Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38

One of America's greatest military aviation historians relates the astonishing—and true—story of the only American warplane to fight in every operational theater in World War II from Pearl Harbor to Alaska and North Africa to Northern Europe.

“One of the greatest tests of its capabilities took place in mid-April of 1943 when Allied intelligence discovered that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was going to visit Kahili on the coast of Bougainville. A P-38 intercept was planned. Its time of arrival had to be absolutely perfect and after a complex 435 mile wave-top approach that avoided all Japanese observers the Lightnings were there. Eighteen P-38s were assigned to “get Yamamoto" and that is exactly what happened.” —From the introduction by David Ballantine

Martin Caidin was the author of over fifty books and more than a thousand magazine articles and was recognized as one of the outstanding aeronautics and aviation authorities in the world. The National War College, the Air Force’s Air University and several other institutions use his books as doctrine and strategy guides, historical references and textbooks. He twice won the Aviation/Space Writers Association award as the outstanding author in the field of aviation. Caidin died in March 1997.