Quote:
Originally Posted by GH85Carrera
This is P-38 number 44‑23296 named "YIPPEE", a special aircraft that marked the 5,000th P-38 produced. The aircraft was painted bright red and marked with the name YIPPEE under the wings and on the nose. After this publicity stunt, the aircraft was returned to standard colors and sent to the Pacific. It developed mechanical issues and was eventually damaged in an accident and likely scrapped.
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I always liked the P-38. It was co-developed by Kelly Johnson and for performance they decided on a pair of 1,000 hp Allison V-12s with turbo superchargers. They had more than their fair share of problems with those engines throwing rods, sucking valves, fouling plugs, and more, unfortunately. Also, the cockpit got extremely cold in European deployments, with pilots having to be helped out of the plane when returning and sometimes with frostbite.
The French and Brits ordered hundreds of them and the Brits named it Lightning. The US was going to call it Atalanta, but Lightning won out. A remarkable plane, used in the right way in the right climate.