Lockheed P-38 Lightning PDF eBook & Aircraft Flight Manuals

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  • 23 magazines, 6 manuals, & photos
  • PDFs contain 2,184 pages
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November 1972

  • P-38 Forked Tail Legend

November 1973

  • Man Made Lightning, Pilots & Engineers who tested the YP-38s

March 1976

  • Skybolt, The Story of the Lockheed P-36, Part 1

April 1976

  • Skybolt, Breaking the Transcontinental Speed Record in the XP-38

May 1976

  • A Look at the P-38’s Twin-Engined Competition

August 1976

  • The P-38 Finds a Canon and Goes Into Production
  • Lockheed P-38E Floatplane

September 1976

  • P-38, Greatest Load Carrying Fighter of them All

November 1976

  • P-38s Cross the Atlantic and Prepare for War

December 1976

  • Lockheed P-38 Scores the First 8th Air Force Kill of the War

May 1977

  • The P-38 Lightning in North Africa and Compressibility at 30,000 Feet

July 1977

  • The Lockheed P-38 over Africa, Sicily, and Italy

October 1977

  • Skybolts, The First Escorts Over Berlin

March 1978

  • The P-38 Lightning’s Last Missions over Europe

August 1978

  • The P-38 Lightning in the Pacific, Aleutians, China, Burma, India

June 1980

  • The Real Story of Lockheed’s XP-58 “Chain Lightning”

July 1980

  • Part II of Lockheed XP-58 Story, Could It Have Been the Best Heavy Fighter of WWII?

 November 1981

  • Combat Flying in the P-38 Lightning with the “Lone Eagle” Charles Lindbergh in the Pacific

May 1988

  • Tame Lightning, Flying Exhibitions in the P-38 Lightning

April 1990

  • Saga of WWII B-17 Crews in Combat

August 1991

  • White Lightning, Graphic Excerpts From Warren Bodie’s Brilliant New Volume on Lockheed’s P-38

July 1992

  • Loaded 38s, A Legion Of Legendary Lightnings

February 2004

  • P-38 Color Portfolio

May 2005

  • XP-58 Chain Lightning, “Son of the P-38”

Manuals & Photos

  • P-38 Pilot Training Manual 1945
  • P-38 Operating Instructions 1942
  • P-38 Service Instructions 1942
  • P-38H/J Flight Instructions 1943
  • P-38D Operating Instructions 1944
  • P-38L Erection & Maintainance 1944
  • Over 490 Photos!

Lockheed P-38 Lightning

  • P-38L Specifications
  • Variants
  • On Display
  • Cutaway

General Characteristics

P38-Diagram

  • Crew: One
  • Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m) (11.53 m)
  • Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m) (15.85 m)
  • Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.91 m) (3.91 m)
  • Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)
  • Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412
  • Empty weight: 12,800 lb (5,800 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 17,500 lb(7,940 kg)
  • Max. takeoff weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Allison V-1710-111/113 V-12 piston engine, 1,600 hp (1,193 kW) WEP at 60 inHg, 3,000 rpm each
  • Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268
  • Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)
  • Aspect ratio: 8.26

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 414 mph (667 km/h) on Military Power: 1,425 hp at 54 inHg, 3,000 rpm at 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
  • Cruise speed: 275 mph (443 km/h)
  • Stall speed: 105 mph (169 km/h) (170 km/h)
  • Range: 1,300 mi (2,100 km) combat (1,770 mi / 3,640 km)
  • Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,000 m) (13,400 m)
  • Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s) maximum
  • Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
  • Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)
  • Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5

