Some P-38 pilots flew between the gray sky and the gray sea for a long time, and then flew their planes directly to the sea. They didn't know it was water until after the plane crash. 1On August 9th, 942,1/two P-38E fighters of the 343rd Fighter Brigade of the Army encountered and shot down two 97 seaplanes in imperial japanese navy during a long-distance patrol mission with a one-way voyage of 1000 miles (1600 kilometers). They were the first Japanese fighters shot down by P-38s. After the Battle of Midway, the United States Army Air Force began to send fighter planes into Britain to participate in the Bolero Project. 1 the P-38 of the flight brigade flew to Britain with Iceland as a transit point. On August 14, a P-38F and a P-40 shot down a Fw 200 while performing a mission outside Iceland. This is the first German Air Force plane shot down by the US Army Air Force. In the face of enemy attacks, P-38 escaped by luck many times.
A typical example is:1July 1942, 7 1 fighter squadron's P-38 landed in Gokhill (located in Lincolnshire, England), and the handover ceremony is scheduled for mid-August. On the day before the handover ceremony, Gokhill suffered the only air attack on it in World War II. A German bomber flew over the airport and dropped a bomb at the intersection of two new runways. The bomb hit the target, but it didn't explode, so the fighters here can still take off. Interestingly, the bomb can't be dismantled, so during World War II, allied fighters passed through here every time they took off from here. )
1, 14, and 82 flight brigades joined the north Africa 12 army established to complete the torch plan after 37 missions without exchanging fire with the enemy. 1942165438+1October19, and P-38 escorted B- 17 to complete the bombing mission in Tunisia. On April 5th 1943, 26 P-38F of the 82nd Flying Brigade destroyed 3 1 enemy planes, which helped to seize the air superiority. P-38 was nicknamed "the devil with a forked tail" in the German army. P-38 is also very active over the Mediterranean.
The experience gained during the mission in Germany shows that the heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force need long-range fighters to escort them. P-38H from the 55th Fighter Brigade was sent to the 8th British Air Force in September 1943, and the 20th, 364th and 479th Fighter Brigade also joined soon.
Although the P-38 won the enviable nickname "Devil with Bifurcated Tail" on the battlefield in North Africa, it was not so successful over Germany. It is simply a refrigerator when performing tasks at high altitude in the north, and its performance is not as good as Fw 190 and Bf 109. The reason why the P-38 failed in its high-altitude mission in Europe was that its engine would break down when the altitude was higher than 20,000 feet. The reason why the engine often breaks down is due to the problems of spark plugs and other parts, and it is impossible to use the fuel that is often mixed with rain in Europe. Many problems have been solved on the P-38J, but1In September, 944, all the flight brigades equipped with P-38 in the 8th Air Force were all replaced with P-5 1. The 8th Air Force continued to use the F-5, a P-38 reconnaissance plane, and used it more successfully. P-38 has shot down the largest number of Japanese fighters among American aviation fighters.
1943 On April 18, an American pilot shot down the plane of Japanese Navy Commander Isoroku Yamamoto in a P-38. After the US intelligence department deciphered a secret telegram, the intelligence personnel found that Yamamoto would visit the front line in bougainville island, so the US military sent 16 P-38s to destroy Yamamoto's landline. The whole plan is as follows: First, fly 700 kilometers (435 miles) at a low altitude of 3 meters to 15 meters to avoid being discovered. After finding the target, four planes attacked Yamamoto's plane, and another 12 planes covered it. This group of P-38s met Yamamoto's plane and the escort fighter, and exchanged fire with them. Yamamoto's plane was hit and crashed into the jungle.
1during the Bismarck naval battle from March 2 to 4, 943, the P-38 escorted the 5th Air Force and Australian bombers and attack planes at high altitude, which was a heavy blow to the Japanese army. Two P-38 ace pilots of the 39th Fighter Squadron died on the second day of the naval battle. They are Bob Faurot and Huo Yite Curley Eason (a veteran who shot down five enemy planes and taught hundreds of pilots, including richard bong Bongge).
In World War II, the flight path of P-38 was all over the war zone. 194 1 year, it made its first attack in England, but did not encounter enemy planes. 1942165438+10 started to run around north Africa, with remarkable results. Since then, it has been seen from time to time in British and American strategic bombing. 1July, 943, a very small number of P-38s joined the Soviet Air Force. By 1944, in the Asia-Europe battlefield, the P-38 fighter plane was already used by Luhang 13 Brigade. After the 5th Air Force went to New Guinea to participate in the war against Japan, by June 1943 1 1, the ace major richard bong had shot down 2 1 Japanese planes, ranking first in the 5th Air Force. Before the end of the war, Major richard bong shot down 40 Japanese fighter planes with a P-38. Prior to this, any commander had already ticked off the pilot's name when ordering F-4F and F-2A to take off for "zero war". On the island chain lacking supply, it is the stage for its long-range and large firepower. 1944 spring, even appeared on the battlefield in China. With its endurance and fierce firepower, this double-fuselage fighter left terrible memories for similar rivals-Zero Fighter and Fw 190. 194410 June 13, a P-38 lightning fighter of Lockheed company of the United States suddenly landed in the wilderness near Milan, Italy. "Lightning" came so suddenly that German air defense observation posts and anti-aircraft guns didn't even have time to react. It was not until the pilot opened the cockpit cover and stepped out of the plane with his hands in the air that the Germans reacted. They welcomed a defector.
