P-38 Lightning Glacier Girl 60 Year old 20mm cannon

[LongBeachPits562]

And you say AK's are reliable. That shit was buried in snow for 60 fucking years and still fired...lol!

[MrWINNSLAW]

"The fire power of the P38 was front and center: (4) 50 cal. machine guns+(1) 20mm nose cannon. I'm pretty sure the axis fighter pilots shit up a storm in their cockpits when facing this "fork-tailed devil!"

[Xiolablu3]

Spitfire had 2 of these cannons, Hawker Typhoon and Tempest had 4!

[jimmyxx3]

"Did it recoil?"

Uh, heck no it didn't! -_-

[greywolf45]

I've also heard them called "Devil in Overalls". The P-38 earned allot of respect from the enemy pilots that went against them.

[Jonno2summit]

P-38D: Some had no guns, and those that did only had the four .50 cal MGs. The planned 37mm cannon was never fitted.

P-38E: Armament standardized as one 20mm cannon and four .50 cal MGs. This would remain the same for all subsequent P-38 variants.

Lightning Mk1 (British): Two .50 cal & two .30 cal, no cannon.

Only 3 Mk1s & 1 Mk2 were delivered before British cancelled the orders. However, the British were the first to call it the "Lightning".

-"P-38 Lightning in Detail and Scale", book.

[ziggster59]

Whistling Death was what the Japanese called the Corsair (F4U) and if you've ever heard one you'd know why.I've been lucky enough to see both type's flying at Chino (Ca.) Great place to spend time if you love warbirds,alway's something in the air!

[julianodudi]

facker, wat??

[agentolshki]

p 400 had a 37 mm i think.

[cudaman82]

Hell yea! Nothing beats firing a cannon like that after it had been sitting in the snow for 60 years...taking a bit of a risk but man oh man, I would have loved to see that in real life!

[mindeloman]

Wow! That's a hell of a risk to take with a 20mm canon. Look, I'm no downer on this party but I don't think this is the safest use of time. Still impressive to see it, though I wouldn't want to be near it.

[justforever96]

Can anyone tell me where I can find info about the "American Hispano's"? I can find plenty about the original British (well, FRENCH, actually) 20mm's, but I can't find anything on the US M2 and M3 20mm's, other than that they had terrible reliability, supposedly because the chamber was a fraction of an inch shorter than the original, causing "soft strikes" on the primers. I don't get why the M3 should have that issue, since it was electrically primed. And what about US planes with ONLY 20mm's?

[Truckincold]

The original armament was two.50 two .303 and a single 37mm. They changed the armament to to 4 .50machine guns and one 20mm cannon I just read this a couple days ago, if I find the source Ill post another comment with all the specs "The worlds greatest aircraft" by Christopher chant briefly mentions the 37mm armamnet but i have another book that goes into great detail on the subject.

[greywolf45]

I was wondering. Thanks.

[kimmer6]

This is a 20mm Hispano AN-M-2 gun, fires 20x110mm rounds. Lightnings did not have room for the ammo cage of the 37mm Oldsmobile gun and have room left for the 50 cal Browning M-3's. You 37mm guys are thinking Airacobra which fired thru the propeller hub.

[metalmelvin]

Well, no one is being a smartass by saying something interesting ;)Ive never heard of a P-38 with a 37mm cannon, but than again there was a lot of experimenting and a lot of different weapon layouts. This one is for sure the 20mm version, i thrust the guy's who say this because they restored it, and they probably know something about it ;)

[greywolf45]

I believe there's some debate as to whether the big gun was a 20mm, or a 37mm, that's what i was told. some of the earlier P-38's were possibly armed with the 37. But to see that gun fire after being dug out of the ice is amazing. I wonder if any of the other planes will be rescued.

[243rem]

The confusion might come from the P-39 Aircobra which had a 30mm or 37mm (I can't remember which). I do know the P-38 Lightning was armed with the 20mm.  I'm also sure these guys would know what type of cannon 'Glacier Girl' was armed with since the caliber is machine stamped into the barrel. In addition the ammunition would have the armory/ammunition plant and year number on the headstamp which they could easily trace.

