“First”, “only”, “outstanding”, “unique” - this is how all experts evaluate the P-38 Lightning fighter, and this legendary “Lightning” really deserves the most enthusiastic epithets. The first American aircraft to exceed 600 km/h! The world's first production fighter with turbochargers! The only combat aircraft mass-produced in the United States throughout the war, from Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan! It was the Lightnings that the number one and number two American aces, Richard A. Bong (40 aerial victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories), flew and achieved their greatest successes. It is the Lightnings that hold the record for destroyed Japanese aircraft. It was the Lightning that was the first to shoot down a German bomber. This book pays tribute to the famous fighter and its lead designer Clarence Johnson, who was responsible for the creation of such famous machines as the U-2, F-104 Starfighter, C-130 Hercules, SR -71. But his first aviation masterpiece was the unique, only, invincible Lightning!