Hey fellas.... Got a new bird (Well, actually it is quite old). We had a member from Tulsa Glue Dobbers die last year. His name was Bill Roff. He was a P-38 junkie and very skilled builder. He had built a few scratch P-38s in the 90's. His widow had this one and we made sure to take care of her. So I bought it from her for a generous amount.

It was built in 1992. Originally had Supertiger 2000's on it. Airtronic old servos. Etc. It is beautiful and Roff built it up from plans (No clue as to what plans) and glassed the whole this. Paint is exceptional.

Anyways, we put DLE 35's on it and all new Hitec servos. Also has Robart make me some electric gear. It originally had gear doors, but I think Roff just simplified it and took them off in the 90's. Kind of a sport scale. With no flaps (Yeehaw!!!)

I have no idea how he built this thing. It is 108" and next to my Ziroli 114" P-38, the booms and fuse are quite smaller. But the wings seem longer than they should be. I think Roff added some length to the wings. Any ideas? Perhaps someone had seen this thing fly back in the 90's.

I have had it flying a couple of times. The old air breaks still work great. It screamed pretty good. Finally starting to get it dialed in.

Well.... Now She's gone.... We got the entire thing on video. The servo lead to the elevator got caught by the gear on approach. You will see in the video that the elevator is gone. Somehow by a miracle I saved it from roadside disaster. Then flew over some house behind the club. Made it back and put it down.

Had a slight pitch up with no elevator. Stuck between a rock and a hard stone. If I cut power, it would stall and spin in. If I kept power on, it climbed. Had to bank back and forth and rudder the nose down to get it to come down. Craziest thing I have ever done. Here is the video.

Death of a P-38 (2 min 59 sec)

Wow nice job trying to save her. You just about made it back.

Wow, that'll leave a brown streak in your shorts.......sorry to see the troubles you had, but you did a great job overcoming that elevator loss to get it back to the field.
How bad is the damage?

Bill Roff had a busy flight school at Harvey Young airport in East Tulsa.
Many people obtained there ratings back in the day including myself with his operation.
One of those Mom and Pop flight schools that are very rare today.

How badly damaged was the bird?

Awww....Sorry Man......

That sucks... it sounded awesome, makes me want one!!

I'm a big a fan of the P38 as I am of the P51...that just makes me cry.

I had a 1/6th scale back in the early 90s lost it due to too much guts and too much wind.

That just makes me want to cry again...

I know this is an old thread..please tell me you rebuilt her.