Two decal sheets with 1:72, 1:48 and 1:32 individual markings for 8 P-38 Lightnings with sexy nose art. The decal sheets were printed by Cartograf. Each painting scheme is depicted on beautifully drawn 4-view color profiles and described in the 18 page guidebook with English and Polish text. The authors selected the following aircraft: - P-38G-15-LO; s/n 43-2384, coded 'I' of 80th FS / 8th FG, Dobodura, New Guinea, autumn 1943, - P-38E-LO; s/n 41-2221, 'Spirit of 76', coded '76', flown by 2nd Lt. John S. Mackey of 54th FS / 343rd FG, Attu, Aleutian Islands, winter of 1943/1944, - P-38L-5-LO, s/n 44-27132, 'Ready Maid', coded 'M', flown by Capt. Phil McLain of 36th FS / 8th FG, San Jose, Mindoro, the Philippines, spring 1945, - P-38L-5-LO, probable s/n 44-25133, 'Peck's Bad Girl', coded 'V', flown by 2nd Lt. Charles I. Peck of 36th FS / 8th FG, San Jose, Mindoro, the Philippines, spring 1945, - P-38L-5-LO; s/n 44-26302, 'Hazel', coded '413', flown by 1st Lt. Warren E. 'Whip' Whipple of 44th FS / 18th FG, the Philippines, summer 1945, - P-38L-5-LO, s/n unknown, 'Glamour Puss II', coded 'L', flown by 1st Lt. Chester L. Schachterle of 80th FS / 8th FG, Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands, August 1945, - P-38L-5-LO, probable s/n 44-25161, 'Wishful Thinking', coded 'N', flown by Lt. Royce H. Hendrickson of 36th FS / 8th FG, Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands, August 1945, - P-38L-5-LO, s/n 44-26412, 'Shady's Lady', coded 'P', flown by 1st Lt. William R. Pruner of 80th FS / 8th FG, Ie Shima, Ryukyu Islands, August 1945.

Table of contents

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.

The P-38 made its combat debut in Europe in mid-1942, the first American fighters being flown to the UK before heading further east to Twelfth Air Force units in North Africa. Its service in this theatre, and later over the heartland of Germany itself, earned the P-38 the nickname 'der gabelschwanzer Teufel' (the 'fork-tailed' devil). This volume traces the careers of many previously unknown aces within the USAAF in Europe, and helps redress the balance which has in the past seen all the 'glory' for the fighter victories in this theatre shared between the pilots of the P-47 and P-51. Some 17 pilots scored 7 or more kills on the P-38 in the ETO/MTO.