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fork-tailed devil

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Wow, just had a P-38 fly over the neighborhood. Never seen one in flight before.

Only spotted it as it was going away so I didn't get a long look, but you sure can't mistake that silhouette.

It was flying in tight formation with single fuselage wingman but I'm not sure what it was. Guessing a T-6, probably.


pc
 
Used to be one privately owned down here, distinct noises from twin Merlins! First time it passed overhead I was stunned. Hadn't seen one since early childhood.

I'm told the fella sold it sometime in the early '90s. Can't be many left that are airworthy.
 
DrEntropy said:
Used to be one privately owned down here, distinct noises from twin Merlins! First time it passed overhead I was stunned. Hadn't seen one since early childhood.

I'm told the fella sold it sometime in the early '90s. Can't be many left that are airworthy.
Click to expand...

I think they all had Allisons. But I'm sure the noise was awesome.
 
Oops. You're pro'lly right, John.

The twin-engine Merlins were called Mosquitos! :shocked:

My bad.
 
I see this gate-guard P-38 in front of McGuire on a regular basis. A cool-looking beast for sure!

P-38L-5-LO-Pudgy-V-McGuire-AFB-100527-F-1616C-012.jpg
 
Personally, my fav.
My dad had 2 pics in my big bro's room.
a P40 and a P38.
Use to look at that 38 and daydream
 
Quote from Wikipedia...

"The Lockheed design incorporated tricycle undercarriage and a bubble canopy, and featured two 1,000 hp (746 kW) turbo-supercharged 12-cylinder Allison V-1710 engines fitted with counter-rotating propellers to eliminate the effect of engine torque, with the superchargers positioned behind the engines in the booms. Counter-rotation was achieved with the use of "handed" engines, which meant that the crankshaft of each engine turned in the opposite direction of its counterpart. The V-12 engines only required that the spark plug firing order be changed in order for the direction of the crank shaft to be reversed, according to the General Motors Allison V1710 Service School Handbook."

Interesting that they could change rotation by just changing the spark plug firing order.

Edit: From another wiki article on the Allison V-1710...

"Another feature of the V-1710 design was its ability to turn the output shaft either clockwise or counter-clockwise by assembling the engine with the crankshaft turned end-for-end, by installing an idler gear in the drive train to the supercharger and accessories and by installing a starter turning the proper direction. There was no need to re-arrange the ignition wiring, firing order, or the oil and Glycol circuits to accommodate the direction of rotation."

One of them's got to be wrong! :crazyeyes:
 
38s had a bad feature for pilots bailing out. The two balance weights were in the center of the elevator and stuck out of the top and bottom about 8 inches. Pilots were told to make sure they were clear of the ac before pulling the rip chord as there are stories of getting a chute hung on one if opened too fast. What a horrible way to go. PJ
 
Not mentioned before but Dr. John Herrera was able to fill in some details of my mother's first husband: Augered in out at Nellis in a P-38, 1945.
 
Don't know what I would do with it but for $350 there would be an engine in my garage!
 
We had a friend who got an unused Allison that had been donated to his college years before. It was perfect except for several holes purposely knocked through the block. I was surprised at how thin the casting walls were. We measured it for use in a VW bus for drag racing but could never figure out what to use for a drivetrain. I also remember several ex-PT boats on the Connecticut river waiting to be converted to pleasure boats of some sort. Three Allisons per boat iirc.
 
Actually, no. The engines used in PT boats were a Packard design developed from an aircraft engine that traced it's roots back to WW1. Different external dimensions, bore, stroke, etc from the Allison company engine. No connection between the two.
 
:jester:
 
Often wondered how the P-38 would have performed if it had been engined with Merlin's.
 
MORE BOATS!!! :jester:
 
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