P-38
Bis "Heat Lightning"
wing span: 90inch/2300mm wing area: 65sqdm flying weight: 5000-5200g fuselage length: 67inch/1700mm
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Originally a planned demonstration aircraft in order to fund refinement of the original L-133 Starjet design, in early 1942 a pair of refined L-1025 jet engines replaced the Alison prop engines and the Army Air Forcr tested the aircraft. Flying at a phenomenal 635mph in level flight it literally flew circles around the F4F and P-39 pitted against it. Its engines were comolex and ultimately the price was deemed too high...until US bombers losses grew to the point of threatening the strategic bombing mission. Range was extended by sacrificing some armament, improving the jet's fuel efficiency, changing the wing to include a slight sweep, and enlarging the internal fuel tank while adding two drop tanks for the initial flight out. This allowed combat radius to improve from 300 miles to almost 500 miles on internal fuel alone and 725 with the two drop tanks.
By late 1943 the United States began mass production with a refined design and a jet bomber derivative already on the drawing board. Frank Whittle was brought in as a consultant and refined the jet further still, eventually finding a permanent home at Lockheed. German acquisition of the new jet proved costly for the Allies as they copied the design almost verbatim to make the Me 262-D a nearly trans-sonic aircraft with frightening maneuvarability. Russian MiG-13s bearing these engines would appear in the skies of Europe less than a year after the war ended, and today over four dozen Heat Lightening jets survive in flyable condition.