Captain Martin J Monti is considered to be the only American pilot who defected to Nazi Germany during World War II. Monty was born in an extremely devout Catholic family in the United States. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that he became a devout Catholic. During the Great Depression in the United States, Monty, like many other young Catholics, listened to Father Colin's radio sermons in large numbers and was incited by his extreme right-wing remarks mixed with racism, Nazism and anti-* *. But this did not affect his joining the US military, receiving flight training and going to the front. After all, this is a shortcut to get bread in wartime.
1September 1944, Monti was transferred to India as the second lieutenant of the 126 supplementary battalion, ready to join the European P-38 fighter unit to participate in the war. However, the U.S. military has achieved absolute air superiority on the western front of Europe, and the demand for additional pilots is not great. Monti spent a period of idle life and became a pilot of the 82nd Fighter Wing before being transferred to Migueli. Like many young American pilots at that time, Monty longed to be a hero, prove himself by performing on the battlefield, win the favor of women, and earn more bread money at the same time, but the change of the war situation did not give him such an opportunity. Monty met with Colonel Edwinson, the captain of the 82nd Fighter Wing, and asked to fight the Germans in the first-line troops, but his request was rejected. Monty's thoughts are very confused at this time. He accepted the values of national socialism from an early age, but after joining the US military, he received a lot of anti-Nazi education, and was also influenced by many "informal" anti-Soviet and anti-* * propaganda from the government and the people. Therefore, Monty didn't know the significance of his existence as an American pilot until one day, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind: go to Germany, join the German army, and go to the Soviet Union.
Sometimes, ideas and opportunities appear at the same time, leaving people with no chance to regret. Just a few days after Monti's request to go to the front was rejected, a batch of newly-manufactured P-38 fighters from the 354th Maintenance Brigade arrived in Bo Migueli Yano, where they will be overhauled and then sent to the first-line troops to participate in the war. While chatting with the ground crew, Monty noticed a red cross on the A 1 maintenance badge of a P-38 F-5E with the number of 44-23725, indicating that the plane had just been overhauled, but it needed a test flight. This is a golden opportunity for Monty who has made up his mind to defect. After Pommigliano did nothing, he finally had a chance to fly into the sky alone without worrying about any interference from other American planes around him. 1944 10 10/3, Monti applied to volunteer as a test pilot of this P-38 F-5E, and was approved without any problem. After taking off, Monty immediately turned his course and flew north, hoping to find a German airport to land after flying over the front line, but without any actual combat experience, he soon lost his way and there was no runway in sight. Monty panicked. Although it was a test flight, his P-38 still carried enough fuel to stay in the air for a while, but Monty was anxious to land because he didn't want to meet any planes in the air, whether American or German. Fortunately, not far ahead, a long grass caught his eye, and his subconscious told him that this was the only chance. Monty immediately lowered his altitude and landed the plane safely on this grass. This is the scene that appeared before. German soldiers gathered around and looked at the brand-new P-38 and the pilot's hands in the air in surprise until someone came to his senses and escorted Monty to the office of Hans Charf, the chief officer of the German Air Force. Hans Schaefer is one of the best interrogators of the German Air Force, who is mainly responsible for interrogating captured pilots of the 8th and 9th American Flying Wing. He is a very keen person, but he is also a suspicious person, but most of the captured American pilots he interrogated thought Schaefer was also a humanitarian interrogator. When Monty told Schaefer that he wanted to join the German Air Force and go to the eastern front to fight against the Soviet Union, Schaefer was taken aback, which was completely different from the caliber of other American pilots he had questioned. As a defector, Monty did not carry any valuable documents, nor did he show hatred or disgust for the United States in his speech. Schaefer told his superiors about Monti and concluded that Martin J Monti was an American spy, not a traitor. But Schaefer never understood why the US military sent such a "spy" in this way. To be sure, Monty was put into a prison camp. However, there are different opinions about his performance in the prison camp. Some people say that he was held as an ordinary prisoner of war until the liberation of the prison camp. It is also said that Mundi was transferred to Berlin after a few days in a prison camp, where he became a Nazi propaganda tool and read the far-right manuscript written by Father Colin to American soldiers through radio. Even more bizarre, Mundi joined the SS in Berlin and later put on the SS uniform in Italy.
