One Of A Kind
WWII P-38 Airplane
During the winter of 1943-1944, I was assigned an airplane that turned out to be the aircraft that provided more information regarding problems in cold weather than most others. It was a P-38J-LO, "Lightning", #213565. This P-38 was specially equipped with 54 thermocouples located in as many places in the aircraft, and I could read the temperature of each through selectors with a potentiometer located where the gun sight normally was mounted. This special installation enabled us to study machine gun lubrication, engine lubrication, cabin heat, carburetor heat and fuel distribution problems, etc. The Lockheed engineer assigned to my project was Lee C. Chambers, a wonderful man, and a great help to many of the project officers in the Cold Weather Test Detachment at Ladd Field, Fairbanks.
Throughout the month of March, this P-38 was assigned a very special project testing a set of retractable skis. Mr. Frank Ditter, the president of Federal Aircraft Skis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, the manufacturer, assisted with the installation and testing. His personal interest was created by some problems which occured when another P-38 was ski equipped in northern Minnesota. It was damaged on the ground and never flew.
Would you believe that it snowed 26 of the 31 days that month, with a total accumulation of 34.5 inches? The conditions were ideal for our tests, and I made 165 landings, with complete retraction and extension of the skis between each landing. The interest around the base was high, especially among the Russians based at Ladd Field. Every operation was successful, even the dive test, during which the plane reached speeds up to 450 mph. The advantages were small, though. The ski loading was 640 pounds per square foot, and regardless of the depth of the snow, the skis went to the bottom of it. The propeller clearance was only 14 inches and we could plow that much snow on wheels. The skis worked well on rough snow, covered ground, or ice with cracks, while on glazed ice the landing slide was 7,000 feet. With no torque involved and the engines idling at 500 rpm, it was easy to do figure eights on the ground in the width of the runway.
It was a pleasure to be the project officer on this aircraft and make it do all the special things that it was capable of doing. While testing the skis, the right engine was flown with the first synthetic oil ever flown, carrying a 165 gallon belly tank on the right side only, with a quantity of synthetic oil just to service the right engine. This unbalanced looking condition drove some of the Russian pilots up a tree, wondering how the P-38 flew with all that weight on one side.
We were able to start the Allisons without heat and off the battery down to -30 degrees. It was a very good cold weather airplane and I was always first off the ground on cold mornings.
-Randy Acord, Capt., AAC
During the winter of 1943-1944, I was assigned an airplane that turned out to be the aircraft that provided more information regarding problems in cold weather than most others. It was a P-38J-LO, "Lightning", #213565. This P-38 was specially equipped with 54 thermocouples located in as many places in the aircraft, and I could read the temperature of each through selectors with a potentiometer located where the gun sight normally was mounted. This special installation enabled us to study machine gun lubrication, engine lubrication, cabin heat, carburetor heat and fuel distribution problems, etc. The Lockheed engineer assigned to my project was Lee C. Chambers, a wonderful man, and a great help to many of the project officers in the Cold Weather Test Detachment at Ladd Field, Fairbanks.
