A couple great quotes from world war two:
"The value of the P-38 in the southwest pacific can be illustrated by an incident related at the end of the war by a veteran of the 8th Fighter Group. One day in 1945 cries of distress were heard over the radio somewhere above the china sea. "My engine's hit, im loosing coolant- whatll I do?" Savvy P-38 pilots in the air at the time tried to advise the obviously green fellow in distress. "Calm down and feather it." Then came the dejected reply, "Feather, hell. Im flyin a P-51!" - John Stanway, P-38 historian
On that one up there, I must say, literaly 1 out of every two times I fly a P-38 and survive to RTB, im coming home on just one engine.
Heres a good song:
"Oh, Hedy Lamarr is a beautiful gal
and Madeline Carroll is too,
But youll find if you query, a different theory
amongst any bomber crew
For the loveliest thing of which one could sing
(this side of the pearly gates)
Is no blonde or Brunette of the Hollywood set
But an escort of P-38s.'
'Yes in the days that have passed, when the tables were massed
with glasses of scotch and chapagne
Its quite true that the sight was a thing to delight
Us, intent on feeling no pain.
But no longer the same, nowadays, in this game
When we head north from Messina Straits
Take the sparkling whine- Every time just make mine
an escort of P-38s.'
'Byron, Shelly and Keats run a dozen dead heats
Describing the view from the hills,
of the vallys in May where the winds gently sway
In the air its a different story;
We sweat out our track through the fighter and flack
We're willing to split up the glory
Well, they wouldnt reject us, so Heaven protect us
and, until all this shooting abates,
Give us courage to fight 'em- one other small item-
An escort of P-38s" - Annonymous radioman on a Fifteenth Air Force B-17, Italy, 1944
This next one is rather interesting:
"While in the pilot's lounge at Santa Maria Airbase, California, I overheard three P-38 student pilots scorning their airplane. They were saying the P-38 would not operate above 25,000ft or if it would, their instructor would not take them. I found out their instructor's name and cleared a flight with the students. My breifing was short and to the point: "We are going to take this four-ship formation up and we will continue to climb until one of you say 'Uncle'." With that we took off. At 42,800 ft indicating on the altimiter, I heard a garbled 'Uncle' being transmitted by a throat mike. One hundred per cent oxygen under pressure made it difficult to speak at high altitude. The formation was climbing at 500 feet per minute when the flight was terminated. That flight convinced them that the P-38 was a high altitude aircraft." - Lt Frank Shearin Jr, formerly of the 343rd FG, the Aleutians, 1943
There ya go! Thought all you 'Lighting' buffs would enjoy that!
Well, there ya go.
