Editing Lockheed P-38 Lightning (section)

===Pacific theater===
[[File:Give us More P-38's - NARA - 514398 adjusted.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Wartime poster encouraging greater production of P-38s]]

The P-38 was used most extensively and successfully in the Pacific theater, where it proved more suited, combining exceptional range with the reliability of two engines for long missions over water. The P-38 was used in a variety of roles, especially escorting bombers at altitudes of {{convert|18000|–|25000|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The P-38 was credited with destroying more Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF fighter.{{sfn|Donald|1997|p=581}} Freezing cockpit temperatures were not a problem at low altitude in the tropics. In fact, the cockpit was often too hot, since opening a window while in flight caused buffeting by setting up turbulence through the [[tailplane]]. Pilots taking low-altitude assignments often flew stripped down to shorts, tennis shoes, and parachute. While the P-38 could not out-turn the [[Mitsubishi A6M Zero|A6M Zero]] and most other Japanese fighters when flying below {{convert|200|mph|abbr=on}}, its superior speed coupled with a good rate of climb meant that it could use [[Basic fighter maneuvers#Energy management|energy tactics]], making multiple high-speed passes at its target. In addition, its tightly grouped guns were even more deadly to lightly armored Japanese warplanes than to German aircraft. The concentrated, parallel stream of bullets allowed aerial victory at much longer distances than fighters carrying wing guns. [[Richard Bong|Dick Bong]], the United States' highest-scoring World War II air ace (40 victories in P-38s), flew directly at his targets to ensure he hit them, in some cases flying through the debris of his target (and on one occasion colliding with an enemy aircraft, which was claimed as a "probable" victory). The twin Allison engines performed admirably in the Pacific.

[[File:Plane-3.jpg|thumb|Col. MacDonald and Al Nelson in the Pacific with MacDonald's P-38J]]

General [[George C. Kenney]], commander of the USAAF [[Fifth Air Force|5th Air Force]] operating in [[New Guinea]], could not get enough P-38s; they had become his favorite fighter in November 1942 when one squadron, the [[39th Fighter Squadron]] of the 35th Fighter Group, joined his assorted P-39s and P-40s. The Lightnings established local air superiority with their first combat action on 27 December 1942.{{sfn|Kenney|1987|pp=171–173}}{{sfn|Hearn|2008|p=86}}{{sfn|Schom|2004|p=310}}{{sfn|Stanaway|1997|pp=7–8}}{{sfn|McFarland|1997|p=33}} Kenney sent repeated requests to Arnold for more P-38s, and was rewarded with occasional shipments, but Europe was a higher priority in Washington.{{sfn|Bruning|2003|p=124}} Despite their small force, Lightning pilots began to compete in racking up scores against Japanese aircraft.

On 2–4 March 1943, P-38s flew top cover for 5th Air Force and Australian bombers and attack aircraft during the [[Battle of the Bismarck Sea]], in which eight Japanese troop transports and four escorting destroyers were sunk. Two P-38 aces from the 39th Fighter Squadron were killed on the second day of the battle: Bob Faurot and Hoyt "Curley" Eason (a veteran with five victories who had trained hundreds of pilots, including Dick Bong). In one notable engagement on 3 March 1943, P-38s escorted 13 B-17s (part of an attack including B-25 Mitchells and Beaufighters) as they bombed the Japanese convoy from a medium altitude of {{convert|7,000|ft|m|abbr=on}}, which dispersed the convoy formation and reduced their concentrated antiaircraft firepower. A B-17 was shot down and when Japanese Zero fighters machine-gunned some of the B-17 crew members who bailed out in parachutes, three P-38s promptly dived into action, claiming five Zeros.{{sfn|Gillison|1962|pp=692–693}}{{sfn|Spinetta|2007|p={{page needed|date=February 2024}}}}{{sfn|Watson|1950|pp=129–165}}{{sfn|Gamble|2010|p=310}}

====Killing of Admiral Yamamoto====
{{Main|Operation Vengeance}}
Because of its ability to fly long distances, the Lightning figured in one of the most significant operations in the Pacific Theater&nbsp;– the interception, on 18 April 1943, of [[Admiral]] [[Isoroku Yamamoto]], the architect of Japan's naval strategy in the Pacific including the attack on Pearl Harbor. When American [[Cryptanalysis|codebreakers]] found out that he was flying to [[Bougainville Island]] to conduct a front-line inspection, 16 P-38G Lightnings were sent on a long-range fighter-intercept mission, flying {{convert|435|mi|km}} from [[Guadalcanal]] at heights of {{convert|10|to|50|ft||abbr=on|sigfig=1}} above the ocean to avoid detection. The Lightnings met Yamamoto's two [[Mitsubishi G4M]] "Betty" fast bomber transports and six escorting Zeros just as they arrived at the island. The first Betty crashed in the jungle and the second ditched near the coast. The Americans lost one P-38. Japanese search parties found Yamamoto's body at the jungle crash site the next day.{{sfn|Stanaway|1997|p=14}}