Armament

  • 1× Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds
  • 4× M2 Browning machine gun 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg.
  • 4× M10 three-tube 4.5 in (112 mm) rocket launchers; or:
  • Inner hardpoints:
    • 2× 2,000 lb (907 kg) bombs or drop tanks; or
    • 2× 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or drop tanks, plus either
      • 4× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or
      • 4× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs; or
    • 6× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
    • 6× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
  • Outer hardpoints:
    • 10× 5 in (127 mm) HVARs (High Velocity Aircraft Rockets); or
    • 2× 500 lb (227 kg) bombs; or
    • 2× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs
XP-38
United States Army Air Force designation for one prototype Lockheed Model 22 first flown in 1939.
YP-38
Redesigned pre-production batch with armament, 13 built.
P-38A
First production variant with 0.5 in guns and a 37 mm cannon, 30 built.
XP-38A
One P-38A modified with a pressurised cockpit.
P-38B
Proposed variant of the P-38A, not built.
P-38C
Proposed variant of the P-38A, not built.
P-38D
Production variant with modified tailplane incidence, self-sealing fuel tanks, 36 built.
P-38E
Production variant with revised hydraulic system, 20 mm cannon rather than the 37mm of earlier variants, 210 built.
P-38F
Production variant with inboard underwing racks for drop tanks or 2000lb of bombs, 527 built.
P-38G
Production variant with modified radio equipment, 1082 built.
P-38H
Production variant capable of carrying 3200lb of underwing bombs and an automatic oil radiator flaps, 601 built.
P-38J
Production variant with improvements to each batch, including chin radiators, flat bullet proof windscreens, power-boosted ailerons and increased fuel capacity, 2970 built. Some modified to pathfinder configuration and to F-5C, F-5E and F-5F.
P-38K
With 1425hp engines with larger broad-bladed propellers, one built, a P-38E was also converted to the same standard as the XP-38K.
P-38L
With 1600hp engines, 3923 built which included 113 built at Vultee, later conversions to pathfinders and F-5G.
TP-38L
Two P-38Ls converted as tandem seated operational trainers.
P-38M
Conversion of P-38L as a radar-equipped night-fighter.
P-422
Nonstandard United States military designation for 140 former Royal Air Force Lightning Is.
F-4
Photo-reconnaissance variant of the P-38E, 99 built.
F-4A
Photo-reconnaissance variant of the P-38F, 20 built.
F-5A
Reconnaissance variant of the P-38G, 181 built.
F-5B
Reconnaissance variant of the P-38J, 200 built, four later to the United States Navy as FO-1.
F-5C
Reconnaissance variant of the P-38J, 123 conversions.
XF-5D
Prone-observer variant, one conversion from a F-5A.
F-5E
Reconnaissance variant converted from the P-38J and P-38L, 705 converted.
F-5F
Reconnaissance variant conversions of the P-38L.
F-5G
Reconnaissance variant conversions of the P-38L, had a different camera configuration from the F-5F.
XFO-1
United States Navy designation for four F-5Bs operated for evaluation.
Lightning I
Royal Air Force designation for the Model 322, most diverted to the USAAF.
Lightning II
Royal Air Force designation for cancelled order of 524 aircraft.

Australia

On display
P-38H
  • 42-66841 – Classic Jets Fighter Museum in South Australia.

Austria

Airworthy
P-38L
  • 44-53254 – The Flying Bulls in Salzburg. Registered to Aircraft Guaranty Title Corp. Trustee in Onalaska, Texas.

Serbia

Under restoration
P-38L
  • 44-25786 – Museum of Aviation in Belgrade. In storage, awaiting restoration.

United States

Airworthy
P-38F
  • 41-7630 Glacier Girl – Lewis Air Legends in San Antonio, Texas.
P-38J
  • 44-23314 23 Skidoo – Planes of Fame in Chino, California.
P-38L
  • 44-26981 (unnamed) – Allied Fighters in Sun Valley, Idaho.
  • 44-27053 Relampago – War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
  • 44-27083 Tangerine – Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Oregon.
  • 44-27183 (unnamed) – Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California.
  • 44-27231 Scat III (Formerly Ruff Stuff) – Fagen Fighters WWII Museum in Granite Falls, Minnesota.
  • 44-53095 Thoughts of Midnite – Comanche Fighters LCC in Houston, Texas.
On display
P-38G
  • 42-13400 (unnamed) – Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (formerly Elmendorf AFB) in Anchorage, Alaska; crashlanded on Attu Island in 1945, recovered in 1999.
P-38J
  • 42-67638 (unnamed) – Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB, Utah.
  • 42-67762 (unnamed) – Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museumin Chantilly, Virginia.
P-38L
  • 44-53015 Pudgy V – McGuire AFB, New Jersey.
  • 44-53087 Marge – EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
  • 44-53097 Lizzie V / Wyandotte Mich. – Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.
  • 44-53186 (unnamed) – Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
  • 44-53232 (unnamed) – National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
  • 44-53236 Marge – Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin.
Under restoration or in storage
P-38F
  • 42-12652 White 33 – to airworthiness by WestPac Restorations for Jim Slattery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
P-38H
  • 42-66534 – to airworthiness by Artemis Aviation Group LCC in Wilmington, Delaware.
P-38J
  • 42-103988 – to airworthiness by WestPac Restorations for Flying Heritage Collection in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  • 42-104088 – in storage at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington.
P-38L
  • 44-26761 – in storage at Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida.