Lockheed 322-15/P-38F

Plane: Lockheed 322-15 (USAF designation: P-38F)

Mass: 7214kg

Engine: 1,325hp Allison V-1710-49 Inline

Horsepower:  1065hp max brake horsepower

Wing Area: 30.4 meters^2

Weapons:

Ammo belting:

12.7mm MG: ap, ap, ap, ap, tracer

Hispano Suiza 404: he, he, he, he, tracer

Stall Speed: 158kph clean/121kph dirty

Best Climb Speed IAS: 248kph IAS

Maximum Reasonable AoA: 14.0 degrees

Top Speed Chart:

WEP Top Speed: 565kph

Climb Rate chart:

Roll Rate:

Turn Rate: (sustained) Flaps Up:   250kph, 196m radius, 20 deg/sec

Turn Rate: (sustained) Flaps 49% down: 195kph, 148m radius, 21deg/sec

Turn Rate: (sustained) Flaps Down:  165kph, 120m radius, 22deg/sec

Visibility:  Good.   

Control Feel vs Speed:  Sluggish in roll, ok in pitch

WEP power boost percent: 25%

Safe WEP time: Over 10 minutes

General Comments:

The Lockheed P38 was a unique plane in many ways in WW2, and arguably the best two engine fighter produced during the war.  It was one of only two fighters to carry an exhaust-driven turbosupercharger, as opposed to a regular crankshaft-driven supercharger, and this gave it constant boost up to 7.5km.  It has counter rotating propellers, meaning that most torque and prop wash effects are nullified unless you get differential power between the propellers (such as battle damage knocking an engine out).  It has a nose wheel, simplifying takeoff runs, and has one of the best gun packages with four .50cal machineguns and a 20mm cannon in the nose.  It is also fast as heck.  America's highest scoring WW2 Aces got a lot of their kills in a P38.

The P38 truly shines at high altitudes, where other airplanes start gasping for air.  Due to it's long wingspan and high rotational inertia resulting from putting engines out on nacelles, it's roll performance is poor until you get to higher altitudes and higher true airspeeds.  Unfortunately, except for hunting strategic bombers or escorting your own bombers, WW2OL air combat takes place down at low altitudes, where the thicker air works against the P38.  Even the boosted ailerons that came later in the war didn't help the roll rate below 440kph IAS.

This plane is a fast plane and should be flown as such.  It is the fastest plane in the game by a substantial margin (at 7.5km), and is the second fastest plane on the deck. It is only 10kph slower than a Fw190a4 when using WEP on the deck, and thus is the only allied fighter in WW2OL that can reliably run down a fleeing Butcher Bird.  And thanks to it's excellent high velocity gun package with 2000 rounds of .50cal ammo (and 20mm to boot), it can afford to spray away at a fleeing enemy.  Fw190a4's are going to hate the P38 when it shows up.

Unfortunately, this plane is not a turner, like other allied planes.  It has big wings, but it is a very heavy airplane, having a wing loading worse than a Fw190a4.  At slow speeds it rolls as bad as a Bf110 (for the same reasons: long wings, and engines put a distance from the centerline).  And due to the large wingspan, aileron maneuvers can cause substantial yaw throwing off your aim.

One thing this plane does do well is turn tightly with flaps down.  The only other plane that benefits from flaps-down to the same degree is the Ju87b, and for the same reasons (the flap acts like a 2nd "wing" when extended).  The P38 not only gets a 38% reduction in turning radius, but it gains an additional 2 degrees/sec turning rate.  Keep in mind that 109's will still turn faster than you, and if they drop flaps, they'll turn in a tighter turn radius as well.  With flaps deployed, a P38 should have a slight edge vs a Fw190 in a turnfight, and a substantial edge if the 190 doesn't drop flaps as well.  Note that dropping flaps will not help you substantially unless the LW pilot is not a 109 and chooses to turn.  Otherwise it's best just to keep the speed up and drop flaps only if you get in the right situations.

On an aside, one of the things that always bothered me about the P38 implementation of the online flight simulation Warbirds was it's turning ability,  In Warbirds, the P38 could turn with a Spit5.  But the more I learned about the P38, the more this didn't make sense.  How could a plane with a wing loading worse than a Fw190, with a power loading also worse, turn so much better?  It turns out it can't, and Warbirds was wrong.  There's a reason real LW pilots didn't fear turnfighting a P38.

Back to WW2OL's P38. What the P38 does have is a high aspect ratio, which reduces induced drag.  This helps stallfighting as it reduces drag, but it cannot make up for the huge wing loading.  Where it does help is in high speed maneuvering.  Like the Fw190, this plane is designed for speed and likes to stay fast.  Thanks to it's long wings, it doesn't generate as much induced drag as a shorter wingspan of similar wing area would, meaning it doesn't slow down as much in maneuvers at speed. 

Thus it is recommended to stay fast in this ride.  Fly the P38 like the Germans fly the Fw190.  In fact, the P38 is arguably the best Fw190 hunter in the game.  Since 190s cannot reliably run away from it, they can be forced to turn, and thus die.  The P38 can turnfight with a 190, if one is careful.

The problem plane, however, is the 109F.  This plane outturns the P38 handily, and has a huge climb advantage (so does the 190, but it isn't as dramatic, especially at altitudes).  Treat 109s like 190s treat Spit9s (run if co-e or worse).  You are 35kph faster than a 109F on the deck.

The problem with running is that you are a huge target, and you cannot roll well (especially at high speeds).  Fortunately you outroll 109's by a 2:1 margin above 650kph, but not 190s.  Thus care must be taken when choosing to escape.

