P-38 YIPPEE

Firebird,

Thanks very much, that is great news. I’ll go catch up on the story.

DC

UPDATE:

I’ve made a mistake somewhere, it appears Lefty’s P-39L is in fact P-38L-5-LO #44-53254, and is a Lockheed built example. I know that in the 1970s there were 2 wrecks that were Vultee Nashville examples. One of those was “Scatterbrain Kid” N38LL which was destroyed in a fatal crash in October of 1974. (This aircraft was painted as “Yippee” in the mid 1960s, some of that time with a camera nose.) Further study required.

I guess I need to do some work and find out how much of “WL” they were able to incorporate into the rebuild.

From following the rebuild of “WL” over on WIX at the time, it was a damage repair restoration of “WL” not a ‘new build’ incorporating parts of “WL”.

There is an extensive photo record of the restoration on Ezell’s website.

http://www.ezellaviation.com/rbp38.html

Steve,

Thanks very much. I remember someone trying to negotiate a deal for what was left of “White Lightning” many years ago but forgot about the Red Bull restoration. I guess I need to do some work and find out how much of “WL” they were able to incorporate into the rebuild. The last time I was actively looking for a Nashville Lightning was about 10 years ago and at that time I think we decided that there were probably 2 known wrecks out there but none flying or even in museums. I hope to do something about that one day if I can.

The aircraft in question would be P-38L-5-VN serials #43-50226 to 43-50338. This was the newly merged Consolidated-Vultee at the time. (Convair)

Regards,

DC

DC–

If by Lefty Gardner’s Lightning you mean N25Y “White Litnin'”, she’s now with the Red Bull fleet in Austria in magnificent condition, highly polished bare metal finish and still fitted with the early-model shallow cowlings Lefty had on her for racing. Never knew Vultee built Lightnings!

S.

I have a Franklin mint diecast 1/48 model of Yippee.

Dave

It sure is a pretty thing!

http://p38assn.org/images/p38s/yippee.jpg

thanks for the info and web adresses.

I believe it was scrapped after a taxi accident in 1945. Just do an online search, there is a great deal of information, pictures, and video out there.

Here is a summary: (About halfway down the page)

http://p38assn.org/newsletters/August08/aug08.htm

Don’t confuse the original “Yippee” with later planes flying with her colors. I know at least one aircraft did that. “Scatterbrain Kid” #43-50281 was painted up as “Yippee” in the 1960’s but was lost in a crash around 1974.

On a related note, I am trying to see if any Vultee Nashville Lightnings still exist. I found an old book on the history of Nashville, TN. and it has a picture of the assembly line and stated that the aircraft assembly line (moving) was first used at the Vultee planet in Nashville. I have not been abel to confirm this yet though. The contract was cancelled due to the end of the war after building only 113 P-38L-5-VN models. I think Lefty Gardners’ Lightning was the last or one of the last surviving Nashville Lightnings, and I’ve lost track of what happened to the wreck.

There’s a big write-up on this aircraft on ‘The National P-38 Association’ website. Shame I didn’t know how to copy it, but it tells u everything U’d want to know. Hope this helps