[lander4545]

hello

[greywolf45]

Hello

[noonedude101]

Because the major production versions didn't have a 37mm. They took em off starting with E model.

[noonedude101]

And under 100 P-38Ds were built.

[HelluvaBadShot]

P-39s had the 37mm.

P-38s NEVER had a 37mm

[greywolf45]

@metalmelvin Anyways, it's good to see something dug out of the ice brought up in working condition. Nobody had to do anything to that 20mm cannon, just mount it to that snowmobile, load it, and see if it would fire. That was one tough gun. and good to see "Glacier Girl" back together, and flying after 60+ years under so much ice.

[derbbus]

@greywolf45 The Lighting was originally designed to sport four fifty calibres and the 37mm canon.

On testing the 37mm was proved to be unsuitable and was disgarded for the 20mm Hispano.

[B17Boy]

@greywolf45

There were multiple armament configurations for the P-38. The original was 4 x .50 machine guns and 1 x 37mm cannon. However, the final configuration was 4 x .50 machine guns and 1 x 20mm cannon. See Martin Caidin's book, Fork-Tailed Devil for the details. You can search for it on Amazon.

[Xiolablu3]

@greywolf45 no P38 had a 37mm cannon.  They all had a 20mm Hispano.

[greywolf45]

@Xiolablu3 I know they had 20mm, maybe the 37mm was originally fitted to the prototype as a trial. All line P-38s had the 20mm. I have been corrected many, many times in this vid's comments section.

[justforever96]

@greywolf45 Actually, the P-38 was only DESIGNED to take the Oldsmobile 37mm, same as the P-39. There was some production trouble, and it had awful ballistics, so they did some experimentation with other cannons. Almost every P-38 in the USAAF was armed with 4 .50cal M2/AN Brownings and one M2 or M3 American Hispano 20mm, like this one. It SHOULD have been an excellent weapon, but somehow it ended up with a SLIGHTLY longer chamber than the original HS.404 and had AWFUL reliability.

[JojoTheMongol]

@greywolf45 20mm was the standard armament.

37mm was completely experimental

[greywolf45]

@JojoTheMongol Yeah, i know. I am amazed that cannon still fired, even after so many years under ice.

[NoLongerFooled]

@greywolf45 Whistling Death?

[greywolf45]

@NoLongerFooled I was trying to think of what the Japanese called the P-38, guess i was wrong. I do know the Germans called P-38 the "forked-tail devil".

[greywolf45]

@NoLongerFooled I was trying to think of what the Japanese called the P-38 guess i was wrong. I do know the Germans called P-38 the "forked-tail devil".

[greywolf45]

@NoLongerFooled Oops, got the nick-names mixed up. Germans called it the forked-tail devil

[greywolf45]

@NoLongerFooled Sorry, my mistake.

[NoLongerFooled]

@greywolf45 No mistake friend, I just recalled that name after I read your post at the top there. At least I think that's what they called it........unless that was for the F4U Corsair.....lol.

[greywolf45]

@NoLongerFooled I got the nicknames mixed up. I believe the Germans called the P-38 the "forked-tail devil".

[theWhiteLion]

@greywolf45 I have restored a LOT of ww2 aircraft and worked at the 8th airforce museum. 4X .50 cal machine guns and a single 20mm cannon was the standard armament of the p-38. They NEVER mounted a 37mm gun in one except for experimentation. 37mm is a very large gun for an aircraft and there is not enough room in the p-38's body for one after the .50cal machine guns are mounted inside.

Now the P-39 Airacobra did mount a single center line 37mm gun in the nose..

[theWhiteLion]

@greywolf45 The first version of the P-38 was designed for a 37mm gun, 2X .50 cal and 2X .30 cal machine guns. The 37mm only held 15 rounds. They only produced 30 of these. Most of these upon delivery were never even armed. The few that did never saw combat and were all used as trainers.

[greywolf45]

@theWhiteLion I have been corrected by every person that has viewed this video clip so far!!

[tyrbolo]

@greywolf45 You are thinking of a P39, the Lockheed P-38 is an entirely different aircraft. The P38 variants in armament were all M2 Browning 50 calibers and

20 MM cannon.

Tony Levier said firing all of the p38s guns was like hitting a brick wall in the air.

