The Lockheed P-38 Lightning Looked Bizarre But Its WWII Fighter Plane Record Was Astounding – SlashGear

The Lightning first flew in 1939 and broke records nearly immediately with a 7-hour, 48-minute flight across the United States. It was first used in combat in 1942 fighting Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s troops in the campaign in North Africa. It was there that the P-38 gained its nickname. According to Lockheed Martin, a terrified German pilot who just lost his plane to the guns of the Lightning couldn’t get the sight of the bizarrely shaped airplane out of his mind, calling it “der Gableschwanz Teufl” or, “The Forked-Tail Devil.”

That’s actually an apt description of the Lightning’s airframe. Instead of one singular tail, the Lightning had two and a long wing going between them. It also had two engines on either side of the cockpit resulting in a less-than-conventional appearance. Despite how it may look, the Lightning wasn’t a weird slow experimental fighter. The twin engines made it incredibly fast with a top speed of 414 miles per hour and its strange airframe made it an incredible performer wherever it was needed. Planes like the Mustang and Spitfire get a lot of the spotlight for being the best fighter planes around, but the Lightning could do it all like ground support (like the modern-day A-10 Warthog), photoreconnaissance, and high-profile hunting missions.