ドイツのBf110や日本の月光が大型長距離戦闘機としては成功せず、夜間戦闘機として活躍の舞台を得たのに対し、ライトニングは戦後まで所期の目的の戦闘機として活躍した。第二次大戦で成功した唯一の双発・高速・長距離戦闘機と言っていいだろう。

　作品の機体は、双胴・双発の独特な機体にフィアンセのボートレートを貼りつけたアメリカ空軍のエース、リチャード・ボング少佐の機体。彼はこの恋を実らせて結婚。しかし新婚間もない1945年8月、新鋭ジェット戦闘機のテスト飛行中にに事故死を遂げる.。

　「この恋人を描きたかったから、この飛行機を描いたんです。」・・・・「もちろん冗談ですよ」と笑う小池さん。しかし、リンドバーグ夫妻のシリウスが好みだったり、意外と"空の愛情物語"がお好きなのでは?。陽気で快活なアメリカ青年だったというボング少佐にふさわしく、翳りも憂いもない大気の色が印象的な作品だ。

In 1937 the Army wanted an aircraft that would travel at 360 mph at medium altitude, endure at that speed for one hour, and reach optimum altitude in six minutes. The Lockheed 22 was the answer. With two newly developed Allison engines, ducts leading to and from turbochargers in the tops of long fail booms, pipes linking the engines to coolant radiators on the sides of the booms, and a battery of guns in the nose cf a small central nacelle, the aircraft was a radical concept.

The first prototype, XP-38, flew in January 1939, and it broke all U.S. transcontinental records. In August 1941 the P-38D was produced, incorporating a laminar-flow wing, Fowler flaps, intercoolers in the leading edges, a pull-out step at the rear of the nacelle for climbing aboard, and an aileron control wheel in the cockpit. It was probably the quietest fighter [n history. Over the years many Lightning variants were produced that featured changes such as inner wings for tanks or bombs, additional power, a new radio, increased external bomb-load, hydraulically boosted ailerons, small powered dive-flaps under the center section, and underwing attachments for rockets.

Manufacturer: Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Type: fighter

Engine: Two Allicon 12-cylinder V Iiquid-cooled; P-38F-V-1710-49, 1,250 hp each; P-38H/G/J, 1,425 hp each; P-38L-V-1710-111, 1,600 hp each

Dimensions: wingspan 52 feet, Length 37 feet 10 inches, height 9 feet lO inches

Weight: P-38F-20,000 pounds (loaded); P38J-21,600 pounds (loaded)

Speed: P-38F-395 mph maximum at 25,000 feet; P-38G-400 mph maximum; P-38H-402 mph maximum at 25,000 feet,

300 mph cruise; P-38J/L 414mph maximum at 25,000 feet

Ceiling: P-38F-39,000 feet; P-38H/J/L,44000 feet

Range: P-38F/G-1,425 miles; P-38H-2,400 miles with external tanks, 350 miles (combat); P-38J/L-2,260 miles

Armament: 1x 20mm cannon, 4 machine guns; P-38F-2,000 pounds of bombs; P-38H-4,000 pounds of bombs; P38J -3,200 pounds of bombs

Crew: l