Inside The Cockpit of a P-38 Lightning

Christopher Bergs from Military Aviation History gives us a tour inside the cockpit of a P-38 Lightning at the Fagen Fighter WWII Museum in Minnesota, USA.

From the Left

Starting on the left, there’s a window crank as well as fuel pump switches. In front of this, you can see the right-hand and left-hand fuel tank selectors.

Moving forward, we come across the throttle quadrant and throttle controls. There are also the propeller selector switches and directly behind the quadrant are smaller levers for mixture control and bigger ones for carburetor air filter control.

Offset to the left, you’ll come across the propeller warning lights.

Central Instruments and Gauges

First up on the top, we find a modern GPS offset slightly from the position where you’d find the original reflex sight.

Above the front instruments are the fuel quantity tank gauges and hydraulic pressure gauge with gear warning lights.

There’s also an altimeter in feet, a vertical speedometer, a speedometer in mph, a turn and slip indicator, and the modern course deviation indicator. There’s also a suction gauge, a clock, and a compass.

On the Right-hand Corner

Moving toward the right-hand corner, first off there’s a two-needle RPM gauge and a manifold pressure gauge.

There’s also an oil temperature, fuel, and oil pressure indicator for both engines as well as a coolant and carburetor air temperature gauges. Finally, there’s a modern fuel flow indicator.

Further on the right-hand side, there’s a flap control lever, and next to the pilot seat is a modern radio and the emergency hydraulic pump and window crank.

The Central Yoke

Shifting to the center, there are different systems behind the control yoke.

We start on the left with the propeller circuit breaker buttons, ignition switches in the center, engine primer switches, and starter switches. A voltmeter rounds up this area.

In the center are rudder trim controls and an hour counter and on the top are prop feather controls, and oil cooler flap setters. You’ll also come across the battery coolant and intercooler flap controls.

Finishing up with the control yoke, you’ll find a trigger and a bomb rocket release on top of the handle. You also have to press-to-transmit buttons and dive flap controls.