Specifications (P-38L)

Lockheed P-38L Lightning at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Data from Quest for Performance^[37]

General characteristics

· Crew: One

· Length: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)

· Wingspan: 52 ft 0 in (15.85 m)

· Height: 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)

· Wing area: 327.5 ft² (30.43 m²)

· Airfoil: NACA 23016 / NACA 4412

· Empty weight: 12,780 lb (5,800 kg)

· Loaded weight: 17,500 lb (7,940 kg)

· Max takeoff weight: 21,600 lb (9,798 kg)

· Powerplant: 2× Allison V-1710-111/113 liquid-cooled turbosupercharged V-12, 1,600 hp (1,194 kW) each

· Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0268

· Drag area: 8.78 ft² (0.82 m²)

· Aspect ratio: 8.26

Performance

· Maximum speed: 414 mph at 25,000 ft (667 km/h at 7,620 m)

· Stall speed: 105 mph (170 km/h)

· Range: 1,100 mi combat, 2,600 mi ferry (1,770 km / 3,640 km)

· Service ceiling: 44,000 ft (13,400 m)

· Rate of climb: maximum: 4,750 ft/min (1,448 m/min)

· Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)

· Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (0.27 kW/kg)

· Lift-to-drag ratio: 13.5

Armament

· 1x Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds (2 AP, 2 tracer and 2 HE ammo belt composition) and 4x Colt-Browning MG53-2 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rounds per gun. The rate of fire was about 650 rounds per minute for the 20x110 mm cannon round (130 g shell) at a muzzle velocity of about 2,887 feet (880 m)/s, and for the .50 in MGs (43-48 g), about 850 rpm at 2,756 feet (840 m)/s velocity.

· 4x M10 three-tube 4.5 in (112 mm) rocket launchers or:

· 10x 5 in (127 mm) HVAR's (High Velocity Aircraft Rocket) and/or:

· either 2x 2,000 lb (907 kg) or 1,000 lb (454 kg), 4x 500 lb (227 kg) or 4x 250 lb (113 kg) bombs