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About the Lockheed P-38 Lightning
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms with forward-mounted engines and a single, central nacelle containing the pilot and armament. It was the only American fighter in WWII with two such booms. The aircraft was used in a number of different roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground strafing, photo reconnaissance missions,[3] and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with droppable fuel tanks under its wings. The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, where it was flown by the American pilots with the highest number of aerial victories to this date. The Lightning called "Marge" was flown by the ace of aces Richard Bong who earned 40 victories. |
