Lockheed P-38H „Lightning“ – the fighter

The aircraft was designed in response to the USAAC's 1937 competition for the construction of a new interceptor fighter. Companies Boeing, Consolidated, Curtiss, Douglas, Vultee and Lockheed participated in the competition. Requirements for the new plane: the maximal speed had to reach 580 km/h at an altitude of 6100 m, and 466 km/h near the ground, in addition, the plane had to fly at the maximal speed at an altitude of 6100 m for no less than an hour. In order to facilitate the ground handling of the aircraft, it was to be equipped with a three-point landing gear with a front wheel. In this way, this atypical twin-fuselage aircraft appeared at the time, in which the pilot's cabin was installed on the wing between the fuselages, the aircraft began to be designated P-38 and named "Lightning". 601 copies of the P-38H version fighters were produced, they were equipped with Alison V-1710-89/91 engines, the starting power of which reached 1425 h. p. everyone. In these planes use a lot of new automatics and electronics, that facilitate the pilot's work, a recently developed 20 mm M-2C cannon is installed, and the weight of the bombs, carried on each hanger, is increased to 736 kg. In Asia and the Pacific, “Lightning” fighters played a much larger role, than in Europe. They fought in practically every battle in the region. Such a situation was caused by the long range of the aircraft, which allowed to protect large areas, where it was often not possible to establish a dense network of airfields. The concentrated fire of the cannon and 4 machine guns was lethal to unarmored Japanese fighters and less dangerous to armored German aircraft. A number of US military aces fought with these fighters and achieved most of their aerial victories: R.I. Bong (40 victories), T.B. McGuire (38).

The complex, well-designed and well-detailed model recreates the P-38H-5 “Lightning” fighter, piloted by Captain Mark K. Shipman of the 38th Fighter Squadron in the autumn and winter of 1943. These were mainly flights escorting bombers to tasks in Germany, 15 of which were made by this plane, during which the pilot shot down one Me-109G personally and another in a team. Model for intermediate and advanced modelers only.