
18:03another famous Luftwaffe pilot
18:05detailed his thoughts
18:07on the lightning
18:07in a very different way.
18:10The lightning could turn
18:11inside of us with ease
18:13and they could go
18:14from level flight
18:14to climb
18:15almost instantaneously.
18:17We lost quite a few pilots
18:19who tried to make an attack
18:21then pull up.
18:22One cardinal rule
18:23we never forgot
18:24was to avoid fighting
18:26the P-38 head-on.
18:28That was suicide.
18:29So the only thing
18:31that was truly clear
18:33at this point
18:34was that the verdict
18:35on the P-38 lightning
18:36was still undecided.
18:39Nonetheless,
18:40the U.S. Army Air Force
18:42now needed fighter aircraft
18:44in England
18:45for their newly formed
18:468th Air Force.
18:47And the P-38
18:49was currently
18:50the most readily available
18:51high-altitude fighter aircraft
18:53at their disposal.
18:55So in late 1943
18:57the P-38
18:58began to arrive
19:00for use
19:00in the escort role
19:02in the bombing
19:02of the Reich.
19:04Fortunately
19:04for Lockheed
19:06and the U.S. Army Air Force
19:08the brilliance
19:09of Lieutenant
19:10Benjamin Kelsey
19:11once again
19:12shined through
19:13in making this
19:14a possibility.
19:16When Lockheed
19:17was producing
19:18the first models
19:19of the P-38
19:20in 1941
19:21Kelsey
19:22discreetly
19:23went to the company
19:24and convinced them
19:25to enable the aircraft
19:26to carry drop tanks.
19:28He did not put this
19:30in writing
19:30but instead
19:31kept the request
19:32to himself
19:33as the Army Air Force
19:35had a strict policy
19:36at the time
19:37implemented
19:38by the Bomber Mafia
19:40commanders
19:40that aircraft
19:42would receive
19:43no reward
19:44or preference
19:45for drop tanks
19:46as the advocates
19:47for heavy bombers
19:49did not think
19:50that escorts
19:51would ever be necessary
19:52nor did they want
19:54the fighters
19:54competing
19:55with their bombers
19:56for resources.
19:58Thus
19:58Kelsey
19:59actually risked
20:00his career
20:01in doing so
20:02but because
20:03of his courage
20:04and forward thinking
20:05by the time
20:06the P-38
20:07began to arrive
20:08in England
20:09in substantial numbers
20:10many
20:11were the G model
20:12which had the ability
20:14to now
20:15carry drop tanks
20:16something that was
20:18against the policy
20:19of the U.S. Army Air Force
20:21at the time
20:22of their design
20:23because of this
20:25the P-38s
20:26were now able
20:27to join
20:28the American Bomber Offensive
20:29and participate
20:30in some of the first
20:32escort missions
20:33out of England
20:34by this time
20:36American tactics
20:37and training
20:37had begun
20:38to see some improvement
20:40more prepared pilots
20:42were now
20:42filling cockpits
20:44and many
20:44of the early
20:45teething problems
20:46of the P-38s
20:47had been remedied
20:49in addition
20:50it had become clear
20:52that with the P-38s
20:53weaponry
20:54also being
20:55completely oriented
20:56in the nose
20:57it allowed
20:58sharpshooting pilots
20:59to fire from farther out
21:01than with other aircraft
21:02as they did not
21:04have to calculate
21:05for convergence
21:06also when targets
21:08were hit
21:09they were often
21:10totally destroyed
21:11by the lightning's
21:12powerful armament
21:13this can be clearly seen
21:15from gun camera footage
21:17from fighter groups
21:18operating
21:19with the P-38
21:21in these brief clips
21:23of lightning action
21:24over Europe
21:25we can see
21:26the devastating impact
21:27of the closely
21:28grouped together armament
21:30with serious damage
21:31being taken
21:32any time
21:33the target
21:33is hit
21:34by the closely
21:35grouped tracers
21:36and impact markings
21:37and you might be asking
21:39how do we know
21:40that these are
21:41P-38 groups
21:42actually fighting
21:43and I'm glad
21:45you asked
21:45these clips
21:47appear to have
21:48quite a contrast
21:49when compared
21:50to the P-47
21:51or P-51 clips
21:53from later on
21:54in the war
21:54with their tracers
21:56and impact markings
21:57being more dispersed
21:59and pilots
22:00having to clearly
22:01chip away at targets
22:02and forced to aim
22:03with better calculations
22:05for convergence
22:06going back
22:08to the P-38 footage
22:09I'd also be doing
22:11a disservice
22:11if I didn't show
22:13these P-38 gun camera clips
