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80th FS legend suggest that Dick Bong was flying this machine when he broke Eddie Rickenbacker's 26-kill World War 1 ace record on 12 April 1944. Bong downed three Ki-43 "Oscars" over Hollandia to boost his tally to 28. However, others, including the aircraft's crew chief, Sam Scher, state that it was only ever flown by Bong once, on 1 April 1944. The ace complimented Scher on his maintenance of "Down Beat". Lockheed P-38J LightningDesigned to meet a USAAC requirement for a high-performance fighter, the P-38 Lightning was first flown on January 27th, 1939. The easily recognizable P-38 had twin-booms, twin turbo-supercharged engines, a central pod for the pilot, contra-rotating propellers and tricycle landing gear. Its roles included dive bombing, level bombing, ground strafing and photo reconnaissance. When equipped with drop tanks it was also flown as a long-range escort fighter. The Lightning's armament was clustered in the nose of the plane, which gave the pilot a direct line of site to the target and also gave the weapons a "buzz saw" effect that was useful for strafing.© Copyright 2003-2024 The Flying Mule, Inc. Atlas Editions Fighter Aces of World War IIThe Atlas Editions "Fighter Aces of World War II" range presents affordable, ready made diecast models of military aircraft in 1:72 scale.Atlas Editions diecast airplanes feature:
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