"Frederick Wilson" wrote in message
et...
So why did the P-38 have a twin tail. I think it is a pretty cool
looking bird. I think the bird the "Doolittle Raiders" flew had a twin
tail too.

Fred

The Doolittle raiders flew B-25's, and yes, they had twin tails.

I was not in the head of the designers of the P-38, but as it ended up,
there are a few reasons that they ended up with twin booms (different than
most other twin tails of the time).

In the P-38, everything went towards speed and low drag. They made as
skinny frontal profile as possible. To get lots of HP, thery also wanted it
turbo (or was it super) charged. They put the intercooler (and perhaps the
turbocharger) back behind the engine, and it made it so long, they must have
figured they were halfway back to the tailplane, so why not contine it, and
connect to the tail, and leave off the fuselage. Works for me! G
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---Jim in NC---