Originally posted by bozon
from everything I've read, P-38 did not preform well at the high alts typical for 8th AF operations. They had freezing propblems (of both the plane and the pilots) and the low mach limit really hurt them way up.
In the MTO and 9th AF operations, typical altitues were lower and when not compressing and flown by de-frosted pilots, P38s proved to be formidable fighters.
Bozon
The pilots in the Med didn't care for the early 38 cockpit heating either. a 1st FG pilot I've corresponded with mentioned they'd wrap Yank magazines around their legs to try and give themselves some insulation from the cold.
The bigger point is the 8th made their decisions on the 38 based on earlier models. The Js and Ls were certainly up to anyone's standards as a competant day fighter.
The guys who trained in 38s and flew them from the beginning loved them
An interesting note in the wartime history of the 436th FS, 479th FG is the comments about how the pilots being assigned to them as replacements had been trained on 51s and didn't know the 38 well. The old hands who knew the 38 never really came to love the "Spam Can" P51 like they did the 38, but as the replacement pool of pilots was mainly P51 trained it hastened the transition.
The pilots in the MTO were 38 pilots from the start and stayed with it and knew how to get the most out of it.
They gladly took the cast off 38s from the 8th AF groups.
Dan/Slack
