Originally posted by batdog
very few pilots had any twin engined flight time or for that matter training in a high perf twin engined plane like the 38. The cockpit controls alone I think were said to be complicated for a guy about to hit combat.
John Tilley (475th FG) had the following to say about the P-38's negative points:
"What didn't I like about the P-38? High altitude flight and the cockpit layout. Although designed as a high altitude interceptor, it was a pain in the buns above 30,000'. The cockpit heat and windshield deicing were not adequate for cold ambient air. The turbo chargers had a habit of running wild above 30,000'. The cockpit was very cramped (not a real problem for us pint-sized fellows). I would have preferred a stick to the yoke and wheel flight controls in the P-38 and the cockpit layout was God awful compared to the other fighters I've flown. On our 'pitch-out' landing approaches we were reaching for things all over the place and had to change hands on the controls at least twice. In spite of all of the above, I still think it was the greatest aircraft I've ever flown, including five of the AF's earliest jet aircraft."
By the way, Capt. Tilley's account of his second kill might be of interest:
"The 2nd was an Oscar while I was flying in a J model. I was particularly proud of this one 'cause I was able to stay inside this maneuverable little rascal's left turn for 360 degrees while doing about 90MPH, and at less than 1000' above the water. That P-38J was bucking and shuddering all the way around in what was nothing more nor less than a controlled stall. I was so close to the Oscar that his engine oil covered my windshield. For the last half of the turn I was shooting at a dark blur that finally burst into flames."
(I can't imagine how this happened, by the way. Either Capt. Tilley misidentified his opponent, or else the Ki-43 pilot really messed up. There's no way an Oscar should lose a straight-up stallfight with a Lightning, however well-flown the P-38 was.)
The 38 rocked in the MTO and the PTO... why? Experience. and enviroment. They also had resolved many of the problems encountered in the ETO by then.
I wonder why they didn't detach P-38 air and ground crews from other theatres to make up a veteran core for the 20th and 55th FGs? Both the MTO and SWPA groups had up to a year's solid experience by then. If the USAAF was happy, in late 1943, to send P-38 pilots from North Africa to form the nucleus of new Lightning squadrons in the relatively unimportant CBI, why not for the top-priority ETO?
Originally posted by Oedipus
Of the 50 enemy aircraft engaged, 25 were destroyed, one probably destroyed and 17 damaged. The 367th lost two pilots KIA. Four other bailed out over enemy held France.
Postwar archive research found that the 367th's most likely opponent on August 25th was JG 6 (formerly ZG 26), which had converted to Fw 190s from Me 110s in July. German records noted the loss of 16 Fw 190s, while claiming 11 P-38s.
