For your
relatives and friends interested in flying career:
From: FAPA Pilot Support
Date: 12/20/2017 3:48:28 PM
To: marksztanyo@
Subject: FAPA.aero Pilot Hiring Bulletin | Pilot Records
Database and Airline Application Window
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From: CAE Parc Aviation
Date: 12/21/2017 10:09:56 AM
Subject: CAE Parc Aviation - December 2017
Newsletter
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Shared before but still interesting for history buffs:
From: dbina@comcast.net
To: dbina@comcast.net
Sent: 8/24/2017 9:53:27 AM Central Standard Time
Subject: P-38
To: dbina@comcast.net
Sent: 8/24/2017 9:53:27 AM Central Standard Time
Subject: P-38
Here
are 17 things you may not know about
the P-38 Lighting
1) The P-38 was the first fighter to fly faster than 400
mph.
2) It was the only American
fighter aircraft in production throughout the entire American involvement in
WWII.
3) The P-38 was nicknamed the
'fork-tailed devil' by the German Luftwaffe, and 'two planes, one pilot' by
Japanese fighter pilots.
4) The P-38 was exceptionally
quiet for a fighter, due to its exhaust being muffled by turbo-superchargers
5) The aircraft used nose-mounted
guns, unlike most other US fighters. This meant that the P-38 had
better useful gun range than other
aircraft with wing-mounted guns having crisscross trajectories.
6) The P-38s guns were so
effective, they could reliably hit targets at up to 1,000 yards. Most
other fighters were only effective at 100-250 yards.
7) The P-38 had counter-rotating
engines to overcome left-turning tendencies caused by its 1,000-hp engines.
8) The engine rotation could be
reversed by simply changing the firing order of the spark plugs.
9) The engines rotated outward
from the cockpit. This made the platform more stable for shooting the guns.
However, if the pilot lost an
engine, the remaining operating engine was so powerful that it could
uncontrollably roll the aircraft upside down.
10) The P-38 was the first
American fighter to extensively use stainless steel and flush-mounted rivets.
11) In 1939, one of the first P-38
prototype aircraft set a speed record from California to New York in 7
hours and 2 minutes.
However, it crashed short of its
intended airport due to carburetor icing.
12) The first active service P-38s
were used as reconnaissance aircraft in April 1942 by the RAAF ( Australia )
8th Photographic Squadron.
13) The P-38 quickly saw battle,
downing two Japanese flying boats in August 1942 off the Aleutian Islands
chain.
14) The cockpit windows couldn't
be opened in flight, because they caused buffeting on the tailplane.
This made the cockpit very hot in
the Pacific theater. Pilots often flew in just shorts, tennis shoes and
a parachute.
15) Charles Lindbergh was a key
figure in improving the performance of the P-38.
Working as a civilian contractor
in the South Pacific, he developed throttle settings and engine leaning
techniques that significantly increased the range of the aircraft.
16) The P-38 flew over 130,000
sorties in the European theater, and downed over 1,800 Japanese aircraft in
the Pacific theater.
17) In total, over 10,000 P-38s
were produced during the war, making it one of the most successful fighters
and interceptors of its time.
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