and I thought I knew the P-38 Lightning

Probe on the nose, that extended pilots pod, dimpled wing tips, and blankets on the wings has me flummoxed!!

That particular Lightning was called the “Swordfish”. There was only one built, it was modified from a standard P-38 in 1943, and used by Lockheed for research into the aerodynamic buffeting and compressibility problems that the P-38 was experiencing at that time.

After the war, Lockheed used the airplane as a research and test airplane for the XP-90 jet fighter program.

I have no idea how that picture got attached to a news item about a Soviet/USA incident, as it was purely a research plane and was never used operationally.

duaneh wrote:That particular Lightning was called the “Swordfish”. There was only one built, it was modified from a standard P-38 in 1943, and used by Lockheed for research into the aerodynamic buffeting and compressibility problems that the P-38 was experiencing at that time.

After the war, Lockheed used the airplane as a research and test airplane for the XP-90 jet fighter program.

I have no idea how that picture got attached to a news item about a Soviet/USA incident, as it was purely a research plane and was never used operationally.

Thanks Duane, that's been bothering me.  I was thinking some sort of data collection, radiation maybe after USA/Russian atomic tests.  Extended pod for data collecting gear.

Another view

Hi rsv1cox and All,
Duaneh nailed it.
That is one of the many amazing modifications of a p-38 Lightning.
The stab got moved back 1ft to test early jet airfoils...
A one of.
If you don't believe me,
I have an Air Enthusiast magazine I can post you.
(This is not an April fools joke ! )
Take care,
Have fun,
Dave

What incident was that, between the USA and USSR?

Interesting picture, I read earlier that an experimental version of the P-38 was made for enabling the installation of floats. That involved ”upswept” tail booms, to avoid saltwater spray, and an extra, rear-facing canopy/seat for monitoring. But I quickly concluded that that ain’t it

All this old experimantal stuff is fascinating, and also educational. A lot of effort was needed to get this kind of complex tests done. Vacuum tube technology, paper reel plotters, lead batteries and such had to be wired in, and carried onboard, making everything more challenging. Transistors, computers and all that has really been a revolution in technology.

What incident was that, between the USA and USSR?

I failed to bookmark the site after reading the news feed and I can't find it again...........But, from memory.

Germany occupied Hungary during the second world war but Hungary was split by German and Russia leanings and fought on both sides.  In the latter days of the war P-38's were attacking areas they thought were held by Germans but were in fact Russian forces.  Soviet fighters attacked the Lightnings thinking there were German but when both realized their mistakes they backed off.

Maybe if Andras reads this he will have a comment.

Thanks Bob. I am sure that kind of incidents took place quite often. Friendly fire and such. A real-live shooting war is mostly confusion and random, so I’ve heard. Back then even more so.

It’s taken me a while to reply to this post but I finally found a gap in the schedule, busy busy busy, to hunt out my Aircraft in Profile bound volumes to look up the P38.
In volume 5 I found and scanned a section of text that refers to the aircraft in question.




In the first page of text, it refers to A.A.F. 41-2048 which is the number that can be seen on the left rear tail-fin of the P38 in the photo.
I knew I had something on it but I just had to dig it out.

That long probe in front of the aircraft is the pitot tube for air speed indication. In experimental and prototype aircraft, they mount it way forward to minimize any buffeting caused by the wind against the aircraft surfaces, as to have as truer indication of relative airspeed as possible.

The McDonnell Douglas C-17 prototype had such a pitot tube. On the C-17, they painted it candy striped to make it more visible in photographs and to the ground crew. Once initial flight tests are suitably completed and they have gathered sufficient data and customer approval, then the pitot tube will be located to a standard location on production aircraft.

Regarding the odd photo of a P-38 studies aircraft, just wonder if some of the odd, "out-of-place" features in it were special touch ups to hide "classified" exterior items not to be disclosed to the public.