Lockheed AircraftF-5G-6-LO Lightning (P-38L)

Service History

Delivered: June 7, 1945
June 1945 – Dallas Modification Center, TX
July 1945 – San Antonio Air Material Center, Kelly AAF, TX
Feb 1946 – To Kingman, AZ and disposed as surplus
Served with Republic of Honduras 1962-63
Flew with five different survey companies

If one engine couldn’t do the job, why not two? This was a radical departure from the fighter construction of the time. Twin booms, twin engines and twin tails gave the P-38 twice the size and power of its predecessors.

With improvements to the dive brakes, turbo, windshield and maneuvering flaps, the Lightning achieved design perfection. The guns located in the center pod needed no prop synchronizers and the P-38 could carry up to 4,000 lbs of external bombs and rockets, the same payload as a B-25.

The P-38 shot down the bomber carrying Admiral Yamamoto in 1943. It is affectionately remembered by veterans serving in the Pacific, north African desert, the Mediterranean and Germany.

The photo version seen here is the lightest and fastest of the P-38s, having no armor or guns. Originally built as a P-38L it was converted to F-5G before entering service. After WWII this P-38 flew for an aerial survey company until acquired by Yanks in 1990 and restored to it’s authentic photo recon configuration.