L is for Lightning

"If you P-38s hadn't been so slagging slow, maybe you wouldn't have gotten such a reputation as a zero target." Skipper's voice was sharp enough that it could easily be heard from the outside of the hangar door. Which of course caught the attention of Dusty. The younger plane hadn't seen Skipper all day and he was starting to get a little concerned, so he had rolled over to see what was up, but based on the sound of the arguing coming from inside he wasn't sure if he wanted to open the hangar door and find out what was wrong.

"At least my kind looked before we leaped." The voice that replied was just as sharp and biting, and Dusty knew for sure he didn't want to get in the middle of things.

"Oooo…." Skipper practically hissed. "You just had to go there, didn't you."

"Of course I did." The other voice spoke softly. "Because we both know I am right."

"Boys…boys." Sparky sounded incredibly exasperated. "If you are going to argue about fatal flaws in WWII fighter plane design and strategy, why don't you start whining about the Mustangs?"

"Oh, don't get us started on that." Skipper launched into another tirade, this time picking apart every issue the old plane had with his fellow fighter model. Dusty listened, shocked at the venom that his mentor could toss around so casually. It was causing an uncomfortable feeling to build at the bottom of his engine. Dusty was about to back quietly away and try to forget everything he had heard so far when he felt a soft tap on his tail.

"Hello Dusty, is there something you need?" Sparky asked with a bemused smile on his lips.

"Um…" The former crop duster at least had the common sense to guilty. "No…I just heard the arguing a got a bit concerned…"

"Oh that." Sparky chuckled at the plane's discomfort. "That is an old warbird thing. Both Pudgy and Skipper go way back and when the two of them are both in the same place they can't help acting like fighter planes and throwing their weight around to prove who is top dog."

"So, they are okay?" Dusty asked still a bit wide-eyed.

"Yes." The tug let out one last laugh at Dusty's clear discomfort. "Yes, they are fine; just take a listen."

Dusty closed his eyes and listened closely to what Skipper and his guest were talking about and he discovered that they were no longer arguing about what type of fighter plane was best and were instead arguing who had the worst food, the Navy or the Army Air Corps. With a shake of his flaps, Dusty realized there was no way in slag that he would understand the warbirds got out of this type of bickering, but as long as it made Skipper happy, there was absolutely no reason why the racer should interrupt them.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning: With a twin-boom tail, the P-38 Lightning is considered to be one of the most distinctive fighter planes of WWII. This aircraft was incredibly versatile, being used for everything from dog fights to aerial reconnaissance, bombing to pathfinding. Because of this versatility, the Lightning was the only American fighter to remain in large-scale production for the entirety of the US involvement in the war. The Lightning has a reputation of being incredibly stable and forgiving in the air, which made it popular among pilots. But the aircraft's stability came at the cost of high-speed maneuverability that sometimes put it at a disadvantage in dog fights, especially against the far more nimble Japanese zeros.

Over 10,000 Lightnings were built. As a result, this is one of the most common WWII aircraft to appear in museums and air shows. They are also a plane that commonly appears on the market, so if you have a couple of million dollars lying around and want to purchase a flying piece of history, a P-38 Lightning might be exactly what you are looking for.