P-38 Red Bull Or The Real Thing?

[Jack Cook]

XP-38 flown by Ben Kelsey

YP-38 over the Motor City

[mustangdriver]

That is sweet. I love the Red Bull plane as well. Original or not, it's sweet.

[MattP38]

Good grief!! That XP-38 photo is incredible. In its current markings the Red Bull P-38 is my favorite P-38 warbird. I would hope the new owners keep that finish as is! It truly harkins to an era gone by

[JDK]

Good grief!! That XP-38 photo is incredible. In its current markings the Red Bull P-38 is my favorite P-38 warbird. I would hope the new owners keep that finish as is! It truly harkins to an era gone by

Seconded. Nice to see both these pics (thanks Jack) and the Red Bull P-38. Maybe the (great) era of White Litnin is over, but a new one begins.

[RyanShort1]

Just out of curiosity, I was under the impression that there were YP-38 in-flight pictures, but no in-flight XP-38 pictures... Am I wrong? I think that the original XP-38 had a slightly different scoop underneath the nacelles, and also maybe a tiny bit different spinner

My source - pg. 9 of the treasured P-38 book by Warren Bodie - a signed copy given to me by Mr. Ilfrey and annotated on sticky notes by him.

If this IS a photo of the XP-38, it is very awesome!

Ryan

[JDK]

If this IS a photo of the XP-38, it is very awesome!

Well, it's heavily retouched, whatever it is.

I'd not be surprised if it's not a ground shot of the X or Y P-38 with the gear touched out and then pasted onto a nice skyscape.

(NB; this is not claiming it's a PhotoShop job, or that Jack's peddling or making fakes, but what was a very normal type of PR effort of the period by companies such as Lockheed.)

[RyanShort1]

The more I look at the nacelles, the more I'm convinced it's a YP-38. The XP-38 had a variable sort of scoop underneath, and a smoother line underneath, where the YP's scoop was fixed.

Ryan