[greywolf45]

@tyrbolo Yes, i know about the P-39, and the P-38 two totally different types of aircraft. I was thinking of one of the possible prototypes of the P-38. The P-38 couldn't hold enough rounds for the 37mm to make it an effective weapon for the Lightning, also, i have been set strait by everyone commenting on this video as to the how the front-line P-38's was armed. It was one hell of a fighter. Might have been better had it been fitted with the same engine as the P-51 Mustang, just an opinion.

[inar64]

@greywolf45 i think you have it mixed with the p-39. i'm pretty sure those did have a 37mm gun trough the propeller hub. plus it had 6 .50cal MGs (2 in nose and 4 in wings if i recall correctly). p38's had 4 .50cals and a 20mm cannon as standard.

[greywolf45]

@inar64 Please read the other responses to my comment, you'll find that i have been corrected by everyone since that comment was made!!!

[RRVCrinale]

@greywolf45 The Japanese called the Lightning "Two Planes, One Pilot."

[brettt777]

@greywolf45 Google it Greywolf. 'fraid you're wrong on this one. The single cannon was 20mm Hispano M2(C). The four machine guns were Browning MG53-2 .5 inch (50 cal).

[greywolf45]

@brettt777 I was thinking of the prototype P-38s. All the P-38s that saw combat were armed with the 20mm cannons, in addition to the 4 .50 cal Browning guns. I do appreciate those of you that set me strait, but to avoid every person on this earth that log into Youtube from doing the same thing, i am removing my comment. You're not the only one brett777 that has pointed this out to me.

[lander4545]

Now thats American engineering!

[MisogiWaAikidoDesu]

right, but you still build bad cars. ;-)

[lander4545]

You better check the quality rating of Audi,B.M.W., Mercedes Benz, of late! Not to promising! And you most certainly can't be proud of Volkswagen!?!

[MisogiWaAikidoDesu]

i did. you´re right! they are excellent! the german automobiles club released they statistics for europe one month ago and german cars score best marks (yes, also VW).

but hey... it was a joke. why you americans get pissed so easily when joking about your nations technology, development and identitiy? we lost the war, not you did, remember? :D

[ThunderIceDude]

AWSOME..... and they need to keep those planes guns on the plane.

[abcdefg633]

i saw that on TV!

[shockfish08]

In 2008 I saw this plane at the Reno Air National Championships. I'm special :)

[Weasil666]

The plane spent 60 years under the ice...

...and it's PISSED.

[Z14LDO]

Beautiful!!

[tagaEskinita]

would be awesome to have a handheld version of that.

[hellmelon666]

it exists, except the rof is less so it doesnt destroy your arm. (via recoil)

[noonedude101]

"Damn, they've got a 50 cal! Theres no way we're crossin that!".... "Bull Shit! Lets take this Hispano Suiza here and blow the fucker away!"

[phonix032]

damn works great like its new

[Nelly449]

so big hole! i cant imagine how strong it is with one bullet fired with that gun! SERIOUSLY! i never seen that kind of gun and bullet before!

[noonedude101]

Well, they mounted a 75mm artillery gun into the nose of a B-25... You should see that...

[greywolf45]

It was the ground crews that thought of that idea

[StuntmanKnut]

Never underestimate the Service Life of WWII Planes! :D

[wolf1dude]

Amen!

[Cipher210]

i think i saw this plan at air fest 08

[ElCamino0to60]

i agree with marmaloon WHY CANT I FIND ONE

[evilwarcow]

That is one powerful gun even if it has been down there that long that is one powerful gun. I would love to own one of them.

[agentolshki]

i saw that program. bit dodgy u cant be sure its gonna go off correctly but its too tempting not to have a go. massive dammage on the drum.

[marmaloon]

Goddamn, why can't I find one of those 20mm cannons :(

[GotIt123]

You can but some 20mm rifles. But you need a destructive device lic.

[hirdas]

very impressive after all those years in the snow, no wonder the levt over army equipment after wars are so dangerous!