So much has been made of the lackluster performance of the P-38 with the 8th AF, I thought it might be nice to have an inside look at what went wrong.
Below is a copy of Levier's report on his time in Europe.
Report on P-38s in the ETO, by Tony Levier.
“Having just returned from a four month mission to England on 29 May 1944 where I had been testing and demonstrating some of the new improvements on our P-38J’s, I filed the following report:”
Immediately upon arriving in England, I proceeded to the 55th FG HQ at Nuthamstead, an airbase in East Anglia, north of London, where conditions were pretty grim as far as their P-38’s were concerned. They had just received their first P-38J’s, and had no operational information on them. Their lack of information concerning correct power combinations was appalling.
For combat missions some pilots were using anywhere from 2000RPM to 3000RPM with whatever manifold pressure that would giver them their desired air speed. Some of these pilots were blowing up their engines with high manifold pressure and critically low RPM, while others were running out of gas and failing to complete missions because of such power combinations for continual cruise at 2800RPM with 24” of manifold pressure. Many returned with hardly more than a cupful of gas remaining in their tanks, while others were forced to bail out over enemy territory.
The reason they were cruising at 2600, 2800 and even 3000RPM was that somewhere along the line they had been taught to use high RPM and low manifold pressure. They were under the impression that should they get jumped by a Jerry they could get their power faster if they already had their engines running at high RPM.
The fact is you can get your power quicker if you have low RPM and high boost which gives you a high er turbosupercharger speed. With turbochargers putting out high boost you only have to increase your engine RPM to get your desired power.
Rather than add to their confusion with power curves and range charts we devised the following rule of thumb for their long range missions. It is simple and easy to remember and insures maximum engine efficiency/fuel economy: USE 2300RPM AND 36” MANIFOLD PRESSURE AS THE MAXIMUM FOR AUTO LEAN AND CRUISE CONDITIONS. IN REDUCING POWER FROM THIS SETTING, REDUCE ½” TO 1” FOR EACH 100RPM; FOR GOING ABOVE THIS SETTING PUT YOUR MIXTURE IN AUTO RICH AND INCREASE THE MANIFOLD PRESSURE 2” FOR EACH 100RPM.
After using this rule the boys marveled at their increased range. Some were returning from 4 hour missions with as much as 150 to 200 gallons of fuel left. Quite a bit more than the cupfuls they had been returning with.
The day after I arrived at another base in England some P-38 pilots who had been escorting Forts over mainland Europe reported a “sort of engine trouble”.
When pinned down they said their engines had been surging and momentarily cutting out while they were flying at altitude under reduced power. The passed it off saying, “it’s probably caused by some extra low octane gas.”
But after further discussion with the boys I suddenly remembered a series of tests we had run back home during flight test operations for proper turbosupercharger settings. As I recalled, the symptoms were very similar.
So I obtained permission from the 55th FG CO to test a P-38 at altitude for proper turbosupercharger operation, and sure enough, the turbosupercharger on the left engine was so rigged that the resulting backpressure and high turbosupercharger wheel speed caused the airflow to the engine to surge, resulting in erratic operation and inability to pull power.
Upon landing, I reported the trouble and recommended that each Lightning driver be given the following procedure for checking his ’38 at altitude for proper turbosupercharger operation: At 30K feet set your RPM at 2600RPM and 37” manifold pressure and back off slowly on the power down to 10 to 15” manifold pressure. While doing this, fix your eyes on the manifold pressure and note if there is the slightest engine failure or surging. Record the exact manifold pressure at which this surging occurs.
Now repeat the process beginning with 2300RPM and 37” manifold pressure , and again record the boost at which surging occurs. (At this lower RPM it should occur 2 or 3” higher.)
If, after you’ve completed this procedure, either of the recorded manifold pressures are above 22”, it indicated the turbosupercharger regulator is set improperly. Tell your mechanic the boost at which the roughness occurred and he will make the necessary adjustments.
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Read the above carefully, and remember what happened to those units, and how they performed. This is not an indictment of the pilots, or the mechanics. It is not even an indictment of the 55th FG HQ and staff really. This IS an indictment of the 8th AF command staff, and the USAAC. It is ultimately the responsibility of the command staff to ensure that units they send into combat are properly trained and well informed. The above report goes a long way to explain why the 8th AF did so poorly with the P-38, while other units performed quite well with it. At the time of this report, and during Levier's visit, the 8th AF had been using the P-38 in combat for about 6-8 months, and had no better grasp on how to operate and maintain it than the above report shows. That is without a doubt inexcuseable. But much of what the USAAC, and especially the 8th AF command staff, along with the War Production Board, did was intolerable and inexcuseable. The lack of information didn't just apply to the new P-38J, but to the P-38 from the very beginning. I really don't think appaling is a strong enough word.
