dont listen to akak, he still thinks the C47 is a recon 38
Engines do help the P38 a lot, but its not like using 1 engine to turn will give you a super advantage.
Engine tricks with the 38:
-Turning: Lower throttle of engine on the side you are turning to 50% or lower while using rudder. This increases your instantaneous turn rate by about 10% and your continous turn rate by about 5%. Do not attempt this at speeds under 200mph unless you have your flaps out, the 38 will stall rather nasty in a sustained, 200mph or slower, no flaps continous turn.
-Sciscors: for some reason, lowering 1 engine to 50% or below while sciscoring (the engine on whos'e side you're twisting that is) gains you angles much faster. High danger of spinning though, attempt with 1 flap out at least.
-Hammerheads: Yawsh almighty!
Trim elevator down to the "L" , point nose up 90 degrees, WEP the purty allisons and hang it to 10mph.. cut 1 engine to 0 throttle, rudder hard to its side with a little down-nose pressure, when nose points down cut remaining engine and put the other engine to max with a little rudder to counter your inertia, then put slam both engines to max. This makes your 38 literally flip sideways, without the dangerous nose-over that exposes your entire planform to the enemy thats stalling behind you. Extremely effective if done right, and best of all, since the 38 is a dragpotato, you can make "snap" hammerheads by cutting both engines and pointing nose up, flipping sideways and faceshooting that con that you just cant seem to get off your arse.
Note: The "snap" hammerhead is also very effective as a means to escape. The 38 will go from 400mph to 10mph extremely fast when engines are at 0 throttle and nose up, while any other plane in the set retains its energy almost twice as long. So in a fight that you *need* to get away from, you just dive to get speed, then snap-hammerhead ; the con in your 6 will not slow down, but will rather try and loop over to make another pass... which means that while he is going up and slowing down, your 38 is diving away at 400+ and by the time the con flips over the top of his loop, you will be at d1.8+ and have a good chance to get away. Priceless for a plane that can only outrun early war planeset
- Controlling engines also helps a lot when your 38 has lost a wingtip or has aleirons shot out. engines=aleirons if you get both aleirons shot out, and engine control+flap = a wingtipless 38 that can fly and land home safely.
- Stalls: In the RARE event that you stall your P-38 , you have the option of throttling 0% the engine opposite to your spin to regain control. Also, in a FLAT spin, a quick way to recover is to cut one engine, which makes the wing dip down and point your nose downwards.
Note: I have a training film of the hammerhead and "snap" hammerhead if anyone wants it.
