Lightning P38 Model Airplane

Model Collectors and Military Enthusiasts Will Marvel The Quality of Our P38 Lightning Model Airplane

Our P38 Lightning model airplane is delicately handcrafted and made of the finest grade materials which underwent stages of meticulous and careful sanding, carving and modeling to its original form. Painstakingly and passionately worked by our master craftsmen on the P38 Lightning model airplane's details, ensuring exactness and precision based on the original airplane.

Our museum-quality Lockheed P-38 Lightning model plane is truly unique and not constructed from kits. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning model plane comes with a sturdy, durable base with a chrome steel support mounting rod or you can have our variable pitch wall mount accessory, allowing your to be displayed either hanging on the wall or the ceiling for an added effect. This top-quality Lockheed P-38 Lightning model plane will surely be appreciated by anyone who receives this elegant desktop display as a gift.

The P-38 Lightning was one of the most important American fighters of the World War II. Although its operational record was somewhat mixed, in general the P-38 was a fast, powerful, and capable aircraft that performed well in a wide range of roles. In 1937, the US Army Air Force expressed a need for a new high-altitude fighter design. The Lockheed Company answered the call with their first military airplane, the experimental prototype XP-38, which first flew on 27 January 1939.

The Lightning designed by Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers, represented one of the most radical departures from tradition in American fighter development. The Lightning was a complete break-away from conventional airframe design, power, and at long last, armament. Not only did it have twice the power and almost twice the size of its predecessors, but with no less than four .50 cal. machine guns plus a 20 mm cannon, the P-38 had enough firepower to sink a ship--and sometimes did. Concentrated in the central fuselage pod, the guns fired parallel which eliminated a need for a propeller synchronizer.

The Lightning tricycle landing gear and twin-boom configuration completed the list of major deviations from what might he considered conventional Army fighters. In this respect, it was very unusual that the Lightning design progressed beyond the testing stage; such radical concepts seldom achieved production status. But the simple fact was that the P-38 design worked and the Army seemed to have found its dream plane in this 400 mph fighter.