One thing that is notable is the huge WEP boost this plane gets.  No other plane gets the 25% boost in power output that the P38 gets.  This boost makes the above performance charts deceptive, because the P38 with WEP has a substantial boost to climb, speed and acceleration.  And it has a long WEP tolerance, so use WEP liberally.

The huge reserve of .50cal ammo means you can pretty much spray 'n' pray.  And with .50cal's punch, if you hit, you're likely to hurt something.

One big danger to the P38 is when climbing after someone.  Those counterrotating props, and the huge propwash over the tail surfaces mean you can keep your nose pointed at a target where other planes would wallow and flop over.  This is actually a serious problem for the P38, because it means you can get yourself to really slow speeds before the nose drops.  If the target is at a particularly high angle above you, this could easily put you into a spin.  Try to resist the urge to follow him for those few extra seconds, because the last thing you want is to be in a spin and spend the next 20 seconds recovering while he makes passes at you.  Following a target vertically until the plane doesn't want to follow anymore is a recipe for disaster in the P38.

It is recommended that you stick to the 2km rule that the 190 drivers should stick to:  don't be below 450kph below 2km except to land or take off.  This isn't as hard a rule in the P38 if 109's aren't around, but be careful being slow down low.

Be careful when taking off.  This plane requires a long takeoff roll.  If you attempt to take off from the spawn location, you will likely end up a flaming wreck embedded in the hanger on the other side of the field.  It is recommended that you taxi to a corner, then take off along the airfield's diagonal. The use of the nosewheel in the P38 design, and the counter-rotating propellers mean you should have no problems with the plane veering off to one side during takeoff.

On a final note, the flaps are modeled differently on the P38 vs the other planes.  Due to the extra-wing nature of the fowler flap, when fowler flaps are dropped, the P38's wing area effectively increases, in addition to the usual lift increases.  The net effect is that the extra lift that the P38's flaps give you comes without as much drag as other flap designs that give you the same lift.  This allows the flaps to be much more effective in combat.  Where most flaps in WW2OL serve mostly to decrease turning radius, the P38's flaps actually increase the turn rate while shrinking the turning radius more than other planes.  Thus, to fly the P38 to it's fullest, make sure to use flaps liberally in turnfights.  Unfortunately, most Luftwaffe pilots won't turn with you, and the Bf109F can outturn you anyway (even with your flaps down), so this benefit is mostly for use against Fw190 pilots foolish enough to turn with you without using their flaps, or to get those extra few precious angles to land a snapshot.

Specific Matchup Comments:

P38 vs Bf110C:  This comparison is primarily because this is the only other 2 engine fighter in the game.  The P38 is one of the few planes the Bf110 can outturn reliably.  At the stage of the game where the P38 comes out, the 110C will primarily be the C4 variety, and dedicated to ground attack.  Don't turnfight a 110, BnZ them.  The P38 flies more like what the Focke Wulf 187 would have been like, had it been ordered into production.

P38 vs Bf109F: Fortunately by the time the P38 comes out, most Luftwaffe drivers are flying Fw190a4s.  This is a good thing because the 109F is a much more serious threat to a P38 than a 190.  After spending most of the campaign avoiding turnfights, 109 drivers will start to drool over a P38 because they know they have the edge, unless you are already above them.  The Bf109F4 outclimbs you, outaccelerates you, outrolls you to 425kph, and you are a huge easy-to-hit target.  Oh, did I mention the 109F outturns the P38 like the Spitfire outturns the Fw190?  BnZ 109s, and if they get co-energy with you, extend and escape.  Do *not* get low and slow around 109F's.  If you do, drop flaps, and hope the 109 doesn't do the same, because at least you'll be turning a smaller circle and this can avoid getting shot (the 109 will still turn faster, but his larger radius, flaps up, will impair his ability to shoot you).

P38 vs Fw190a4:  The P38 is the only Allied plane in the game that can take on the Fw190a4 at it's own game.  While the Spit9 is a good opponent, it really cannot play the BnZ game like the Fw190a4, and has trouble if the Fw190a4 tries to dive and run.  Against a good 190 driver, all a Spit9 can do is deny the 190 the opportunity to operate in a certain area.  The P38, on the other hand, can hunt and kill 190s, even if they're being driven well.   However, you must be cautious.  If a 190 gets a firing pass on you, you are going to get hit.  You cannot roll like other planes to dodge the fire, and you are a huge target. Use nose-over maneuvers to wreck his shot. This vulnerability is offset by the fact that the P38 has the easiest gun package in the game to hit enemy aircraft with.  The guns are high-velocity, nose mounted, and have good ballistic coefficients (don't slow down as quickly).  In addition you have loads of ammunition.  The P38 is quite possibly the best long-range shooter platform in the game.  Use that fact against 190s.  Don't be afraid to turnfight a 190.  Sure he has the edge (due to roll) in a tussle, but he's not generally going to want to turnfight you,  for fear of Spits/H81s in the area, and he's not likely to be as familiar with turnfighting as you are, having fought better-turning fighters all campaign up to this point.  And don't worry about the 190's high speed roll advantage when in a high-speed chase.  You can use rudder and pitch to follow his moves and spray that .50cal hosepipe into his airframe.  If he turns, he will slow down.  It's a no-win scenario for the 190 if you are on his six and are gaining.  Plus, is the 190 pilot turns, he probably doesn't know about the benefits of dropping flaps, so when you drop yours, you're going to gain quickly on him.