Lockheed P-38J Lightning & Shaylah
- © Britt Dietz -

Another entry into the 'Aviation Pinup Series' featuring each branch of the US Military featuring model Shalyah, the Army Air Force, and the famed 'fork-tailed devil'... the Lockheed P-38 Lightning! First built in 1939, this twin engined aircraft ran on basically two P-40 Allison Engines with turbo superchargers. This 37 foot long 52 foot wide fighter had a range of 1,300 miles and could achieve over 400mph. Standard P-38s carried one 20mm cannon and four .50 cal machine guns all in the nose of the aircraft. It could carry rockets, bombs, or drop tanks on the wings. It was a multi-role aircraft able to bomb targets, dive attack ground targets, provide photo reconnaissance, fight at night, and provide long range escort to bombers when fitted with drop tanks. The P-38 was the US Army Air Forces main escort fighter until the P-51 Mustang came into full service. Famous ace Major Richard Bong scored 40 kills in his P-38 Lightning during the war. Over 10,000 were built overall with the last P-38 being retired from the US Air Force in 1949. Other countries continued to operate the P-38 till 1965!

The Dietz Dolls Aviation Pinup Series features World War 2 aircraft (called Warbirds) paired with a pinup model wearing authentic flight clothing to the 1940s era. Available for purchase in all sorts of different sizes including posters!