The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms with forward-mounted engines and a single, central nacelle containing the pilot and armament. The aircraft was used in a number of different roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground strafing, photo reconnaissance missions,[3] and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with droppable fuel tanks under its wings. The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and China Burma India Theater of Operations, where it was credited with being second only to the Grumman F6F Hellcat[4] in destroying more Japanese aircraft than any other US fighter.[5][6]
The P-38 was was flown by the highest-scoring US aces of the war, Dick Bong and Thomas McGuire, in the South West Pacific theater, where it was the main fighter used by for the United States Army Air Forces.
The P-38 was was flown by the highest-scoring US aces of the war, Dick Bong and Thomas McGuire, in the South West Pacific theater, where it was the main fighter used by for the United States Army Air Forces.
