Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is known today as a fighter airplane, but in fact it was never intended to combat other fighters, nor was it created as a fighter. It was designed to intercept and destroy enemy bombers. Simply put, it was a flying anti-aircraft weapon-not a combat plane. But, from the first test flights at Lockheed in 1937, the plane that was to become the P-38 made it clear that it truly was a new generation of fighter. And it demanded a new kind of pilot-one who could handle the kind of firepower and speed that foreshadowed the modern jet fighter. Here is the story of pilot and plane in development and in combat, as they swept the skies of Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. A magnificent story of one of the finest weapons to be applied in World War II, told by Martin Caiden and the men who flew the "Fork-Tailed Devils".