Hey, nice screenies of the P-38s Armistead.:up: I think their typical armament included 4 .50 cals plus a 20mm. I can't remember where I read it but, I think Kenney had some of his P-38s field-modified to carry 6 .50 cals in the nose and a 37mm to replace the 20mm. The skip-bombing tactics he developed were the curse of the IJN. There's even mention of it in my book, "Japanese Destroyer Captain". The IJN was terrified of this new bombing technique. According to the book, in their own words, the Japanese navy had no effective countermeasure against it.

You are right most P-38s had 4 .50s and a single 20mm the first early models had a 37mm in place of the 20mm but the 20mm was more effective for air to air combat so later models had it as standard from the F up If I recall the great thing about the gun set up on the P-38 they where direct bore sighted little adjustment was needed because of their location they where deadly accurate.

The Kenny mod sounds very possible it would have been better for strafing kind of like the B-25s that had all the 50. cals forward firing in the nose one the J had 12 .50s all but 4 in the nose the others where in packs below the cockpit there was even a version of the B-25 that had a 75mm cannon and two .50s for sighting boom! that must have really rained on many a Japanese shipping parade.To fly in such a mission would have taken some balls though just off the water with even the kitchen sink getting blasted at your plane good thing most American aircraft where so sturdy you'd never have seen a Betty trying pull of the B-25 strafing mission can anyone say flying tinder box:har:

Yeah, I think even the Betty Bomber crews began referring to the G4M Type-1 as the, "Type-1 Lighter", because of the ease with which it would "go up" after being hit be enemy fire.http://smileydatabase.com/s/533.gif

I heard the G4M was called by some the flying cigar a pretty accurate name because it did have a cigar shape and it burned like one too.It did however have a 20mm cannon in the tail and also had outstanding range so it had its surprises. There was a version later in the war that was to have carried those "Ohka" manned flying rocket bombs luckily they never got used as it could have been launched form 30 miles away a cruise missile more or less.

It is quite surprising the Japanese where finally starting to make some surprisingly advanced aircraft and other military equipment very late war too late.Had they have somehow managed to do some serious damage to an invasion fleet or found some other way to delay us and made the war last longer who knows what might have happened. The high brass was very concerned that some US troops who had fought for so long already might reach a breaking point sooner or later one can only take so much brutal combat there was a show on History about this it was called X-day or Invasion X Operation X something like that about Operation Trumpet(invasion of Japan) it would have been nasty for all sides in fact they started making Purple Hearts for this action and it took Korea,Vietnam,Grenada,Panama,Desert Storm and finally our current war to use up those Purple Hearts made for Trumpet, very interesting show.