[Sivad]

I am acquainted with Gen Chuck Yeager as he and I belong
to the same gun and archery club in Northern California.
It was my turn to open the clubhouse and bar one Sunday
morning. Chuck brought in homemade cookies per usual
and we talked airplanes. I asked him about the P-38 and
he basically said that the reason they required two
engines was because they were made by Allison and a
backup was necessary. I guess Yeager does not care for
Allison engines.

[beelzepug]

Put a couple of Rolls-Royce Griffons on her and see what she’ll do!

[South Dakota]

Yamamoto had a problem with them too

[niteowl77]

I asked him about the P-38 and he basically said that the reason they required two engines was because they were made by Allison and a backup was necessary. I guess Yeager does not care for Allison engines.

Pithy. I wonder what he thinks about the Pratt & Whitney R-2800?

The RR Merlin was indeed a better engine; for a (sort of) apples to apples comparison, the P-82/F-82 story shows how going from license-built Merlins to Allisons made maintenance problematic. The crony capitalism/politician nexus has always been ugly.

Mr. niteowl77

[fso301]

I asked him about the P-38 and he basically said that the reason they required two engines was because they were made by Allison and a backup was necessary. I guess Yeager does not care for Allison engines.

YEager has made some other bad statements about the P-38 but the fact of the matter is that the P-38 dominated the Pacific and Mediterranean.

Over Northern Europe it didn't have such a good reputation and I've never really read an authoritative reason why. My general assumption is that a combination of being a relatively complicated aircraft to master, the extremely cold air of Northern Europe disagreeing with the P-38's engines, British AviationGas issues, and a complex logistics system caused the P-38 to fall from favor once the bugs had been worked out of the much simpler Mustang which by virtue of being powered by a British engine had no trouble with British AVGas.

The Mustang was probably the best allied fighter of the war for average pilots.

[BatGuano]

Either a snotty remark or just a P-51 pilot's kidding a P-38 pilot. I'll give Yeager the benefit of the doubt and pick the latter. Allison made fine engines.
It's like the joke we used to make about Pan Am, “the world's most experienced airline.” They would have a mishap or an incident or an accident and we would say. Pan Am just had another ‘experience’!”
I have heard remarks that put Yeager in the “A’hole” category.
The other possibility is that this is a made up story.