Bong's P-38J-15

Bong's P-38J-15

Bong's P-38J-15

USA

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.0	4.3	4.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Interceptor

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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This page is about the aircraft Bong's P-38J-15. For other uses, see P-38 (Disambiguation)

Description

Richard Bong's P-38J-15 Lightning is a Rank IV American fighter with a battle rating of 4.0 (AB) and 4.3 (RB/SB). It was available in Update 1.57 "Battle March" to be obtained during the 2016 "Chronicles of World War II" after completing 22 "Aircraft Tasks". The plane is painted after the camouflage scheme of American pilot Richard Bong of the US Army Air Forces, who is the highest-scoring American pilot ace with 40 kill credits in a P-38.

The P-38J is a sleekly designed, duo engine monoplane by Lockheed Martin. This plane has a top speed of 431 Mph (694 kph) with an airspeed warning at 460 Mph (740 kph). The array of weaponry, it has installed is: 1 x AN/M2 20 mm cannon with 4 x 12.7 mm Browning machine guns]]. Further-expanding the role, with upgrades, it can be equipped with either: bazooka's or bombs to further allow it to conquer and dominate the battlefield, whether that be air or ground.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 7,921 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
661	651	12,192	22.9	23.4	13.7	15.9	332
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 7,921 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	12,192	??.?	??.?	?.?	?.?	332

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
790	289	534	~9	~5

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 321	< 460	< 500	> 240

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
7,500 m	2,540 hp	2,845 hp

Survivability and armour

• 6.5 mm Steel - Fore cockpit armor plating
• 6.5 mm Steel - Pilot's seat
• 9.5 mm Steel - Pilot's headrest
• 38 mm Bulletproof glass - Windscreen

Armaments

Offensive armament

Bong's P-38J-15 is armed with:

• 1 x 20 mm AN/M2 cannon, nose-mounted (150 rpg)
• 4 x 12.7 mm Browning Browning machine gun, nose-mounted (500 rpg = 2,000 total)

Suspended armament

Bong's P-38J-15 can be outfitted with the following payload options:

• Without load
• 6 x 114 mm M8 rockets
• 2 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs (1,000 lb total)

Usage in the battles

When playing the P-38J climb to a high altitude, search for the enemy, locate the enemy you feel confident in engaging. Once these steps have been, ticked-off the check-list. Assuming you are above the enemy target: Put the plane into a gradual descent, which gives you and allows you to maintain the speed advantage. As you are descending; make small corrections on your path, so you don't give the element surprise away by overshooting the enemy. Now you are about one to two seconds away, from your target. Line your sights up, with your sights on the tail and fire a bust with your cannon and machine guns. You have now shot down your target. Why keeping the momentum, climb back up to the height you where before and repeat for the best results.

Ground Battles
Using this plane in ground battles, is very effective once you have unlocked the appropriate modules. FMBC Mk.1 allows you to equip two x 500 lb bombs, these are mounted under the wings. To help get the bombs on target, use the machine guns to help predict where the bomb will fall. To do this, put the plane into a steep dive. As you near the ground and start getting closer, fire the machine guns. Using a short bust, if the bust hits the area or target you are aiming for; drop the bombs then pull up.

They are great for destroying, tanks, bunkers and ships. M10 Bazooka module allows you to equip your P-38J with two bazooka's each bazooka has three rockets in total you get six rockets. These are attached to the lower nose panel, and are very accurate. These are ideal for destroying tanks and bunkers.

Once the ground unit's have been destroyed, you can use this to plane dominate the air and keep the enemy bomber and fighters away. This will help you secure that much wanted victory!

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 12 mm MGs	FMBC mk.1
III	Wings Repair	Engine		Offensive 20 mm
IV	G-Suit	Engine Injection	Cover	New 20 mm Cannons	Rocket Launcher M10

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent speed
• Excellent acculturation
• Excellent climb rate
• Very powerful Armament, great for bomber hunting
• Armament being positioned in the nose, allows it to have great and fearsome head on capability
• Multiple armament presets: Gives it a wider role it can have external Bombs or Rockets mounted
• Good roll and turn time
• Good overall visibility in simulator matches
• Great Air superiority aircraft
• Great research and sliver lion rewards

Cons

• Wing fuel tanks, prone to fuel tank fires when shot
• Unable to dive to put wing fires out, without breaking wings
• Easy to rip wings in dives, no air/drive breaks as installed on P-38L
• Easy to black out if crew vitality is low I.e. G-force and stamina are low
• Low cannon ammunition amount, compared to other planes in the tier

History

The concept of the plane was made in February 1937 when the US Army Air Corps made a requirement for a plane that had twin-engine and can act as an high-altitude interceptor that can hold a large amount of armament and ammunition. The term "interceptor" was used for the aircraft by the requirement authors, 1st Lt Benjamin S. Kelsey and Gordon P. Saville, to bypass the Air Corps' strict requirements on aircraft designs at the time. The specifications laid by this new requirements also called for a maximum speed of 360 mph (580 km/h) and able to climb to 20,000 ft altitude in six minutes, making it the most tough specifications at the time. Design proposals were made for the specifications, one of which would become the Bell P-39 Airacobra, but it was the Lockheed design team headed by Hall Hibbard and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson that made the final product. They made many designs with a twin-engine configuration. The prototypes made for the design used a twin-boom design to hold all the components of the aircraft. Various armaments were tested on the aircraft, from different machine gun combinations and auto cannons. It was finally settled to four M2 .50 cal machine guns and one Hispano 20 mm auto cannon. The aircraft armament configurations, all at the nose of the aircraft, was very unusual for an American aircraft design, as most of their designs and those of their foreign contemporaries had the armament mounted on the wings angled forward. Because of this mounting, the aircraft is able to fire at a longer distance accurately than wing-mounts.

Combat Usage

The P-38 performed very well in the Pacific and European theater's during World War II. They where used in roles such as: Bombers Escorts, Escort V.I.P's, Performing reconnaissance over enemy locations, Combat Air Patrols, Ground Attack, Search and Rescue and other important and critical roles.

Survivors

Unfortunately it is estimated that only five P-38J's survive to this day. Only two of them are still airworthy.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.