The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an unusual fighter. And the Lightning story will begin with an unusual question.
Why would the Lightning have such a hefty cockpit?
The aircraft was built on a double-girder layout with the cockpit located in the middle of the fuselage gondola. And with this gondola there is one mystery. The gondola is large - its length was more than 6 meters, and the largest transverse dimension (height) in the place where the pilot's seat was , reached 2 meters!
This is very funny, because the center section of the Lightning is longer than the entire Soviet I-16 fighter, from the propeller to the trailing edge of the rudder! And just a couple of meters shorter than the MiG-3.
The 6-meter section of the MiG's fuselage was enough to accommodate an engine weighing almost a ton (the length of the AM-35 cylinder block is more than 2 meters!), With all the necessary fuel fittings and cooling radiators, weapons, then the cockpit, with a seat, instruments and controls, followed by a lowered gargrot, smoothly turning into a vertical keel. The keel added the remaining couple of meters to the length of the MiG (the full length of the fighter is 8.25 m).
Fuselage gondola "Lightning" (also over 6 meters) for some reason was enough only for the cockpit and weapons: 20mm cannon and four machine guns. Nothing surprising for that era. The MiG-3 of one of the modifications also demonstrated the possibility of installing two synchronized 20-mm cannons above the engine, in front of the pilot's cockpit (there was enough space, the question was in the engine of the required power).
The middle section of the Lightning was not only long but unexpectedly high! The fuselage of such dimensions would be enough to accommodate an engine with an oil cooler sticking out from under it.
But the Lightning's engines were located in front of the fuselage beams, to the left and right of the central nacelle.
The Lightning's fuel tanks were in the wing.
Nothing more significant in the central section of the P-38, in theory, should not be. Due to its lightness, the gondola even received a load-bearing skin (i.e., without a power pack): smooth duralumin sheets provided the necessary strength.
What was the useful space in the gondola spent on?
Answer: its entire lower part was occupied by the compartment of the nose landing gear! And at this point, the Lightning story turns into utter absurdity. However, this is never a joke. Everyone can be convinced of the validity of the conclusions by comparing the numbers and drawings.
For the first time, twenty years ago, the Russian historian-researcher Oleg Teslenko drew attention to the paradoxical construction of Lightning. Further, he somewhat broadened his view of the problem and received unexpected results. You can say that he did all the work for Clarence "Kelly" Johnson - the famous aircraft designer, in addition to "Lightning", who had a hand in the creation of the U-2 and the controversial F-104 fighter, nicknamed the "Widowmaker".
You can treat the opinion of enthusiasts and all kinds of amateurs in different ways. But, as follows from the epic with the F-104, even professionals, such as Kelly Johnson, are capable of making gross mistakes.
Therefore, the presented point of view has the right to be voiced. It provides a lot of food for the mind and develops creative thinking.
The entire lower part of the P-38 fuselage nacelle was occupied by the nose landing gear compartment. But that is not all. Even taking into account the maximum tire diameter (500 mm) between the retracted chassis and the deck of the pilot's cockpit, a 30-centimeter "gap" was obtained. Extra free space.
Further, there is an even more paradoxical element in the design.
Ideally, the nacelle is long enough to place the landing gear wheel in retracted form behind the back of the pilot's seat. In reality, it was located exactly under the cockpit. As if Clarence Johnson did everything to increase the height of the gondola!
And he really did.
Clarence Johnson was aware that with the chosen three-point landing gear scheme with a nose strut, the length of the main struts was not enough to provide a safe distance from the propellers to the ground. Especially in the case of the Lightning, which had a geometrically disadvantageous engine layout compared to classic fighters, which had the propeller in the nose, high above the ground.
Only a long nose strut, which in this case turned out to be too long and fragile, could "lift" the plane. There was a threat of frequent chassis breaks during landing.
Many designers found themselves in a similar situation - when aircraft, for various reasons, required a large "clearance" without the possibility of lengthening the landing gear. Therefore, the designers changed the aircraft itself, in one way or another "underestimating" it in the attachment points of the struts.
The most famous example is the German dive bomber "Stuck" with a W-shaped wing break. The creators of "Corsair" did the same; the durability of the landing gear for a carrier-based aircraft was a sacred parameter.
In this case the creators of "Lightning" artificially increased the dimensions of the gondolaso that its bottom edge is as close to the ground as possible.
The price for such a decision was the increased frontal resistance. But the designers had no other choice …
Any problem can be resolved. And solved in more than one way
Clarence Johnson managed to build an unusual aircraft with a nose landing gear, avoiding the dangers associated with the fragility of the landing gear.
But the question arises: were there alternatives to a very difficult solution?
Of course there were.
