P-38 LIGHTNING

[Music] they have flown through the ringing mists of the illusions the sound of their engines has echoed under the club pacific they helped to sweep the skies over africa and their fury has been unleashed upon an enemy continent they are p-38s called lightning they are planes your boy is flying together they are a compact unit fighter pilot and fighter plane and their appointed task is to protect american lives for theirs is the job to defend bombers on long-range missions to take off at the moment's notice climb at the rate of almost a mile a minute and intercept enemy bombers before they can reach their objective there's the job to support ground forces wing out ahead of tanks in infantry and blast the path through the enemy with the concentrated fire of their guns we who have built our towns and cities who have plowed our fields and watched them grow who have raised our children we know that we have an individual in united state in this weapon [Music] we hear its engines we raise our eyes you and i and the fella with four kids who lives on the next block we see a swift powerful machine we know that it's good because we know it's record and combat [Music] and there are those who see the lightning as the product of their hands the men and women who build them they know the thousands of hours of research and engineering and plain hard work that go into the building of the plane they know the rivets and the bolts the metal in the armor plate self-sealing gas tanks in the engines the electrical connections and wiring 8000 blueprints 4 800 feet of wire 66 switches 1500 feet of aluminum tubing 106 000 women see how lightning is built they see the planning and the care the inspection that covers every square inch of every airplane at least five times they see it as a product of their hands but no one knows an airplane as well as the men who fly it they see it as it really is they have been trained to see it will take minutes between the time your boy walks to his lightning and the first time he hurries eagerly out of the ready room primary training school for here the finest aviation training in the world begins the first plane your boy flies is a sturdy primary trainer as he gains in skill and experience he will graduate to basic and advanced trainers all of these are two seat airplanes an instructor rides along but fighter is it used to be up to a student pilot to learn about the airplane by himself but now an instruction version is being turned out as a two-place airplane the boys call it the piggyback and it has proved so satisfactory that it's being adapted to other types of fighters this is how the lightning piggyback works wrap your legs up bill and make yourself at home this being a passenger is a good deal i feel like a colonel already the last guy thought he was a general all kidding aside milo i hope you don't think me a dope if i ask a lot of full questions no a better way of finding something out well no but well then ask away okay well i did have a couple of question marks about the propellers running wire no there isn't a better way of finding things out than asking questions and having somebody who knows give you the right answers bill appreciates that having details pointed out to him with a concise explanation as can be done in the piggyback is worth volumes of textbooks and manuals and here's our chance to see a lockheed lightning the way an army pilot sees it take for instance a little thing like making sure the windows of the cockpit are closed little but very important with the windows closed the airflow around the plane is normal but if the windows are left open the air swirls in the flow becomes turbulent and causes the wake to hit the tail now for the takeoff check the propeller governors hold the brakes open the throttles rev up the engines release the brakes all right now ease back on the stick break ground raise the landing gear and let her go bill has heard she is fast but how fast and then there's the airplanes controlled at low speeds bill sees that this fighter can fly as slowly as a primary trainer that is as long as the pilot wants it to and then acceleration and here's what your boy sees about the real meaning of maneuverability she climbs steep and swift like a homesick angel aileron rolls [Music] wing overs and dives remember your first ride on the scenic railway bill now heading back to the field he sees how his plane is brought into land let the gear down at 175 half flaps at 150 now we're on the final approach left all the way down at 110. bring her in over the fence well up and contact the ground at a hundred bill says that an airplane with tricycle gear lands the same as other planes do on the two main wheels the nose wheel settles of its own accord easily safely it's only a matter of time before bill and the hundreds lycan have seen the lightning as students for the last time they see it now as full-fledged fighter pilots confident in themselves and their weapon no instructor at the controls this time just your boy his airplane and the sky and one of the reasons your boy has confidence in his weapon is that should one engine be shot away in combat he knows his airplane will still be in their flying not helpless or crippled but a fighting tool capable of seeing him through and safely home ask the men in north africa how their lightnings maneuver on one engine ask the men who fly over the tundras of alaska how they climb [Music] ask any fighter pilot about its single engine speed yes and ask your boy how safely and easily it lands on one engine and in the last analysis the way this lockheed is built its single-engine performance speed maneuverability and firepower mean more than just a good airplane they mean added safety to your boy who is the pilot and greater protection to the men he and his weapon defend this then is the p-38 called we see it for what it is a fighting man's airplane tough rugged reliable of man taken by the skill of man off the earth into the air over the clouds into the sand and by the grace of god to victory [Music]