WalterM140 wrote:

Someone posted over on the WWII board that Galland, I believe, said that
the
P-38 was the best allied fighter.


Going from memory, Galland said the reverse - that the P-38 was seen
as easy meat, and that it reinforced the lessons of the Bf 110.

Even with drop tanks it didn't have the eventual range of the P-51,
and, as found in the Pacific war area, it didn't have the agility to
dogfight - it had to rely on 'dive & climb' tactics. Against the Bf
109 that may not have been as profitable.



You're right about Galland. There was another high scoring German ace who
spoke well of the P-38.


OTOH, McFarland and Newton quote the Luftwaffe advice re the three US fighters they
were facing over Germany. IIRR it was alongthe lines of "If P-51s, avoid always.
If P-47s engage at low and medium altitudes, but avoid at high altitudes. Engage
the P-38 anywhere, anytime." Which is odd, because at low/medium altitudes the
P-38 was arguably superior to both the ME-109 and FW-190. It could out-turn either
at slow speed, could probably out-sustain climb the FW-190A if not the ME-109, and
didn't suffer from compressibility in the dive at those altitudes. Roll
acceleration was bad, especially compared to the FW-190, but visibility and
firepower were good to excellent.

Galland had one of the toughest fights of his life against a P-38 flown by an ace,
andwas lucky to get away unscathed, but that was the pilot more than the a/c.

The P-38 was the first "energy" fighter. The top two Americans aces of the war
did fly the thing, after all.

And the results would likely have been the same if they'd flown the Corsair, P-47
or P-51.

P-38's didn't have to dogfight with the Germans any more than it did the
Japanese. The idea was to keep the Germans from massing and to keep the
ME-110's out of the game.

True, the type of fighter was less relevant than the range of the fighter.

If the range was shorter than the Mustang, it was still adequate.

Until the P-38J with LE tanks came in, the range was substantially the same as the
P-47.

Also, for a
long time, there -were- no Mustangs.

And no long-range P-38s, either. At least, not at ETO bomber escort altitudes.
Drop tanks that you can't draw fuel from above 20,000 feet or so aren't much use in
the ETO escort business.

Guy