GAN Staff | Letters | March 9, 2007
As a World War II Tac Recon pilot with the 64th TRG, 9th AF, ETO, I caught the misidentification of the so-called P-38 that Bill Lear Jr. was flying on page 46 of your Jan. 19 issue (Art Report: “Bill Lear and surplus WWII aircraft — what’s the connection?”). No gun ports on the nose, plus more important, you can see the window on the right side and — looking through that window — apparently another on the left which allowed their big cameras to shoot oblique pictures left and right and finally the tear drop item under the nose. I don’t remember exactly what it was (I think radar) but I do know it was involved in high altitude photography and was not on any P-38 I ever saw. All together that tells me the plane is an F-5 — the unarmed photo recon version of the P-38. Oh yes, they also had a window on the bottom of the nose for their vertical camera.
Continue Reading »