[secretone]

The p-38 was one of the most interesting fighters of the Second World War. It offered very good performance and possibly even greater potential that was never realized because of production choices made by factory and material planners. From what I have read, p-38's were relatively hard to fly as fighters because there was 2 of everything and the turbosupercharging created all sorts of problems with the Allisons that were never fully solved, especially in the earlier series; resulting in many blown engines. I have read that the cockpits did not have adequate heating at altitude which created further problems. And if you lost an engine while low and slow, you could die. And how difficult an aircraft is to fly definitely has a direct bearing in real world combat situations where split second decisions can result in either life or death; I think that the IL-2 simulator could be improved in that department although, of course, there would be many complaints by aficionados about how their favorite mount was "ruined". I do not know if this is already the case but perhaps some select online servers could require complex engine management CEM in order to participate as an advanced or expert player for those interested in achieving greater realism?

Fighting against slower Japanese aircraft at low altitude was one thing but tangling with the faster German fighters in the stratosphere proved to be quite another. That is partly why General Doolittle withdrew the p-38 from 8th Air force escort service even though he called it "the sweetest flying plane in the sky".

I would like to see the p-38 model in game somehow reflect even more of this fascinating complexity in terms of its strengths and also its technical and ergonomic limitations. Could DT model an engine blown due to detonation? That would be a new and interesting feature!