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Description
| Manufacturer: | Lockheed |
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| Base model: | P-38 | ||
| Designation: | XP-38 | ||
| Nickname: | Lightning | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | ||
| Designation Period: | 1925-1947 | ||
| Basic role: | Pursuit | ||
| Status: | Experimental | ||
| Crew: | Pilot |
Specifications
| Length: | 37' 10" | 11.5 m | |
| Height: | 12' 10" | 3.9 m | |
| Wingspan: | 52' 0" | 15.8 m | |
| Wingarea: | 328.0 sq ft | 30.4 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 11,507 lb | 5,218 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 13,964 lb | 6,332 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 15,416 lb | 6,991 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 2 | ||
| Powerplant: | Allison V-1710-11/15 | ||
| Horsepower (each): | 1150 | ||
Performance
| Range: | 890 miles | 1,433 km | |
| Max Speed: | 413 mph | 665 km/h | 359 kt |
| Climb: | 20,000 ft/min | 6,095 m/min | |
| Ceiling: | 38,000 ft | 11,582 m | |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Tom Brown , OH | You may be remembering the XP-58 "Chain Lightning" which was scheduled, at one time or another, for just about every one of the Army Air Corps' many WW2 phantom power plants. Somehow, though, it missed the "Corncob." The comprehensive listing of P-38 production found in the appendix of Warren Bodie's exhaustive treatment of the Lightning includes only one non-Allison type unstalled in a P-38 airframe, however, and that was the Continental IV-1430 found in the XP-49. If you sat in this plane at Lockheed, I'm betting it was the Chain Lightning.
When USAAC authorized the XP-58 in 1940, the original concept of an enlarged Lightning picked up a second seat and a dorsal turret, and its Continental IV-1430 gave way to Pratt & Whitney's XH-2600. After P&W pulled the XH-2600's plug to better concentrate on the "Corncob," the air corps proposed first Lycoming's XH-2470, then Continental's XH-2860 before frustrated Lockheed begged to install the R-2800. Not enough power, USAAC answered, insisting now on the 42-cylinder Wright XR-2160 Tornado. Through all this, the plane's role kept changing, and added equipment swelled its gross weight from 16,500 to 34,000 lbs. When the Tornado project collapsed in 1943, the XP-58 switched to Allison's 24-cylinder V-3420-11/13. Four years after its initial authorization, the XP-58, now grossing over 38,000 lbs., finally flew on D-Day. Shipped to Wright Field, the Chain Lightning slipped into obscurity as a non-flying instructional airframe. Its final disposition is unknown. 02/27/2011 @ 14:14 [ref: 36461] |
| Bill Whipple Oceanside, CA | The last experimental P38 had "corn cobb" rotary air cooled engines. I used to sit in it...I don't know if it flew or what happened to it. Do You? 09/22/2007 @ 12:48 [ref: 17988] |
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