Lightning Strikes

Out of the slosh of manufacturers' publicity releases, out of starry-eyed speeches about far-distant planes that will "make the angels gasp," one fact emerged last week: the U.S. has another pursuit plane in battle and the first reports look good. Lockheed's long-ranged, twin-Allison-engined P-38, nicknamed Lightning, suddenly blossomed into action around the world:

> Operating from Guadalcanal with Flying Fortresses, P-38s shot down five Japanese Zeros without loss to themselves.

> In North Africa, P-38s destroyed 20 Italian troop transports, three other planes, eleven tanks in a couple of days. Against Germany's Messerschmitt 109-G and the Focke-Wulf 190, the P-38s had scored "about even," which prompted Air Forces Lieut. General Henry H. Arnold to predict: "If we can continue to destroy the Germans plane for plane, the result cannot long be in doubt because our production is at least double the German production."*

> In New Guinea, P-38s were strafing the hard-pressed Japs, meeting some Japanese Zeros (results unannounced).

> In the Aleutians the P-38 has been in combat longest, with the most satisfactory results. Into San Antonio's municipal airport a 26-year-old pilot wearing a D.S.C., Captain George Laven Jr., flew his P-38 straight from three months in the Aleutians. Said he: "With a P-38 I would go into battle anywhere, under any conditions, with complete confidence that the Government has given me the best fighting equipment the world has to offer." *

> During six high-altitude flights over Europe, the P-38, which is supercharged to fly as high as 40,000 feet, has not been challenged by the Nazis, leaving the P-38s substratosphere status unanswered.*

Dog into Darling. These results, while not yet enough to label the P-38 another "best in the world," proved the versatility of a plane that was once the dog of the Air Forces. It is almost four years since Army Test Pilot Lieut. Ben Kelsey flew the first P-38 across the continent in a near-record 7 3/4 hours' flying time, only to crash when one of the plane's engines conked out at Mitchel Field, N.Y. Before pilots learned to bail out by diving the plane and somersaulting forward, some had their legs sliced off by the P-38's tailpiece when they jumped. In high altitudes the complex electric system went haywire and pilots considered themselves lucky if they got home on one engine. Veteran pilots shook their heads. "Nothing would ever make it work," said they.

But the P-38 has proved the soundness of tampering with planes until the bugs, one by one, are eliminated. Pushed by General Arnold and the Lockheed officials, who never lost faith in the unorthodox, twin-fuselaged pursuit ship, the P-38 is now not only the high-altitude plane it was designed to be. Its long range enables it to escort bombers on round trips well over 1,000 miles. Its heavy, concentrated fire power (guns from the nose instead of the wings) is valuable for strafing airfields or supply columns. A "maneuvering flap" and engines which rotate in opposite directions make it more maneuverable than other equally heavy planes (14,000 lb.).

The four-year evolution of the P-38 spurred hopes that other U.S. planes, such as the P47 (Thunderbolt) which was announced as "in quantity production" eleven months ago but has not yet been reported in battle, may still emerge the wonder planes their makers meant them to be. Meanwhile, air officers would like to curtail all forecasts until planes prove themselves in battle.

* General Arnold's reasoning apparently does not take into account the fact that U.S. planes must be flown or shipped thousands of miles, causing many planes to be lost between the production line and the battlefield. * A new high in the battle of altitude was registered recently when a specially souped-up British Spitfire staggered up to 50,000 feet above the Egyptian desert, shot down a pressure-cabined Junkers 86-P reconnaissance-photographic plane.

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