Great P-38 story

[Rammjaeger]

I wonder if this is urban legend or not:

"Two Lightnings that were forced to land in Lisbon, Portugal, while on a ferry flight from England to Algeria were interned and operated by the Portugese. One other was interned, but the Portugese tried to get the pilot, Lt. Jack Ilfrey, to show how the aircraft worked, having a guard sit on the wing to shoot him if he tried to take off. Ilfrey just jammed on the throttles, sweeping the guard off the wing, and took off. Ilfrey would become a Lightning ace, claiming eight kills."

And this one is plainly weird:

"A P-38L was modified by Hindustan Aircraft in India as a fast VIP transport, with a comfortable seat in the nose, leather-lined walls, accommodations for "refreshments", and a glazed nose to give the passenger a spectacular view."

http://www.vectorsite.net/avp38.html

[Rammjaeger]

I wonder if this is urban legend or not:

"Two Lightnings that were forced to land in Lisbon, Portugal, while on a ferry flight from England to Algeria were interned and operated by the Portugese. One other was interned, but the Portugese tried to get the pilot, Lt. Jack Ilfrey, to show how the aircraft worked, having a guard sit on the wing to shoot him if he tried to take off. Ilfrey just jammed on the throttles, sweeping the guard off the wing, and took off. Ilfrey would become a Lightning ace, claiming eight kills."

And this one is plainly weird:

"A P-38L was modified by Hindustan Aircraft in India as a fast VIP transport, with a comfortable seat in the nose, leather-lined walls, accommodations for "refreshments", and a glazed nose to give the passenger a spectacular view."

http://www.vectorsite.net/avp38.html

[danjama]

wow i wudnt mind a ride in that! http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/partyhat.gif

[nsteense]

The first one is supposedly true. You can find more on http://www.acepilots.com/mto/ilfrey.html
Not sure about the second one, but there were some P38's modified with a glass nose, as used by USAAF during WW2.

[Daiichidoku]

Spartan Air Services of canada used mosquitos for aerial mapping contracts to canadian gov

after a few years, they aquired a P38L for high-alt mapping

the pod was similarly equipped, with soundproofing/insulation/padding, a custom "droop snoop" nose cap, plus mapping/nav apparatus

[CzechTexan]

I think there was also a p38 with a rear seat too. Not sure. Would be easier to reconfigurate though.

[3.JG51_BigBear]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CzechTexan:
I think there was also a p38 with a rear seat too. Not sure. Would be easier to reconfigurate though. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That was the P-38M. It was kind of a hack job. They added a radar to the nose and a liitle bubble canopy for the radar operator. Apparently only a handful were built.