ANGEL IN OVERALLS

[Music] [Music] my in this war your neighbor's boy does not fight alone you are with him part of his combat team through every weapon you make if he cheats death in the line of duty it is because you have paid off in the line of production you and your machines produce the man hours of his life every item on your work list helps keep his name off some casualty list you are there in the storm and thunder of battle you are there when the lightning strikes pilot approaching target check there it is the end of the line we're gonna pilot block at seven o'clock coming in close keep heading three four zero easy [Music] [Music] [Music] phosphorus bombs popping all over the place [Music] inboard engine guard looks like we're going to leave here over well there they go we're on our own and it's bouncing from nine o'clock it's bouncing from nine o'clock high [Music] uh and it's out of the sun six o'clock hold on big friend here comes lightning yes lightning p38 lightning american workers lightning lightning from the workbenches and assembly lines washington lists it officially as p-38 and that's what the shipping list reads but an aircraft spotter once reported it as two airplanes overhead with their arms wrapped around each other the germans cursed it as gobble schwann's toefl fourth-tailed devil but the air force men whose lives it saves nicknamed the p-38 angel in overalls because it's the all-around workhorse when the going gets tough once the lightning was called the most hoodooed plane in aviation history cursed as revolutionary first fighter to use a turbo supercharger first fighter with a tricycle landing gear first fighter grouping guns and cannon to fire directly ahead of the pilot rumored too much plane for any one man to fly and fight it but men learn to fly and fight in the p-38s learned an odd way by piggyback two men crowded in a cockpit built for one and so the first german plane shot down in this war by the us air forces was a big [ __ ] a wolf bagged over iceland by a p-38 and when fighter planes were needed in africa the p-38s were the first to fly non-stop across the atlantic and they roared into action and time to knock out rommel's tanks when our heavy bombers started commuting to berlin it was the p-38s who led the way and some arrived at the target area ahead of the bombers so p-38s can claim to be the first american planes over berlin when our invasion convoys sailed for france p-38s were the first fighters ordered to provide air support and the angels made good their promise to the ground troops if you see a plane above you it will be one of ours when long-range fighters were needed to patrol the skies between the south pacific islands p-38s through the assignment swept the heavens clear from australia to the philippines it's the hudu plane for our enemies ask the man who flies one ask a wisconsin boy named major dick bomb you've heard of him i just get my p-38 on their tails and blow them out of the sky ask a test pilot the only limit to what you can do with the lightning is the endurance of the pilot himself [Music] ask a fighter pilot if one of those twin motors gets hit or [ __ ] out you've still got enough turbo supercharged power in the other to pull away from any trailing jab and get to home base when you look down at miles of ocean or the endless nightmare of a hot green jungle you sure get to love the sound of those two motors either one can keep you among the living and with that tricycle landing gear you can set down in the mud of a beachhead strip like a butterfly at 80 miles an hour there's plenty of reason to call my p-38 an angel that's what the fighting team thinks of assembly line lightning ask far eastern air force head lieutenant general george c kennedy the morale and a p-38 outfit is so high it almost scares you these lightning pilots will take on any job because their plane will it'll tote a bomb load of two one thousand pounders pack extra fuel tanks rate of climb 4 000 feet a minute rate of speed secret but better than 425 miles an hour rate of dive faster than the speed of sound [Music] to the aircraft spotter the angel and overalls might have looked like two planes hugging each other but it can do the work of half a dozen flying tow car as a troop supporter the p-38 is low-flying artillery [Music] as the f5b reconnaissance plane the p-38 is a sky spy that slips in on the enemy for close-range aerial photos fighter bomber [Music] rocket launcher [Music] doing any job it's called upon to do the p-38 earns its titles lightning fork tail devil angel in overalls hold on big friend here comes lightning [Music] we'll take care of you [Music] [Music] so [Music] well we're in the clear now those lightnings are terrific control tower from army 127 control tower over army 127 from control tower go ahead clear the field for crash army 127 from control try to make it on runway two land east to west over welcome nose wheel's gone start sweating friends we're coming in [Music] hang on boys this is [Music] ah control tower from lightning 67 request emergency landing lead plane on [Music] fire [Music] [Music] you are watching an american pilot die in the line of duty call is passing one of the occupational hazards of a soldier no one is to blame but the enemy the p-38 he flew was one of the best each part worked perfectly the engines the instruments the guns yes his death was the fault of the enemy that fault will be corrected directed by you you who make the p-38 by you who make every one of the thousands of parts that keep it flying you will be there when the lightning strikes you too are angels in overalls [Music] you