[fso301]

I asked him about the P-38 and he basically said that the reason they required two engines was because they were made by Allison and a backup was necessary. I guess Yeager does not care for Allison engines.

YEager has made some other bad statements about the P-38 but the fact of the matter is that the P-38 dominated the Pacific and Mediterranean.

Over Northern Europe it didn't have such a good reputation and I've never really read an authoritative reason why. My general assumption is that a combination of being a relatively complicated aircraft to master, the extremely cold air of Northern Europe disagreeing with the P-38's engines, British AviationGas issues, and a complex logistics system caused the P-38 to fall from favor once the bugs had been worked out of the much simpler Mustang which by virtue of being powered by a British engine had no trouble with British AVGas.

The Mustang was probably the best allied fighter of the war for average pilots.

[Calvin Locke]

Over Northern Europe it didn't have such a good reputation ...

The British got the first batch, and needed planes, so they didn't wait for the superchargers. Probably had a lot to do with it. Then there was a problem with the flaps that need modifications.

That's not to mention bailing out. The pilot had to crawl out on a wing, over an engine, before dropping, to avoid being hit by stabilizer.