World War II Database

1.  David Stubblebine says:
19 Apr 2010 09:10:46 PM

This is P-38J “Colorado Belle” in the Droop Snoot configuration. The Droop Snoot was a concept developed outside of Lockheed to use the high speed of the P-38 to reduce the risk for crews in level bombing missions. Later versions of the P-38 (J and L) had the same bomb load of a B-17 with one tenth of the crew. The idea was to adapt a P-38 with a housing in the nose for a qualified bombardier and the famous Norden bombsight to guide other aircraft to the target. The Droop Snoot flew lead and when it dropped its bomb load, the rest of the flight dropped too. Although Lockheed modified a number of P-38L to the Droop Snoot at the factory, dozens of conversion kits were also produced to enable field modifications on L and J models.

2.  David Stubblebine says:
2 May 2010 12:53:36 PM

Once the Germans figured the P-38’s with the glass nose had no guns and were easier targets, many P-38 squadrons painted false “Droop Snoop” markings on all their P-38’s.