P-38 tail bumper?

Elwyn · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2011 4:54 pm

Are the little nubs sticking out below a P-38's vertical stabilizers supposed to help protect the tail and if so are they solid, hollow, metal, rubber, or?

51fixer · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2011 7:27 pm

They are steel skin, hollow, with a thicker plate welded on the very bottom that is a harder material IIRC.
Lockheed used much more steel on the P-38 than other fighters I'm aware of.
The front of the nose was steel, lower cowlings, football air intake on each side and Intake, covers and exits of all the radiators along with the frames each of the 4 radiators is strapped to.
The area above the wing from the firewall to the aft edge of the turbo outlet was also steel. Under the turbo was a bunch of stainless steel.
All the steel was mild steel about and I would guess be a contribution toward using less alum.

Elwyn · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2011 10:01 pm

Thanks much! I'll have to pay closer attention next time I get close to one. One thing I did notice was how the wing tip construction looked a lot like wing tip on a Ford tri-motor.

greatgonzo · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:00 am

Does the mild steel informaton refer to NMF P-38s too? How was it protected?

51fixer · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:00 am

Under WWII Finishing Standards typically Steel parts were plated by Cad or Zinc, primered and then the top coat was Aluminized Lacquer, or Silver.
If the parts were large they skipped the plating or needed to be spot welded/welded they couldn't be plated before being welded. Again then smaller parts could be plated but larger ones couldn't. Another factor for plating was items that might have areas that would trap the chemicals. Some nasty chemicals were used in the cleaning process and if that is allowed to be trapped in some area it would corrode over time.
The primers, Zinc Chromate, would be applied to most parts by dipping in large vats. The Silver would be sprayed by a gun.
If you look at NMF P-38s the front of the nose, lower cowl and Radiator covers have a different look. In the case of the Red Bull P-38 they fabricated those parts from Stainless Steel IIRC.

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:32 pm

The P-38 "Marge" at the EAA Museum is NMF and you can see what Rich is talking about. Although I did not know this stuff myself until this thread.

greatgonzo · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:13 pm

Oh, I've got to bump in there my next free afternoon. An ocean and a continent to beat, who cares? :lol:

Just kidding. Thank You guys for replies. Very helpful.

Rich, would You have the same kind of information for F4U and P-47?

51fixer · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:47 pm

greatgonzo wrote:

Oh, I've got to bump in there my next free afternoon. An ocean and a continent to beat, who cares? :lol:

Just kidding. Thank You guys for replies. Very helpful.

Rich, would You have the same kind of information for F4U and P-47?

I've worked a little on both types.
I have some info on F4U-4 and F2G.

greatgonzo · **Posted:** Tue Nov 15, 2011 5:29 am

Very interested. Would You care to share?
And if anybody got some skin material information for P-47 I'd be most willing to listen.

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P-38 tail bumper?

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