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The P-38 Lightning and the Men Who Flew It
The P-38 Lightning was one of the fastest operational fighters of World War II, famous for its successes in North Africa and the Pacific. In The P-38 Lightning and the Men Who Flew It, Wolfgang W. E. Samuel shares the stories of the young men who climbed into the cockpits of the P-38 to fight for freedom, and of those who created, tested, and deployed these fearsome machines.
The P-38 was the product of the Lockheed Corporation, the first fighter they ever built, principally conceptualized by Kelly Johnson, whose design was to meet Air Corps specifications. To do that he came up with a twin-engine aircraft with a tricycle landing gear unlike any other military aircraft of the time. But it was no easy plane to fly. Many pilots died in training and routine flying before ever meeting an opponent in combat.
P-38 units were formed quickly once the United States entered World War II in December 1941. Training was rushed to get pilots and planes to Europe as quickly as possible to serve as bomber escorts. Although the P-38 could fly at the high altitudes the bombers flew, it was not the right aircraft for the mission. Without an engine in front of the cockpit to keep the pilot warm, the plane was frigid. Pilots suffered and were sometimes so weakened by the brutal cold that they had to be lifted out of the cockpit upon landing, and the bombers suffered severe losses. In North Africa’s warmer air, however, the P-38 came into its own. With four 50-caliber machine guns and a 20mm cannon in its nose, the P-38 was a formidable adversary. With proven success in the Mediterranean, P-38 squadrons were transferred to the Pacific Theater, where they flourished.
Focusing on the men who flew this challenging aircraft and the men who designed and decided how to deploy it, Samuel shares stories of bravery and ingenuity alongside an aviation history long neglected. The P-38’s deployment is covered in some detail, including the actions of Richard Bong, who became the US forces’ ace of aces. In the Pacific skies, the P-38, its pilots, and designers made the heroic history captured here.
The P-38 was the product of the Lockheed Corporation, the first fighter they ever built, principally conceptualized by Kelly Johnson, whose design was to meet Air Corps specifications. To do that he came up with a twin-engine aircraft with a tricycle landing gear unlike any other military aircraft of the time. But it was no easy plane to fly. Many pilots died in training and routine flying before ever meeting an opponent in combat.
P-38 units were formed quickly once the United States entered World War II in December 1941. Training was rushed to get pilots and planes to Europe as quickly as possible to serve as bomber escorts. Although the P-38 could fly at the high altitudes the bombers flew, it was not the right aircraft for the mission. Without an engine in front of the cockpit to keep the pilot warm, the plane was frigid. Pilots suffered and were sometimes so weakened by the brutal cold that they had to be lifted out of the cockpit upon landing, and the bombers suffered severe losses. In North Africa’s warmer air, however, the P-38 came into its own. With four 50-caliber machine guns and a 20mm cannon in its nose, the P-38 was a formidable adversary. With proven success in the Mediterranean, P-38 squadrons were transferred to the Pacific Theater, where they flourished.
Focusing on the men who flew this challenging aircraft and the men who designed and decided how to deploy it, Samuel shares stories of bravery and ingenuity alongside an aviation history long neglected. The P-38’s deployment is covered in some detail, including the actions of Richard Bong, who became the US forces’ ace of aces. In the Pacific skies, the P-38, its pilots, and designers made the heroic history captured here.
Kindle Edition
Published April 8, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 18, 2025
I've been reading books on the P-38 Lightning now for over fifty years. I bought this in hardback not Kindle. I was excited to get it, and that excitement was short lived.
This book is not about the plane. It should have been called "USAAF Pilots Who Flew in the Pacific War."
The book spends more time in narrative about various pilots, who flew in WWII and all the way to Vietnam (Like Col. Robin Olds) and who might have spent some combat hours in the P-38 along with three of four other planes during their careers.
Literary agent's finger prints all over this. Egging the author on to write something that might interest people, like more info on the P-38's contribution to the war. He didn't produce that. Not even close.
The book added NOTHING to my knowledge of the P-38 that I didn't already know from reading the M. Caiden book "P-38" the Forked Tailed Devil." and other books on the plane.
If I really wanted know all the minutiae of these pilots lives, I would have bought a book on them. I was interested in the PLANE and the title told me that it would take center stage and it didn't.
I kind of felt like I brought home a real looker from a bar with some 44 DD guns only to find after unwrapping them that they were nothing more that a bra stuffed with toilet tissue. It was a real letdown.
Sure the author touches on the compressibility problem and how it was overcome and other technical problems that delayed its combat debut, but really the book is as much about him as a war child in Germany as it is about the plane. I've gotten about half way through it and stopped. At my age, my time is too valuable to spend on stuff that am not interested in.
I picked up, book that I bought at the same time, about the P-47 in the Pacific theater and am enjoying it a lot more. It is a first hand account that follows a pilot flying with the first P-47 Group committed to the Pacific and it is as advertised.
Sorry. I really wanted to like this book, but instead, I'll just reread the Forked Tailed Devil: the P-38. It has the same information and dwells more on the plane and its development and the pilots are just drivers. Sure Caidin wrote some awful histories, "The Tigers are Burning" comes to mind, and some hacky Sci Fi but as an aviation writer he made the mold that others have tried to emulate over the years.
This book is not about the plane. It should have been called "USAAF Pilots Who Flew in the Pacific War."
The book spends more time in narrative about various pilots, who flew in WWII and all the way to Vietnam (Like Col. Robin Olds) and who might have spent some combat hours in the P-38 along with three of four other planes during their careers.
Literary agent's finger prints all over this. Egging the author on to write something that might interest people, like more info on the P-38's contribution to the war. He didn't produce that. Not even close.
The book added NOTHING to my knowledge of the P-38 that I didn't already know from reading the M. Caiden book "P-38" the Forked Tailed Devil." and other books on the plane.
If I really wanted know all the minutiae of these pilots lives, I would have bought a book on them. I was interested in the PLANE and the title told me that it would take center stage and it didn't.
I kind of felt like I brought home a real looker from a bar with some 44 DD guns only to find after unwrapping them that they were nothing more that a bra stuffed with toilet tissue. It was a real letdown.
Sure the author touches on the compressibility problem and how it was overcome and other technical problems that delayed its combat debut, but really the book is as much about him as a war child in Germany as it is about the plane. I've gotten about half way through it and stopped. At my age, my time is too valuable to spend on stuff that am not interested in.
I picked up, book that I bought at the same time, about the P-47 in the Pacific theater and am enjoying it a lot more. It is a first hand account that follows a pilot flying with the first P-47 Group committed to the Pacific and it is as advertised.
Sorry. I really wanted to like this book, but instead, I'll just reread the Forked Tailed Devil: the P-38. It has the same information and dwells more on the plane and its development and the pilots are just drivers. Sure Caidin wrote some awful histories, "The Tigers are Burning" comes to mind, and some hacky Sci Fi but as an aviation writer he made the mold that others have tried to emulate over the years.
December 7, 2025
Great stories pilots that flew the P-38, but less about the airplane and more so anecdotal. Worth reading nonetheless, but doesn't go very in depth about the plane.
Also seemed a little scattered through the read.
Also seemed a little scattered through the read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews