The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a revolutionary fighter for the time with its tricycle landing gear, twin boom and turbo-superchargers. The first models were accepted by the Army Air Force in October 1941 and, by the end of the war, nearly 10,000 had rolled from the production lines. From introduction until 1945, many modifications were made in the original design to comply with the needs of the air services. On April 18, 1943, a flight of P-38’s downed Japan’s great naval strategist, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, while he was flying on an inspection tour of the Solomon Islands. Due to its unusual configuration, the Lightning was dubbed the “fork-tailed Devil” by the Luftwaffe and “two airplanes with one pilot” by the Japanese-grudging respect earned by its formidable appearance and reputation.

The B-17 lived up to its “flying fortress” nickname during World War 2 when it penetrated deep into the Third Reich to blast German war production facilities. Bristling with machine guns, the “G” version of the B-17 was a formidable opponent for enemy fighters being able to absorb extensive battle damage and still survive to deliver its bomb cargo on designated targets. Flown by the Eighth Air Force, the B-17G proved the feasibility of strategic daytime bombing at a time when the concept was questioned because of losses suffered from enemy defenses during the early war years. The superior combat record of the B-17 won it a deserved reputation as one of aviation’s most successful bomber designs.

The B-24 Liberator was built in greater quantities than any other U.S. bomber of World War 2. The prototype model was produced by the Consolidated Aircraft Corp. with the first XB-24 taking to the air on Dec. 29, 1939. It featured the revolutionary Davis wing design that enabled the B-24 to carry the same payload as its rival the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress but at a much greater speed and range. Over 18,000 Liberators were built during the war. Of all the European operations in which B-24s were involved, the initial raid on the Ploesti oil refinery in southern Rumania on Aug. 1, 1943 was by far the most dramatic because it was heavily defended by anti-aircraft guns as well as squadrons of German Luftwaffe and Royal Rumanian Air Force Fighters. Of the 164 B-24s engaged, 53 were shot down or lost enroute, 23 were forced down and only 88 returned to base. “Jerk’s Natural”, the subject of this kit, was a Ploesti bomb group survivor.

Flown by most Allied Forces in World War 2, the PBY Catalina became the most successful wartime flying boat because of its flight range, carrying capacity and ability to land on any reasonable body of calm water. From the attack on Pearl Harbor thru war’s end, the PBY saw service in nearly every combat theater around the globe-from icy Greenland and Alaska to the steaming tropics of the South Pacific where many personnel of downed bombers owed their lives to at-sea rescues by PBY’s. When the war terminated in 1945, many surviving Catalina’s began new careers as cargo transports, forest fire water bombers and members of geophysical survey teams. In these and other civilian roles, a number of PBY’s continued to successfully operate until the early 1980’s.