Photographer:
Dane Penland
ID #:
2004-18145
Source:
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Copyright/Owner:
Smithsonian Institution
Lockheed P-38 at the Udvar-Hazy Center
Between 1942 and 1945, the thunder of P-38 Lightnings was heard around the world. U. S. Army pilots flew the P-38 over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Measured by success in combat, Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and a team of designers created the most successful twin-engine fighter ever flown by any nation. In the Pacific Theater, Lightning pilots downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Army Air Forces warplane.
