Lockheed P-38J "Lightning" - American 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 maximum 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 maximum 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 for 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 units 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. These planes use a lot of new automatics and electronics, that facilitate the pilot's work, the recently developed 20 mm M-2C cannon is installed, 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-38J-15 "Lightning" fighter, that Lt. Charles R. Anderson fought in New Guinea with the 433rd Fighter Squadron in July-October 1944. These were mainly flights escorting bombers to missions 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.