Aviation knows an example of an aircraft of a similar scheme - the German reconnaissance aircraft FW-189 (nicknamed "Rama"). The Germans got by with the classic chassis scheme for that time, with two main struts and a tail wheel. Which was removed by turning to the left, into a special niche arranged in the thickness of the stabilizer.
As for the bulky central gondola 6 meters long and 2 meters high, then I'm sorry … There were jobs for three crew members, two mobile firing installations and reconnaissance equipment. A stationary high-resolution camera mounted on a massive frame - such a "obscura" created in the first half of the 20th century, had an outstanding mass and dimensions.
In general, the designers of the Focke-Wolfe company simply did not bother with the nose landing gear, because such a scheme was not particularly necessary for an aircraft of the piston era.
An even more beautiful solution was found by the creators of the P-82 "Twin Mustang", whose design was very similar to the "Lightning" (except for the absence of a central gondola). For such a "square" aircraft with two fuselages, it is most suitable … four-point chassis layout.
This scheme significantly increases stability when taxiing and virtually eliminates the problems associated with touching the ground with the tail section during landing.
Taken together, all the solutions presented would save several hundred kilograms of mass for Lightning and significantly reduce drag. The need for the front strut, its hydraulic drive and a separate swing mechanism would disappear, the size of the nacelle would be reduced, the chassis compartment would disappear - along with the drive of its doors. On the other hand, the performance of the fighter, its stability and maneuverability would be improved, especially when taxiing and taking off from unpaved airfields.
It could be considered all this is bare theory, but the FW-189 and P-82 are real machines that have successfully shown themselves in practice and in combat.
But Clarence "Kelly" Johnson decided in his own way.
For what purpose did he obsessively try to "push" the bulky nose pillar onto the fighter, "stretching" the central gondola in all directions? This moment will forever remain unsolved secret aviation.
The Lightning first had a tail landing gear
Fighter "Lightning", most likely, was originally designed for a chassis with a tail wheel. The proof is the "rudiment" in the form of the tilt of the main landing gear. O. Teslenko draws attention to the fact that the struts in the extended position have a pronounced forward tilt, which is meaningless and even harmful for a three-post aircraft with a nose wheel.
According to all the rules of physics and geometry, the landing gear should be as far away from the aircraft's center of gravity as possible. By the way, it is no coincidence that the Lightning has such a long gondola - it was necessary to place the nose pillar as far forward as possible, away from the line of the main landing gear.
The forward-tilted main landing gear was a necessary feature of all piston aircraft with a tail landing gear, which made it possible to increase their stability during takeoff. Aircraft that had a nose strut, on the contrary, had a tilt of the main struts back. An obvious example is the Bell P-39 Airacobra:
The Lightning is an amazing plane in every respect
I am afraid that from this place I will no longer tell anything that could be new or unknown to the reader.
The P-38 Lightning was not a bad fighter, but neither was it the most successful. Evolution in aviation was remarkable at an astonishing pace, and the fighter created in 1939 was soon obsolete.
The effectiveness of the use of "Lightning" was highly dependent on the conditions of the theater of operations.
The Germans considered the "Doppelschwanz" to be the weakest and "easily knocked down" Allied fighter. The main reason was the engines, which had poor performance at altitudes above 6000 m, despite the presence of turbocharging. By the way, all fighters with Allison engines (P-38 Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, P-40 Tomahok) showed themselves only at low and medium altitudes.
Another problem was the cockpit, which was unable to provide heating when flying at high altitudes, where the temperature overboard could drop to minus 50 °.
Finally, insufficient roll speed. The most important parameter for a fighter, in practice, determining, for example, the ability to escape at the last moment from the enemy's sight.
In the European theater of operations, Lightning's career was short (1943-44); in the last year of the war, it was completely supplanted by more advanced fighters. Nevertheless, fighters of this type managed to carry out 130,000 sorties over Europe with a loss rate of 1.3% (over 1,700 aircraft).
In the Pacific Ocean, Lightning appeared earlier and was able to reach its full potential. It seemed that this heavy fighter was specially designed for long flights over the ocean. Two engines were twice as likely to return home. Weapons without synchronizers made it possible to increase the rate of fire. The location of the barrels near the longitudinal axis of the aircraft provided excellent firing accuracy. One of the first fighters with turbocharged engines (it was the presence of this system that played a role in the choice of the layout). With its exhaust combined with a turbocharging system, the Lightning was initially considered one of the quietest fighters. Armed to the teeth and equipped. Not a plane - a dream.
Despite the relative small number of Lightnings (the smallest series among other famous fighters - Thunder, Mustang, Hellket, Corsair, Tomahok …), the brainchild of Johnson's Kelly has earned its fame. Three of the best overseas aces flew on the Lightning. "Lightnings" were used in the most striking operations, an example of this is the elimination of Admiral Yamamoto. Saint-Exupery took off in Lightning on his last flight.
It was an interesting car. The only question is: could it be better?