Whether Mondi was favored by the Nazis or not, the P-38 he brought was a treasure for German technicians. Although the Germans had captured the P-38, it was damaged to some extent, and the P-38 F-5E brought by Mondi was a brand-new good plane without any damage. P-38 F-5E is nicknamed "Wanderzirkus Rosarius". 1945 In May, the P-38 F-5E of "Rosario Circus" was discovered by the US military in Schoengau, Austria. At this time, its fuselage was covered with symbols of the Nazi Air Force, and the front wheel was seriously damaged. The plane can't move on the ground. Instead of repairing the plane, the US military threw it into the scrap heap.
The story of Martin J. Mundy did not end there. After the war, he was investigated by a US military court. Ironically, the military court still failed to find out that Mundi's capture was actually due to his defection, so he was only given a very slight punishment. He was reinstated with the rank of Private and discharged from the army with the rank of Staff Sergeant above 1948. But paper can't wrap fire after all. Hans Schaefer, who interrogated Mundy at that time, moved to the United States after the war. In the United States, Schaefer participated in a series of activities to cooperate with the US military investigation. In the meantime, Schaefer testified that Martin J Mundy's arrest was entirely his personal defection. Although Mundi himself did not provide any confidential documents of the US military to the German army, nor did he directly hand over the plane to the German side, his actions had obvious political purposes. After Monti retired, the FBI immediately detained him on charges of treason, stealing precious military materials and participating in Nazi propaganda. According to American law at that time, it was enough to sentence him to death. However, in the post-war almost crazy anti-* wave in the United States, Monti's defense lawyers won him a reduced sentence on the grounds that the purpose of his defection was not anti-American, but anti-* *. Finally, Martin J Monti was sentenced to 28.
The whole case of Mundi's defection is the most direct proof of the discord between the United States and its Soviet allies before and after World War II, and it is also the bitter wine caused by the connivance of Nazism before the war. Mundy's dramatic light punishment after the war, and then mccarthy era, are great satires. Richard Ella Dick Bond Records: 40
Major R. Bonger, the No.1 trump card of the United States in World War II, used P-38J twin-engine fighters in the front line of New Guinea from June 1943 to March 1944, belonging to the 9 th Squadron of the 49 th United Wing of the United States Army Air Force. The whole machine is made of aluminum, and the upper part of the nose and the inside of the left and right engine nacelles are partially coated with anti-glare matt black. The plane number is black, the front hub cover of the engine is painted red, and a large photo of my wife, Marjorie, is stuck on the left side of the fuselage. Twenty-four Sun Flags (Japanese Navy Flags) representing the number of military exploits were drawn later, and the aircraft manufacturing number was 42- 103993.
Thomas Bucanan Tommy mcguire, Jr (mcguire) Record: 38.
U.S. Army Aviation No.2 Ace, 43 1 Squadron Leader of 475th Wing, Major T·B· mcguire, used the landline P-38L with the tail number 1944 on the Philippine battlefield. The whole machine is aluminum primary color, and the black paint is the same as the above example. The back of the paddle cover is painted red, the diagonal lace on the tail brace and the upper and lower ends of the vertical tail are painted red, the black edge is hooked, and the head is painted with the head of azazel. The private word PUDGY and the extension number 13 1 are marked with red letters and black lines. The result is drawn on a yellow square. Use a small red and white sun flag to indicate the number of results. The aircraft manufacturing number is 44-24 155. The above two cases of ace landline Xu Se are quite famous. (The color picture shows P-38H stout II, P-38L stout V, the fifth landline. )
Records of Charles H. MacDonald: 27
Colonel C. H. McDonald, commander of the 475th wing of the United States Army Air Force 10 used the P-38J fighter in the Philippines in October. The whole machine adopts aluminum primary color, and the top and side of the nose and the interior of the engine compartment are painted in non-reflective black, with 28 Japanese flags representing achievements painted on them. The personal characters on the nose are blue and red, and there are several strings of small water droplets with yellow and red edges. Red, yellow and blue ribbons with personal logo are painted on the rear, vertical tail and upper and lower ends of the hub cover and tail pillar.
Jay Robbins Records: 22
Major J T Robbins, 80th Squadron, 8th Wing, U.S. Army Airlines,1P-38J (fuselage part) used in the front line of New Guinea in the summer of 1944. The whole machine is aluminum primary color, and the anti-glare coating above the machine head is painted olive green. The personal logo picture shows a Japanese monk holding the sky in his hands and wearing a brown coat. The result is a red and white Japanese rising sun flag.