Originally posted by Benny Moore
So you say. I've seen a picture of one missing a boom with the horizontal stabilizer still attached to the other. Granted, it was on the ground, but the text in the book stated that it happened in flight and that the airplane landed that way. After seeing other pictures of what kind of damage the P-38 could take, I believe it. American airplanes were strong, very strong. Surely you don't believe that all that weight is ballast?
Having worked extensively on P-38's I feel I can qualify as somewhat knowledgeable on their construction. Frankly, the structure of the 38's boom and horizontal / vertical interconnect is not capable of supporting the massive tourque that would be introduced should the "boom" on one side or another be shot away. I highly doubt it could support the horizontal even being on one boom on the ground with out twisting the other boom until it touched the ground.
Either way, as AckAck said, I'd love to see proof, but can not accept it for the same reasons he explained.
