The cover:
We start with the prototype, the XP-38, which first flew on January 27, 1939.
This picture clearly shows how the two props rotated inwards "over the top", which made the P-38 a single-engine pussycat in the right hands, and also kept it nice and stable during sudden applications of power.
A look at one of the Allison V-1710-11/15 (C9) engines, which developed 960 hp at 10,000 feet and 1090 hp at 13,200 feet. Most of us know that the Allison was a bit of a disappointment in the Mustang, but with its enormous superchargers mounted aft of the engines, the P-38 did very well at high altitudes with those engines.
Quite a challenge cramming everything in there and fairing it so closely! In a later installment we will see why, despite the cramped quarters, engine service on the P-38 was not really a problem.
The office of the XP-38, with another radical first for a fighter: a yoke instead of a stick. I knew once why they chose a yoke over a stick, but I forget. It does make things look more crowded in there, but I don't think any P-38 pilots ever complained about it.
Sadly, this gorgeous prototype was totalled when it was crashed on approach to Mitchell Field (on Long Island) after busting the California-to-New York speed record less than a month after its first flight (seven hours two minutes, BTW... with two fuel stops!!!). Happily, the pilot survived.
Here's what he had to say about it:
"I did not give it a second thought when the tower instructed me to take a position behind the PB-2A because I had to get the plane slowed down for flap extension anyway. I did not even think of icing because we had none of it before. When I added power, I was really surprised to see those damn engines just sit there and idle at around 1,500 rpm. If the engines just quit, I thought at the moment and have often thought, while I was going down
