This happened regularly. When this information sifted up through to the high command, Lindbergh moved, at General MacArthurs request, from group to group instructing in fuel conservation and illustrating his lectures by flying with the squadrons.
His work was credited with lengthening the range and tremendously increasing the usefulness of the P-38 for long-range bombing escorts. His efforts enabled P-38 fighters to shoot down a Japanese bomber that was carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Altogether he spent six months in the Pacific, made fifty combat missions, put in 178 combat hours, and returned to Connecticut with complete reports on fighter planes, their performance, and their problems.
Altogether he spent six months in the Pacific, made fifty combat missions, put in 178 combat hours, and returned to Connecticut with complete reports on fighter planes, their performance, and their problems.
Yes, but all that was a year after Yamamoto bit the dust. Lindbergh did help make signicant improvements to the P-38’s range which contributed significantly to the war effort, but reaching Bougainville was not his doing. That was accomplished by using external, jettisonable, wing tanks.