Wingman to the Aces (Lt. Floyd Fulkerson: Ultimate Wingman-475th FG (P-38s))

Flight Journal ^ | 21 SEP 12 | John Dejanovich

[DCBryan1]

Lt. Floyd Fulkerson: Ultimate Wingman

By John Dejanovich

There are no great aces without great wingmen and young Lt. Floyd Fulkerson from Little Rock, Arkansas, was one of those wingmen. Although he had four confirmed victories, so he was nearly an ace himself, he sees his primary contribution to the war effort to have been the protection of his lead pilots, some of whom were America’s leading aces. During his time with the 475TH Fighter Group in the Pacific, Floyd flew with such notables as Major Richard Bong, Major Tommy McGuire, and even the much-celebrated “Lone Eagle,” Charles Lindbergh. Cover the shooter, that’s what wingmen do. They protect the shooter from surprise attack. In this role, Fulkerson helped some of our great aces achieve their successes.

[DCBryan1]

Lt. Floyd Fulkerson: Ultimate Wingman

The "forked-tailed devil" herself, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

[DCBryan1]

Adding aviation and banglist to the pings. Bong and Maguire were very fond of both aerial and ground shooting.

This article is written by my good friend, and FREEPER LURKER John Dejanovich. He has never registered, but I am trying to get him to register as DEJATUN.

John and I used to sell cars together and both got fired for poor car sales probably because we were talking about World War 2. This is an amazing article that, to me, I could hear the Allison engines humming, and the .50 cal.s vibrating in the nose.

Where did we find such great men and humble men as Fulkerson? I 'm glad he is a hometown boy here in Little Rock. Right now he is in the hospital under a spell. Age 92.

Prayers for Floyd and all of those of the greatest generation.

[South Dakota]

Yamamoto wss certainly impressed with the forktailed devil

[GOP_Party_Animal]

ping

[drunknsage]

Amazing article. Thank you for sharing.

[wita]

On the other hand he may have been completely unaware until he watched the film at 11.

[MissP-38]

Very neat article!!
41st Photo recon in the South Pacific was my Dad’s group.

[Slump Tester]

Did you ever get into Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator? There are 3 of them. (I prefer the first one.) It's old, but still VERY COOL!

Hook it up to a nice sound system and get into the sounds! The p-38's engines going in and out of sync sound GREAT! Lots of options AND enemies! There are a multitude of missions & campaigns, extra scenery, and many aftermarket planes you can download for free. You can customize the missions and add different plane/weapons combinations.

The first one has excellent playability, and while the ground scenery isn't quite as high res as the newer ones, you can still get vertigo.

I recommend the wireless Logitech Freedom 2.4 flight stick - I just got one on Ebay for $25.

Any questions, just ask. CFS1 is my main vice.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Great article.

[moovova]

“Fulkerson remembers, “In January 1944, I was 22 years old and was assigned to the 431ST Fighter Squadron. I began my fighter pilot career operating out of Dobodura.”

Wow...22 years old.

I wish there were more stories of these (young) heroes taught in grade school history classes.

[alfa6]

Thanks for the post. A few p-38 pics for the thread :-)

Front shot

Rear Shot

No comment required

An early "F" model IIRC

And an "L" model, flying low cover with an "F" model on high cover

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Charles Martel]

I remember seeing an article in Air & Space - Smithsonian about the number of aircraft scrapped at the end of the war. Quite a large number of P-38s appear to have gone directly from the factory to the boneyard, so plenty of attrition was obviously expected during the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands.

Now the Lightnings are so rare that people will dig one out of arctic ice:

[longtermmemmory]

just imagine if the 3d printer conversation here a few days ago was redirected towards building P-38 lightnings.

A real deal printed airplane.

[EveningStar]

Aviation and Aerospace ping

Please ping me to aviation and aerospace articles. Thank you.

If you want added to or removed from this ping list, please contact EveningStar or Paleo Conservative.

[USNBandit]

One of the more interesting features of the P-38 was that its counter rotating props both rotate in a direction that shifts the resultant thrust outboard on the wing. Evidently this was to improve accuracy in gunnery, but it would make flying on a single engine more difficult.

[South Dakota]

I’ve never seen a p 38 in person but I’ve seen pictures of one along side
Of a p51. The p38 was huge in comparison

[South Dakota]

I’ve never seen a p 38 in person but I’ve seen pictures of one along side
Of a p51. The p38 was huge in comparison

[af_vet_rr]

During his time with the 475TH Fighter Group in the Pacific, Floyd flew with such notables as Major Richard Bong, Major Tommy McGuire, and even the much-celebrated “Lone Eagle,” Charles Lindbergh.

Impressive list. Lot of people forgot that Lindbergh saw quite a bit of combat and was a helluva combat pilot - very accurate. His time flying combat with the 475th (and Lt. Fulkerson) is probably best remembered for Lindbergh rewriting the book on flying the P-38 over long distances, adding 400 miles to the range of the P-38 by adjusting RPMs, fuel mixture, and manifold pressure.

[ArrogantBustard]

Give Me Operations
(As recorded by Oscar Brand)

Don’t give me a P-38; the props, they counter-rotate
She’s scattered and smitten from Burma to Britain
Don’t give me a P-38, NO!

CHORUS:
Give me operations way out on some lonely atoll
For I am too young to die; I just want to grow old

Don’t give me a P-39; the engine is mounted behind
She’ll tumble and spin, and she’ll auger you in
Don’t give me a P-39

CHORUS

Don’t give me a Peter-four-oh; it’s a hell of an airplane, I know
A ground-looping bastard, you’re sure to get plastered
Don’t give me a Peter-four-oh

CHORUS

Don’t give me an 86D, with rockets, radar, and AB
She’s fast, I don’t care; she blows up in mid-air
Don’t give me an 86D

CHORUS

Don’t give me an F-84, she’s just a ground-loving whore
She’ll whine and she’ll wheeze and make straight for the trees
Don’t give me an F-84

Just give me operations way out on some lonely atoll
For I am too young to die; I just want to grow old

[Taxman]

One of my all-time favorite WW II aviation songs!

Thanks for the memories!