ALTHOUGH UNDER DEVELOPMENT since 1937 with a handful of preproduction and developmental examples, it wasn’t until the introduction of the “E” model of the P-38 in late 1941 that the Army Air Force finally had an advanced fighter ready for combat. Bringing Lockheed’s Model 222-62-09 to that level required over 2,000 engineering changes.
Electrical and hydraulics were improved, nose armament was standardized with four, now staggered, .50-calibers and the Hispano 20mm centerline cannon. The nose gear retraction drag strut location was reversed, now to the rear and allowed more room for ammunition in the nose compartment. Leading edge wing to fuselage fillets became standard as a solution to a previously discovered buffeting problem unconnected to the already uncovered compressibility phenomenon. Curtiss Electric props were fitted to most of the 210…
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Flight Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, November/December 2024