22:15these show the confidence
22:18and perhaps fearlessness
22:19that these men had
22:21flying directly
22:22through explosions
22:24or even trees themselves
22:26to ensure
22:27their machine guns
22:29and cannon
22:30found their target
22:31there is a good chance
22:33that pilots
22:34flying single engine aircraft
22:36would have not been
22:37quite so bold
22:39however
22:40even with these features
22:42it doesn't mean
22:43that the P-38
22:44was yet seeing success
22:46there were still issues
22:48that the P-38
22:49couldn't seem to escape
22:51for one
22:53with the colder climate
22:54in England
22:55her unique design
22:56and shape
22:57had the cockpit
22:58located far
23:00from the warmth
23:00of her engines
23:01and P-38 pilots
23:03were complaining
23:04that they were too cold
23:06freezing in the cockpit
23:08without the heat
23:09generated from an engine
23:10directly in front of them
23:12in addition
23:13some rumors
23:15had started to develop
23:16that the P-38
23:17was impossible
23:18to bail out of
23:20due to its design
23:21the fear was
23:23that pilots
23:24exiting from the cockpit
23:26would hit
23:26the horizontal stabilizer
23:29although there was
23:30some truth
23:31to the fact
23:32that bailing out
23:32of a P-38
23:33required caution
23:35it was hardly
23:36more dangerous
23:36than a normal fighter
23:38nonetheless
23:39Lockheed felt
23:40the need
23:41to include
23:41a section
23:42in a training video
23:43about how to address
23:45this common myth
23:47some hangar experts
23:48insist that it is
23:49impossible
23:49to bail out
23:50of the P-38
23:50because of the
23:51twin booms
23:52and rudders
23:52and because of
23:53the horizontal stabilizer
23:55span
23:56the truth is
23:57that it is no easier
23:58or harder
23:58to bail out
23:59of the P-38
24:00than out of any
24:01single seater fighter
24:03bailouts can be made
24:04either
24:04one
24:04by turning the plane
24:05on its back
24:06and dropping out
24:11or two
24:12by getting out
24:13the left window
24:14and sliding
24:15down the wing
24:15now don't stand
24:16on the wing
24:17to jump
24:17the span
24:19of the horizontal stabilizer
24:20just doesn't affect
24:21the bailout
24:23at high speeds
24:24the airflow
24:25carries any object
24:26straight back
24:26and under
24:27the empennage
24:28which is actually
24:29higher than the wing
24:30therefore
24:31the only portion
24:32of the empennage
24:33which is critical
24:33is that portion
24:35directly aft
24:35of the bailout area
24:36thus it doesn't matter
24:38whether the empennage
24:39has a 20 foot span
24:40or a 100 foot span
24:41the critical area
24:43is still the same
24:44furthermore
24:45on the 38
24:46there's no vertical stabilizer
24:48which can get in the way
24:50in addition
24:51many of Germany's
24:52best pilots
24:53were now being moved
24:54to the western front
24:55to combat
24:56the allied heavy bombing campaign
24:58this left the lightning
25:01struggling to compete
25:02with Fakerville 190s
25:04and Messerschmitt 109s
25:05that were still plentiful
25:07during this time
25:08when Jimmy Doolittle
25:10was finally given command
25:12of the 8th Air Force
25:13in early 1944
25:15he sought an evaluation
25:17from the RAF
25:18who had 109s
25:20and 190s
25:21in their possession
25:22to compare
25:23he himself
25:25was quite a fan
25:26of the P-38
25:27and even
25:28flew one himself
25:29to observe D-Day
25:31as one of the only
25:32undeniable advantages
25:34of the P-38
25:35was the fact
25:36that it was the least
25:37susceptible to friendly fire
25:39as no one else truly
25:40had an aircraft
25:41that looked like the lightning
25:44thus with friendly fire
25:45being the greatest threat
25:47on D-Day
25:47Jimmy Doolittle himself
25:49took off in a lightning
25:50and watched the allied invasions
25:52from above
25:53he was one of the few advocates
25:56of the lightning
25:57and even called it
25:58the smoothest flying aircraft
26:00in the sky
26:00so when it became clear
26:02that the P-38
26:04was underperforming
26:05against the Luftwaffe
26:06he reached out
26:07to British intelligence
26:08to try and determine why
26:10the results came back
26:12and were not
26:13what the general
26:14was looking for
26:14with one RAF test pilot
26:17clearly stating
26:18we had found out
26:20that the BF-109
26:21and the FW-190
26:23could fight up to a mock
26:24of 0.75
26:26three quarters
26:27the speed of sound
26:29we checked the lightning
26:30and it couldn't fly in combat
26:32faster than 0.68
26:34so it was useless
26:37we told Doolittle
26:38that all it was good for
26:40was photo reconnaissance
26:41and had to be withdrawn
26:43from escort duties
26:44and the funny thing is
26:45that the Americans
26:47had great difficulty
26:48understanding this
26:49because the lightning
26:50had the two top aces
26:52in the far east
26:56as the shortcomings
26:57of the lightning
26:58were made clear
26:59there was at least
27:00one role mentioned here
27:02that the P-38
27:03fulfilled in Europe
27:04with great success
27:05this would be
27:07photo reconnaissance
27:08with the F-4
27:09and F-5 models
27:10of the P-38
27:11the guns were removed
27:13and in their place
27:14advanced cameras
27:15were inserted
27:16allowing the aircraft
27:18to grab valuable photos
27:19of enemy installations
27:21troop movements
27:22and bombing results
27:24this was a crucial job
27:26that the lightning
27:27fulfilled perfectly
27:28using its high speed
27:29to get in and out
27:30before enemy interceptors
27:32could arrive and reach it
27:33because of this
27:35photo recon models
27:36were used prominently
27:37all throughout Europe
27:38but unfortunately
27:40this did not improve
27:42the situation
27:43or perception
27:44there as a combat fighter
27:46to try and remedy
27:48the situation
27:49in one last attempt
27:51an elite Lockheed test pilot
27:53Tony Levere
27:54went on a four month tour
27:56of P-38 bases
27:57in Europe in 1944
27:59in this
28:01flying a new P-38J model
28:03named Snafuperman
28:05that had fixed
28:06compressibility
28:07and stability problems
28:09Levere showed
28:10the American P-38 pilots
28:12that the lightning
28:13was indeed now
28:14a deadly
28:15and easily controlled fighter
28:17performing multiple maneuvers
28:19that the 8th Air Force
28:21had previously taught
28:22would be suicidal
28:23but now
28:25in this new model
28:26they were done
28:27with relative ease
28:28unfortunately
28:30this would come
28:31too late
28:32to save the lightning
28:33in Europe
28:33and the Mediterranean
28:34soon the P-38
28:37was replaced
28:38by the P-47 Thunderbolt
28:40and P-51 Mustang
28:42throughout both theaters
28:44but like was previously mentioned
28:47the story
28:48was entirely different
28:49on the other side
28:50of the world
28:51thousands of miles away
28:54American aviators
28:55were having
28:56the opposite experience
28:57the lightning
28:59had begun
29:00to arrive
29:00in this theater
29:01in late 1942
29:03and here
29:04General George Kinney
29:06commander
29:06of the 5th Air Force
29:08found the P-38
29:09to be perfectly suited
29:11for the job at hand
29:12in the massive battlefields
29:14of the Pacific
29:15the long range
29:16of the P-38
29:17was an ideal fit
29:19the twin engine design
29:21was also here
29:22an advantageous feature
29:24as with long flights
29:26over the ocean
29:27an engine failure
29:28was a disaster
29:29and best case scenario
29:31it meant surviving
29:32for long periods of time
29:34on the open water
29:35this made
29:36the second engine
29:37a safety feature
29:38getting more pilots home
29:40after mechanical issues
29:42or battle damage
29:43interestingly
29:44the temperature
29:45of the cockpit
29:46played an important role
29:48here as well
29:49as the unheated cockpit
29:51was a welcome feature
29:52in the tropical climate
29:54however
29:55the trade-off
29:56was that a pilot
29:57could actually get
29:58too hot
29:59as they were
30:00unable to open
30:01the sliding canopy windows
30:03because if they did
30:05it actually caused
30:06the aircraft
30:07to become unstable
30:08in flight
30:11both sliding windows
30:12must also be closed
30:13all the way
30:17with the windows closed
30:18the airflow is normal
30:20but
30:21if the windows
30:22are carelessly left open
30:24the airflow is disturbed
30:25and causes the wake
30:26to hit the tail
30:31but this was a trade-off
30:33they were willing to make
30:35especially since
30:36the gun armament
30:37on the P-38
30:38was even more deadly
30:40against the thinly armored
30:41Japanese aircraft
30:42especially once elite pilots
30:45determined that they could fire
30:47from further distances
30:48even more accurately
30:50with the lightning
30:51because of all these features
