P-38 Lightning Aces of the Pacific and CBI (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 14)

the P-38 Was Used On Virtually Every Front To Which The Usaaf Were Committed, But Enjoyed Its Greatest Successes In The Pacific And China-burma-india (cbi) Theatres. The Speed, Range And Firepower Of The P-38 Made It The Favourite Of Nearly All Aircrew Fighting In The Solomons, New Guinea And The Philippines, And Over 1800 Japanese Aircraft Fell To Its Guns. From The First Encounters At The End Of 1942 Until The Lightning Scored The Final Fifth Air Force Victories In August 1945, These Pilots Made The Pacific Skies Very Much Their Own Battleground. Aces such as USAAF pilots Dick Bong and Tom McGuire used the P-38 Lightning to accrue some of the highest scores of Allied fighter pilots in World War II. Described here, the P-38 was born of the need for a high speed, high altitude fighter to escort the B-17 bomber on raids. The first P-38 victories of the war were credited to pilots of the Eleventh Air Force in defence of the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. Amerikanske piloter (Esser), der fløj P-38 Lightning under Stillehavskrigen