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Tu-1 Pack
This page is about the American twin-engine fighter P-38E. For other variants, see P-38 (Family).

P-38E
P-39Q-5 P-38G-1
LOADING...
USA II Rank

Battle rating: Class:

Fighter Interceptor
AB RB SB
Description 2.7 3.0 3.3

The P-38E Lightning is a rank II Research: Purchase:

American twin-engine fighter with a battle
rating of 2.7 (AB), 3.0 (RB), and 3.3 (SB).
11 000 38 000
It was introduced in Update 1.53
"Firestorm". Show in game
The P-38E is the first of the P-38 vehicles
available in game, and is all round a very good plane. It
gets an interceptor airspawn on most maps, which allows
the P-38 to very often find itself above or at an equal
altitude to its opponents. The main strength of the P-38E is
Contents
its speed and energy retention, so it should be used
accordingly - play it as an energy fighter or Boom 'n' 1 Description
Zoomer. The P-38E is also surprisingly manoeuvrable for 2 General info
such a large plane - while it can't outmanoeuvre single- 2.1 Flight performance
engine fighters, it can put up a good fight. 2.1.1 Details
2.2 Survivability and armour
2.3 Modifications and economy
General info 3 Armaments
3.1 Offensive armament
Flight performance 4 Usage in battles
4.1 Manual Engine Control
4.2 Pros and cons
Max speed
5 History
at 7 012 m 635 km/h 5.1 Notable pilots
6 Media
Turn time 23 s 7 See also
8 External links
Max altitude 12 192 m

Engine Allison V-1710-29

Type Inline
 Type Inline
Cooling system Water

Take-off weight 8t

Max
Speed Max Turn time Rate of climb Take-
Characteristics (km/h at altitude (seconds) (metres/second) off run
7,012 m) (metres) (metres)
AB RB AB RB AB RB

Stock 612 594 24.1 25.0 10.5 10.5

12192 380
Upgraded 661 635 21.9 23.0 17.2 13.5

Details

Features

Combat Take-off Landing Air Arrestor

flaps flaps flaps brakes gear

✓ ✓ ✓ X X

Limits

Max
Flaps (km/h) Static
Wings Gear G
(km/h) (km/h)
Take-
Combat Landing + -
off

790 289 565 495 250 ~9 ~5

Optimal velocities (km/h)

Ailerons Rudder Elevators Radiator

< 380 < 460 < 500 > 420

Compressor (RB/SB)

Setting 1

Optimal altitude 100% Engine power WEP Engine power

6,800 m 1,050 hp 1,176 hp

Survivability and armour

Crew 1 person

Speed of destruction
 Speed of destruction
Structural 790 km/h
Gear 289 km/h

7 mm steel - in front of cockpit

7 mm steel - pilot seat
10 mm steel behind pilot head
38 mm bulletproof glass - behind windscreen

Modifications and economy

Repair cost Basic → Reference

AB 910 → 1 158
RB 3 000 → 3 819
SB 2 800 → 3 564

Total cost of modifications 10 320

23 700

Talisman cost 750

Crew training 11 000

Experts 38 000
Aces 250
Research Aces 220 000

Reward for battle AB / RB / SB

50 / 130 / 260 %
124 / 124 / 124 %

Modifications

Armaments
Offensive armament

Weapon 1 20 mm AN/M2 cannon

 Weapon 1 20 mm AN/M2 cannon
Ammunition 150 rounds
Fire rate 600 shots/min

Weapon 2 4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun

Ammunition 2 000 rounds
Fire rate 750 shots/min

The P-38E is armed with:

1 x 20 mm AN/M2 cannon, nose-mounted (150 rpg)

4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, nose-mounted (500 rpg = 2,000 total)

Usage in battles
Air Realistic Battles.

While fast at its BR of 3.0, the P-38 is slower than many planes it will face at 3.7 and 4.0, most specifically
the Fw 190 A-1 and the Bf 109 F-4 and F-4/trop, although it does have an air spawn, which can be used
temporarily to have the advantage on these enemies. Attempt to pick out planes at its BR or planes that are
slower than it, then target them.

When forced to deal with faster opponents, evade and use teammates. If the direction it is caught going in is
opposite to the team's side of the map, a handy trick is rolling over and pulling 180 degrees until the plane
comes out the other direction, a maneuver known as a split S. It gains speed (instead of a horizontal turn,
which loses it) and exposes the plane to the minimum amount of enemy fire while doing so, which is
important, as the P-38 is very broad in the wings and prone to catching fire due to the fuel tanks.

In terms of ammunition, Air Targets is preferential for the cannon and Universal for the MGs, if stealth is not
used. There are other options, most notably Ground Targets for the cannon and Tracers or Ground Targets
for the .50 cals, but the tracers on the .50 cals are weak, unlike the M20 API-T on the P-51s and P-47s, and
groundpounding should be reserved for later parts of the game in case a bomber is climbing to space, as the
plane is an interceptor and cannot carry suspended armaments.

Ammo conservation on the cannon is not very important; it has a low fire rate and does not jam easily once
the 'New 20mm Cannon' modification is unlocked; moreover, each shell has a high damage output,
especially on stealth. The .50 cals can be sprayed indiscriminately.

As a bomber-hunter, the P-38E is superb. Its nose-mounted armaments allow it to sit a kilometer behind
enemy bombers such as He 111s, outside of effective range of their guns but still able to hit hard with its
20mm cannon.

Manual Engine Control

 MEC elements

Radiator
Mixer Pitch Supercharger Turbocharger
Oil Water Type

Controllable Controllable Controllable Not

Not
Controllable Auto control Not auto Not auto Separate controllable
controllable
available controlled controlled 1 gear

Pros and cons

Pros:

Nose-mounted armaments give great long-range accuracy: no need to worry about convergence
Good speed on the deck
Decent at head-ons in a tight spot, due to the 20 mm cannon and nose-mounted .50 cals
Can always get home with one engine left

Cons:

Very large airframe is easy to hit and burns quite easily

Easy target when flying slow
Bad at recovering energy after a dive or when turning
Can't fight with one engine
The tail is prone to snapping off when hit by cannon shells, even at long ranges

History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction.
If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article
about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-
name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by
using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may
also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under ===
In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Notable pilots
 Major Richard Bong began military flight training in the
P-38E after graduating from basic flight school in the
single engine AT-6 Texan.

Media

THE SHOOTING RANGE #155…

The Shooting Range #155 - Pages of History section

at 04:53 discusses the P-38 Lightning.

See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Bristol Beaufighter
de Havilland Mosquito
Kawasaki Ki-96
Mitsubishi Ki-83
Nakajima J5N
 Northrop P-61 Black Widow
Westland Whirlwind
Petlyakov Pe-3
Savoia-Marchetti SM.92

External links
Official data sheet - more details about the performance (https://forum.warthunder.com/index.ph
p?/topic/272425-lockheed-p-38e/)

Lockheed Corporation [Expand]

USA twin-engine fighters [Expand]

Retrieved from "https://wiki.warthunder.com/index.php?title=P-38E&oldid=94237"

This page was last edited on 16 February 2021, at 22:27.

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