30:53success in the Pacific
30:55was found rather quickly
30:57for the P-38
30:58and perhaps
31:00no better success story
31:02of the P-38
31:02would ever be found
31:04than the downing
31:05of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
31:07in April of 1943
31:10when a group of P-38s
31:13the only aircraft
31:14with the range
31:15to fulfill the mission
31:16would pull off
31:17an unlikely
31:18and brilliant interception
31:20to bring down
31:21the Japanese mastermind
31:23behind the attack
31:24on Pearl Harbor
31:25appropriately
31:26this news
31:27and the glory
31:28of the P-38
31:29was plastered
31:30all over newspapers
31:32and newsreels
31:33back in the states
31:35April 18th 1943
31:37while evading attacks
31:40from escorting zeros
31:41Captain Tom Lanphier
31:43Lieutenant Besby Holmes
31:44and Lieutenant Rex Barber
31:46brought down
31:47two bombers
31:48transporting Yamamoto
31:49and his staff
31:5612 planes
31:57will take care
31:58of any enemy fighters
31:59and four lightnings
32:01will smash
32:02Yamamoto's bombers
32:10two hours later
32:11and only a minute
32:12off schedule
32:13the pilots may plan for
32:15there it is
32:16and there's the target
32:17Lanphier and Rex Barber
32:19heading for Yamamoto
32:20the Japanese learn
32:22that Yankee lightning
32:24strikes hard and fast
32:25once on his tail
32:27Lieutenant Barber
32:28keeps to his guard
32:29look at this spectacle
32:49on the trails of this news
32:52Aces in the Pacific
32:53began to make a name
32:55for themselves
32:55and the early top scorers
32:58in the theater
32:59were nearly all flying P-38s
33:01none of these
33:03would become more famous
33:04than Richard Bong
33:05the highest scoring
33:06American ace in history
33:08in his P-38 Marge
33:11Bong had become
33:12the most popular pilot
33:14in the Army Air Force
33:15he had arrived in the Pacific
33:17in the fall of 1942
33:19and on December 27th
33:22of that year
33:22scored his first kill
33:25on many missions
33:26like that
33:27of July 26, 1943
33:29where Bong claimed
33:31four kills
33:31he would continue
33:33to rack up victories
33:34he would use
33:36the P-38 lightning
33:37to score every one
33:39of his 40 victories
33:40by 1945
33:42Bong was a household name
33:44as was his P-38 Marge
33:47but he would not be
33:49the only Pacific P-38
33:51scorer making headlines
33:53Jack McGuire
33:5538 kills
33:56all in the Pacific
33:57Charles MacDonald
33:5927 kills
34:01all in the Pacific
34:02and Jay Robbins
34:0422 kills
34:06all in the Pacific
34:07as well
34:08but none of them
34:09would ever surpass Bong
34:10in 1945
34:12he became such a valuable figure
34:15thanks to his success
34:16in the P-38
34:17that he became
34:18one of the only
34:19American pilots
34:20pulled off
34:21of frontline duty
34:22in the middle of a tour
34:23specifically for his propaganda
34:25and morale value
34:27again helping to solidify
34:30some positive publicity
34:31around the hoodood lightning
34:33by this point
34:35despite shortcomings
34:36in the European theater
34:38the reputation
34:39of the lightning
34:40had been restored
34:41thanks to an incredibly
34:43successful record
34:44in the Pacific
34:45and even though
34:47her record in Europe
34:48would be debatable
34:49and she was not quite
34:51as well received
34:52it is often noted
34:54by historians
34:55that during her primary
34:56period of service
34:57her pilots
34:58were less trained
34:59and going up
35:00against a far better
35:02adversary
35:02in a group of German pilots
35:05that were still
35:06well trained
35:07and experienced
35:08at a point in time
35:09when the Luftwaffe
35:10maintained air superiority
35:13when the war ended
35:14in 1945
35:16the P-38 lightning
35:17would go down
35:18as the only American fighter
35:20that was in production
35:22for the entire war
35:24despite this
35:26shortly after
35:27the end of the conflict
35:28the P-38
35:29would be retired
35:30from military service
35:32as the entry
35:33into the jet age
35:34rendered her obsolete
35:35but throughout
35:37American aviation history
35:39there has perhaps
35:40never been a more
35:41recognizable
35:42and storied
35:43fighter aircraft
35:44as always
35:46I'm TJ
35:47thanks for watching
35:48and I'll see you next time
36:29to play
36:43in the helm
36:44in our next
36:44I wanted to
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