P-38 Lightning Announcement & Stay-at-Home Sale!

Greetings Pilots,

Today we are very excited to be announcing our next release for X-plane 11: The Lockheed P-38L Lightning

With over 10,000 built between 1941-1944 (and nearly 4000 of these as the P-38L), the P-38 Lightning is an iconic American Warbird, easily distinguished by its unique twin-boom and central nacelle design. The ‘’Fork-tailed devil” inspired terror across Europe & the Pacific as not only a fighter, but a highly effective fighter-bomber, night fighter and long-range escort.

The Lightning is capable of speeds up to 414 mph and an excellent rate of climb, powered by its powerful twin Allison V-1710 Engines. The Allison engines drive a 3-bladed Curtiss Electric Constant-speed propeller, counter-rotating to eliminate yaw tendencies, generating up to 1600 HP in each engine at a 2:1 gear reduction ratio. Dogfight performance is improved drastically with the addition of innovative technology for its time, such as the hydraulically powered Aileron Boosters, Manoeuvre flaps and Dive Flaps.

Key Specs

Built: 3810
Wing Span: 15.84m
Length: 11.53m
Height: 3.91m
Wing Area: 30.43m²

Empty Weight: 5806kg
Gross Weight: 7938kg

Top Speed: 414 mph
Service Ceiling: 44,000 ft / 13km
Max Range: 2600 miles / 4185 km
Climb: Up to 4750 ft/min (24.1m/s)
Powerplant: 2 × Allison V-1710-111 V-12 liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged piston engine, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) WEP at 60 inHg (2.032 bar) and 3,000 rpm (counter-rotating)
Armament: 1 x 20mm Nose Cannon, 4 x .50 Cal Nose Guns + 4 Pylons for mounting various bomb & rocket configurations (up to 3000 lbs of bombs)

Key Features

• High-quality, extensively detailed and accurate 3D Model
• Ultra-realistic, high-res Texture work (built with the aid of photogrammetry)
• Immersive FMOD Sound design built from professional recordings of a real P-38 and Allison V-1710
• Detailed & Extensive simulations of the Lightnings core systems, including accurate, code-driven replications of the Lightnings Fuel, Hydraulic, Cooling and Electrical Systems. All systems are programmed to function virtually identically to the real-world P-38 Systems. Be sure to brush up on the User Manual!
• Incredibly realistic Flight Model made possible with carefully data-matched simulations of the NACA 23016 & NACA 4412 Airfoils. Flight performance has been verified against real-world Performance & handling tests to ensure extensive realism.
• Realistic Engine Start-up modelling (don’t forget your checklists!)
• Realistic External Tanks Integration
• Fitted with 4 x .50 Cal Nose guns and a 20mm Nose Gun by default, and also compatible with X-planes weapons systems.
• Inclusion of Static/Ground Elements (Chocks, Tiedown, GPU)
• 3D Garmin 530 GPS fully integrated into the cockpit (optional)
• Modern Radio / Transponder Unit
• AviTab Integration
• Inclusion of FlyingIrons UI Tablet (optional). The tablet incorporates many useful GUI features and puts them in an easily accessible and realistic in-cockpit Touchscreen Tablet. Included in the tablet is:
  - Settings Page / Config
  - Flight Setup / Weight & Balance Page (Custom – Graphical)
  - AviTab
  - GPS & Radio toggles
  - X-plane Map & IOS apps
  - Ground Services app
• VR Ready
• Detailed User Manual & Checklists

Having been in development for several months now, we are happy to say that the P-38L is close to completion, with a few remaining art & programming tasks left to wrap things up. Please bear in mind that due to the fact we are still in development, features may changed or added prior to release. There a few additional features we hope to implement that aren't in the list, such as enhancing the thermodynamics model and implementing engine damage/wear. These features however are not guaranteed and therefore not in the list; rest assured we will keep you updated with any new features.

Feel free to leave any comments & questions you might have about development.

For this release; we are planning to publicly release the User Manual before the aircraft itself, so that interested pilots can get an idea of how things are modelled/how things work. We are on track with our development schedule and anticipating to release the Lightning sometime toward the end of May; hopefully bringing some joy to virtual pilots stuck in lockdown.

We hope you are as excited as we are to be bringing the Lightning to life!

Stay at Home Sale

To help beat the lockdown boredom, we have started our 'Stay at Home' sale! All our products are now 20% off! Take to the skies and master an iconic Warbird, or hone your precision flying skills & glider procedures in the highly realistic G109b.

Thanks guys & stay safe,
Dan & Alex
FlyingIron Simulations