How effective was the P-38 as an air superiority fighter ?

Even at the beginning of US involvement in WWII, how did it perform against German and Japanese single-engined fighters ?

 

The most clear advantages the P38 had over its fighter counter parts in the Pacific and over Europe were the long range and the heavy armament on the nose, making aiminjg easier and hardhitting. The P38s maneuverability was not on a par with other fighters like the zero however, and it was hard to pull the P38 from a dive. Generaly the best manner to attack another fighter from a P38 is to come in from the front at high speed, fire a burst, then zoom away using your high speed to good effect. If the fighter is still not smoking then you repeat the process.

 

The P-38 did very well when used properly, especially against the Japanese and was effective against the German aircraft (to the Germans it was the fork tailed devil). The main advantages of the P-38 as stated were concentrated, easy to aim firepower, long range, toughness (partly due to two engines, but that was a two edged sword). The aircraft was not very manuverable, but manuverablity wasn't really that important in WWII. Compared to Japanese types the P-38 had good speed and an altitude advantage. The 20mm cannon and four .50cal MGs were capable of shredding any Japanese aircraft.
the leading American aces of the war, Dick Bong and Thomas McGuire both flew P-38s in the Pacific.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the P-38 just looks sooooo cool.

 

It wa sa good looking aircraft-the task to kill Yamamoto was assigned to a P-38 unit which had to fly 600 miles (one way) over water-and achieved its goal with few losses, one of the oustanding missions of WW2 Hey Desertwolf, Canambridge mentioned Thomas McGuire, in McGuire AFB (Wrightstown, , New Jersey) they have a preserved P-38.l'll see lf l can take a trip whenever they hold an "open House"

 

Lucky, im so far away from any major museums

By the way, the P38s sent to kill Yamamoto had the unfortunate luck to come up against Soichi Sugita (30+ kills, 1924-1925) flying escort for Yamamotos plane. Sugita downed two of the P38s but couldnt keep the remainder from shooting down Yamamoto.

 

Where do you live?...MgGuire AFB does not have a museum, but like most US bases has a few "gate guardians"...man VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Posts have at least one tank, =or a coile of artillery pieces..The one in Manville (NJ) has a WW1 6-ton tank (will try to locate the pics) and the one in Franklin Township an M3 "stuart"

 

i read in a book ( i can not find that darn book) that in the luftwaffe the veterans pilots let the novice ones get their first kill attacking p-38 from behind and low

 

I don't think this really says anything about the P-38. You couldn't see behind and below from any WWII single seat fighter, making kills rather easy from that direction.

 

Im from Morocco, Africa Sacaramouch. Other than some displays of left over american artillery, there isnt much to see from the WW2 era here.

 

I see-well-take a trip across the pnd and one of u we'll take you around...!there's plenty of stuff layig about-in VFW posts, and gate guardians in different bases..

 

Ill consider a swim across the Atlantic maybe it will prove worthwhile once I arrive in a couple of years 8)

 

Yeah, really.