Lockheed P-38J "Lightning" - the American long range fighter

The aircraft was designed in response to the USAAC's 1937 competition for the construction of a new interceptor fighter. Companies "Boeing", "Consolidated", "Curtiss","Douglas", "Vultee" and "Lockheed" participated in the competition. Requirements for the new plane: the maximum speed had to reach 580 km/h at an altitude of 6100 m, and 466 km/h near the ground, in addition, the plane had to fly at the maximum speed at an altitude of 6100 m for no less than an hour. In order to facilitate the ground handling of the aircraft, it was to be equipped with a three-point landing gear with a front wheel. In this way, this atypical twin-fuselage aircraft appeared for the time, in which the pilot's cabin was installed on the wing between the fuselages, the aircraft began to be designated P-38 and named "Lightning". 601 units of the P-38H version fighters were produced, they were equipped with "Alison" V-1710-89/91 engines, the starting power of which reached 1425 h. p. everyone. These planes use a lot of new automatics and electronics, that facilitate the pilot's work, the recently developed 20 mm M-2C cannon is installed, the weight of the bombs, carried on each hanger, is increased to 736 kg. In Asia and the Pacific, "Lightning" fighters played a much larger role, than in Europe. They fought in practically every battle in the region. Such a situation was caused by the long range of the aircraft, which allowed to protect large areas, where it was often not possible to establish a dense network of airfields. The concentrated fire of the cannon and 4 machine guns was lethal to unarmored Japanese fighters and less dangerous to armored German aircraft. A number of US military aces fought with these fighters and achieved most of their aerial victories: R.I. Bong (40 victories), T.B. McGuire (38).

A complex, well-designed and well-detailed model recreates the P-38J-10 "Lightning" fighter, which was flown by Lieutenant Jack Jarrell in the 485th Fighter Squadron on the Western Front in Europe in the autumn and winter of 1944 and was shot down over Germany on December 14, 1944. The model is only for medium-experienced and experienced modelers. There is a small reserve of colors, the textual instructions are not the largest, but quite detailed and comprehensive in Polish and English, the graphic ones are exemplary.