Yes Chris, Much of the added range on the P51 did come from drop
tanks. And a lot more (%) pilots walked away from a crashed P51 than
they did from a crashed P38. My dad says that they were worse than the
Me109 to handle at times, you had to constantly fight with them to keep
them in harness.
Rand E.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, I had heard that the Lightning was a handful. Emil Pozar's post
about them was interesting but I thought that the pilots would have
wanted to hang onto the Mustangs, British or not.
Incidentally, the P-38 Lightning was called the "widow-maker" I
believe. Lockheed went on to build the F-104 Starfighter which
managed to make like a lawn dart many times, especially for the
European Air Forces which used it for ground attack. Many pilots
were killed. A single-engined, single-seat interceptor with no nav
kit and a turning circle the size of Texas ...
But it was a dream to photograph... and it was a legend among its pilots.
Chris
~~~~~ ><>
Chris Barker
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