AVSIM Combat
Simulation Review
Lockheed P-38J-25-LO Lightning
"The Fork-Tailed Devil" |
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| Rating Guide |
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| Publisher:
Blue Arrow FS |
Description:
Perhaps the best flying and best looking of the WWII-era P-38s |
Download Size:
13.4MB |
Format:
Autop install |
Simulation Type:
Combat Flight Simulator 2 (FS 2000 option included) |
| Reviewed by: David Slavens, AVSIM Staff Reviewer |
Possible
Commercial Rating Score: 1 to 5 stars with
5 stars being exceptional |
With the release of Combat Flight Simulator 2, the web has been abuzz with new aircraft you can import. You can find just about every kind aircraft that flew in World War II. It is rare however to find quality add-ons to our little hobby. Blue Arrow has released just that. One of the best-looking P-38s out there. But does it warrant the $15.95 price tag? Lets find out.
History
The P-38 Lightning, also known as the Forked Tail Devil was one of the most beautiful planes to grace the sky during World War II. The P-38 was made in response to the US Army Air Corp specification X-608, which required an aircraft to reach 20,000 ft in six minutes and offer a top speed of 360 mph at altitude. Designed by Lockheed's Kelly Johnson—who later became famous for the F-104, U-2 and the SR-71—who was first proving his stuff to the aviation world in 1937. The 1st Pursuit Group, Selfridge Field Michigan, received the first P-38s and immediately began testing them against other US fighters, finding that the P-38 was superior in every category. France and Britain did not let the plane go unnoticed either. Both countries ordered the Lightning as well. But when France fell in 1940 the orders were transferred to the British. It was used in every role imaginable during World War II. It was used as an interceptor, close air support, ground attack and escort duty. It saw action in every theater. Maj. Richard Bong, USAAF's, Ace of Ace's scored all 40 of his kills in the P-38. Also one of Japan's greatest commanders, Admiral Isoroko Yamamoto, the architect of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, met his end at the guns of a P-38 of the 347th FG on 18 April 1943. A testimony to its lethality in combat.
P-38J-25-LO Specifications:
Span: 52 Ft
Length: 37 Ft. 10 in.
Height: 12 Ft. 10 in.
Wing Area: 327.5 sq ft.
Empty Weight: 12,780 lbs.
Loaded Weight: 21,600 lbs.
Max Speed: 414 mph
Cruising Speed: 290 mph
Rate of Climb: 20,000 ft in 7 minutes
Range: 450 to 2,600 miles with external tanks
Powerplant: Two Allison V-1710-89/91 of 1425 hp each.
This data is from "USAAF Fighter of World War II" By Michael O'Leary. I am not sure where Blue Arrow got its specs for the P-38J modeled but it is just as accurate. One thing about aircraft books is that they are never totally in agreement with each other.
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Reader Survey
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The Basics
The plane installed with no problem right to the CFS 2 directory. It came with six missions, an AI BF109 to fight and scenery for King's Cliffe, England. To install the scenery Blue Arrow added a scenery configuration program and will automatically install KCliff to your CFS 2 scenery library. Again there were no problems. The P-38 came with a variety of weapon loads to make the ground a very unsafe place to be. You can chose from fuel tanks, bombs, rockets or a combination of both rockets and bombs. The Blue Arrow P-38J comes in two colors as well; Olive Drab green and a metal finish for the aluminum texture fans. The file is 13.6MB for FS2000 and 13.4 MB for the CFS 2 version. This is a payware plane for $15.95. If you buy the CFS 2 version, you get the FS2000 version for free.
Flight Model
The single most important piece of information a flight simmer needs is how accurate does the plane fly? After reading numerous books on the P-38 and using my own little handy dandy test card for verifying aircraft flight dynamics I got a pretty accurate picture on how it flew.
Take off was uneventful, but the checklist said to lift the front wheel at 70 mph. I couldn't get it up until 108 mph on an empty aircraft. Whether this is a flight sim flaw or a real flight occurrence will not be known since I won't be flying a real P-38 in my lifetime. Landing was not a problem so nothing to report there. The third item I did was to test its climb to height characteristics. Upon take off I immediately pulled to a 2500 ft per minute climb. At that rate I reached 20000 ft in about 8 min 25 sec, average speed was 248 to 251 mph. That was the average for the 5 times I tried it. I did it in the clean configuration as well. I am sure not every P-38 reached 20,000 ft in 7 minutes so I take this information to be very accurate based on my tests. Well-done, Blue Arrow!
Test
System |
PIII 1GHz
265 MB 133 MHz SDRAM
Windows Me
32 MB GeForce 2 MX with 12.00 drivers
12X DVD/32x CD-ROM
Creative Audio PCI Sound Card
Microsoft Precision Pro 2
17" Monitor Flying Time:
7 hours over 3 days |
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The next item on my test card was diving. The Lightning was a rocket in the dive bomb role. It gained speed quickly—and that soon became its fatal flaw. The P-38 had a tendency for the control surfaces to lock up at about 500 mph. So I went to about 30,000 ft and pushed the stick forward. Yes it does gain speed fast. 400 mph, 425, 450, 475, 500, pull back on the stick... Oh no. Nothing, my control surfaces locked up. So I trimmed the nose up and hit the dive brakes, my nose came up just in time. Well that verifies that part of the flight test (as I go look for a change of shorts)! I read in my book that was how some pilots survived a dive like this. So I tried it and it worked. Again Blue Arrow did its homework well. Dog fighting in the Lightning is another story. The P-38 was not built for dog fighting, so tangling with a Zero at low altitude is not recommended. However 'Boom and Zoom' tactics work really well. The Zero is not going to catch you, or out dive you. So I would dive in on some poor Zero, squeeze off a few rounds from my 4 .50 cal and 1 20 mm cannon, and that was all she wrote. The Zero became a flaming mess. Being the daredevil I am though I messed around with a Zero A6M5 in a turning fight. That was not good. The Zero out turned me every time. So I had to go back to the Boom and Zoom to get him. One thing I did notice though was that when I lowered the flaps and I hit the dive brakes in level flight I pitched up a little fast. I am not sure why this is but again I am not a pilot.
Textures and Cockpit (AKA Eye Candy)
Hey we all like that. We all want our planes to look as good as they fly. We all want little features that just make it right. This P-38J visually looks fantastic. The lines are nice and elegant. There just doesn't seem to be many visual flaws at all. It is weathered in all the right places. It has movable flaps, gears, and dive brakes. The props start one at a time. Also when you look at the props from the cockpit view you can see where the paint has worn off the leading edges. If you were to say anything bad it would be the few things I saw. When you start the engine the pilot figure pops into the plane. Also when you give the plane slight power the wheels start to move even when the plane is standing still. The flaps extending and retracting just seem to appear and disappear after moving slightly. Those are so minor though. The cockpit views are top notch. You can see the wings and spinning propellers. When you look behind, you can see the twin booms of the P-38 and the seat headrest. All of this adds to the immersion factor when flying flight sims.
The cockpit has all the gauges needed to fly and fight in the P-38. They are all very readable. All the necessary gauges are clickable using the mouse. One thing that really stands out in the plane is the virtual cockpit. It just isn't some messy bitmap put together as an after thought. This one looks good and is very usable when it comes to flying. I had no problem when using it in a dogfight or ground attack role. You can see the RPM gauge and manifold move. The control column moves left and right. This virtual cockpit is one of the best I have seen for CFS 2. The only real cockpit picture I could find of a P-38 was that of a P-38M. Its gauge arrangements were totally different from what Blue Arrow used. I believe this was for more functionality than accuracy.
Conclusion
Blue Arrow did a superior job on this P-38J. It is a must have for any CFS 2 enthusiast. The only other problem I have with this is the price. While the aircraft is excellent in every respect, I find it hard to fork over the money to purchase it. The reason is that there are P-38s on the net that are about as good as this one. And they are free. But by all means if it's worth the money to you, then go get this one at Blue Arrow FS.
Credits:
- Roger Dial: Model and Panel design
- Mike Hambly: Sounds
- Bruce Thorson: Flight Model and Gauges
- Martin Wright: Scenery
- Ken French: Missions
- Derrick Miller: Documentation
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