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This media is the work of U.S. military personnel or employees or contractors, made during the
course of their official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the media is in the public
domain.
Angel in Overalls (1945, B&W, 15:00) This film was developed to show US Lockheed P-38
production line workers in a wide variety of roles.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed.
Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and
a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the
Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, this unique aircraft was used in a number of
different roles including dive bombing, level bombing, ground strafing, photo reconnaissance
missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its
wings.
The first unit to receive P-38s was the 1st Fighter Group. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the unit
joined the 14th Pursuit Group in San Diego to provide West Coast defense.
The first Lightning to see active service was the F-4 version, a P-38E in which the guns were
replaced by four K17 cameras.They joined the 8th Photographic Squadron out of Australia on 4
April 1942. Three F-4s were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force in this theater for a short
period beginning in September 1942.
On 29 May 1942, 25 P-38s began operating in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The fighter's long
range made it well-suited to the campaign over the almost 1,200 mi (2,000 km)–long island chain,
and it would be flown there for the rest of the war. The Aleutians were one of the most rugged
environments available for testing the new aircraft under combat conditions. More Lightnings were
lost due to severe weather and other conditions than enemy action, and there were cases where
Lightning pilots, mesmerized by flying for hours over gray seas under gray skies, simply flew into
the water. On 9 August 1942, two P-38Es of the 343rd Fighter Group, 11th Air Force, at the end of a
1,000 mi (1,609 km) long-range patrol, happened upon a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K "Mavis"
flying boats and destroyed them,[26] making them the first Japanese aircraft to be shot down by
Lightnings.
European theater
After the Battle of Midway, the USAAF began redeploying fighter groups to Britain as part of
Operation Bolero, and Lightnings of the 1st Fighter Group were flown across the Atlantic via
Iceland. On 14 August, Second Lieutenant Elza Shahan of the 27th Fighter Squadron, and Second
Lieutenant Joseph Shaffer of the 33rd Squadron operating out of Iceland shot down a Focke-Wulf
Fw 200 Kondor over the Atlantic. Shahan in his P-38F downed the Kondor; Shaffer, flying either a P-
40C or a P-39, had already set an engine on fire.[48] This was the first Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed
by the USAAF.[49]
P-38 Lightnings had a number of lucky escapes, exemplified by the arrival of the 71st fighter
squadron at RAF Goxhill (Lincolnshire, England) in July 1942. The official handover ceremony was
scheduled for mid-August, but on the day before the ceremony, Goxhill experienced its only air raid
of the war. A single German bomber flew overhead and dropped a very well aimed bomb right on
the intersection between the two newly concreted runways, but it didn’t explode and the aircraft
were able to continue their mission. (As it turned out, the bomb could not be removed and, for the
duration of the war, aircraft had to pass over it every time they took off.)
course of their official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the media is in the public
domain.
Angel in Overalls (1945, B&W, 15:00) This film was developed to show US Lockheed P-38
production line workers in a wide variety of roles.
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed.
Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and
a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the
Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, this unique aircraft was used in a number of
different roles including dive bombing, level bombing, ground strafing, photo reconnaissance
missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its
wings.
The first unit to receive P-38s was the 1st Fighter Group. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the unit
joined the 14th Pursuit Group in San Diego to provide West Coast defense.
The first Lightning to see active service was the F-4 version, a P-38E in which the guns were
replaced by four K17 cameras.They joined the 8th Photographic Squadron out of Australia on 4
April 1942. Three F-4s were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force in this theater for a short
period beginning in September 1942.
On 29 May 1942, 25 P-38s began operating in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The fighter's long
range made it well-suited to the campaign over the almost 1,200 mi (2,000 km)–long island chain,
and it would be flown there for the rest of the war. The Aleutians were one of the most rugged
environments available for testing the new aircraft under combat conditions. More Lightnings were
lost due to severe weather and other conditions than enemy action, and there were cases where
Lightning pilots, mesmerized by flying for hours over gray seas under gray skies, simply flew into
the water. On 9 August 1942, two P-38Es of the 343rd Fighter Group, 11th Air Force, at the end of a
1,000 mi (1,609 km) long-range patrol, happened upon a pair of Japanese Kawanishi H6K "Mavis"
flying boats and destroyed them,[26] making them the first Japanese aircraft to be shot down by
Lightnings.
European theater
After the Battle of Midway, the USAAF began redeploying fighter groups to Britain as part of
Operation Bolero, and Lightnings of the 1st Fighter Group were flown across the Atlantic via
Iceland. On 14 August, Second Lieutenant Elza Shahan of the 27th Fighter Squadron, and Second
Lieutenant Joseph Shaffer of the 33rd Squadron operating out of Iceland shot down a Focke-Wulf
Fw 200 Kondor over the Atlantic. Shahan in his P-38F downed the Kondor; Shaffer, flying either a P-
40C or a P-39, had already set an engine on fire.[48] This was the first Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed
by the USAAF.[49]
P-38 Lightnings had a number of lucky escapes, exemplified by the arrival of the 71st fighter
squadron at RAF Goxhill (Lincolnshire, England) in July 1942. The official handover ceremony was
scheduled for mid-August, but on the day before the ceremony, Goxhill experienced its only air raid
of the war. A single German bomber flew overhead and dropped a very well aimed bomb right on
the intersection between the two newly concreted runways, but it didn’t explode and the aircraft
were able to continue their mission. (As it turned out, the bomb could not be removed and, for the
duration of the war, aircraft had to pass over it every time they took off.)
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| WWII TRAINING VIDEOS |
