World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
17 Aug 2010 10:10:12 AM

Added information to above photo:

Photograph taken at Elgin Field, Florida the USAAF test pilot rolls his P-38 into the dead engine.

During a demonstration flight, this type of
maneuver was to be avoided,but a well trained
pilot had no difficulity. All P-38H Models
were delivered in 1943.

2. Jeff says:
7 Jan 2011 05:10:20 PM

In a demonstration such as this they always feathered the right-side engine, because only the left side had a generator to run the electrics.

3.  Bill says:
21 Apr 2011 06:41:31 PM

CRITICAL TORQUE:

Losing an engine on takeoff rolling the
aircraft towards the live engine, rather than
the dead engine. Normal training in flying
twin-engine aircraft when losing an engine on takeoff would be to push the remaining engine to full throttle, in a P-38 the resulting critical torque would produce an uncontrollable asymmetric roll the aircraft
would flip over an slam into the ground.

Procedures were devised to allow a pilot to deal with this type of emergency situation
by reducing power on the running engine,
feather the propeller on the dead engine and
increasing power gradually until the aircraft was in stable flight.

Up until the later models of P-38s, only the left engine had a generator, so the left engine could become the critical engine,
electrical failure, would result if that engine were lost, this would cause problems with the right engines electrically-controlled propeller.