Combat P-38 regenerated for a new century

The combat veteran Lockheed P-38 Lightning nicknamed Jandina III — pronounced “Juandina” — spent many years slowly reverting to its elemental state in humid New Guinea until its recovery and ultimate restoration.

This summer, it earned World War II warbird Grand Champion status at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025, where Ezell Aviation of Breckenridge, Texas, won the Gold Wrench award for its role in its restoration.

In the evolving world of warbird collections, Jandina III is part of Steuart Walton’s purchase of Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in Everett, Washington.

Multiple restoration houses had a hand in Jandina’s rebuilding. The project was brought to completion by Ezell Aviation 18 years after it started. Intervening issues pumped the brakes on the restoration, ranging from COVID shutdowns to the death of Paul Allen and the subsequent closure and sale of his museum.

Parked on the Warbirds in Review ramp for its debut on July 24, Jandina III towered over the presenters of the session, its high wing spanning 52 feet and tricycle landing gear giving clearance for big Curtiss Electric propellers nested behind large pointed spinners. The P-38 is a hefty, yet sleek, presence.

There was another presence on the ramp that testified to the extreme skills of warbird restorers and the great measures they take to breathe life into the aged DNA of a found warplane like Jandina III.

A seriously corroded hulk of metal, mounted carefully to a dolly, at first looked like nondescript salvage, perhaps a refugee from a test of corrosive environments.

Gradually it became apparent this hulk had remnants of geometry like that of the P-38 parked next to it. Closer inspection revealed blotches of red paint on the corroded piece that lined up with the restored markings on Jandina III.

When the restorers embraced this P-38 airframe so many years ago, it was apparent this corroded, stripped, and hacked central cockpit gondola could only provide a guide for its reproduction with clean metal.

Not often do we get to see the hulk of a combat warbird next to the pristine version that rose Phoenix-like under the stewardship of restorers who know their craft and know how to recreate a one-off copy of an aircraft that Lockheed built by the thousands.

How much of the original Jandina III resides in its reborn version?

There’s some original armor plate and bits “that didn’t have an impact on safety,” said Jason Muszala, director of vintage aircraft maintenance and restoration for the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum collection, such as the original radio call sign tag that rode into combat.

But, as is the case with many modern restorations, a lot of new sheetmetal made Jandina III’s restoration possible.

There are a couple of modern concessions in this restoration.

Pilot Kevin Eldridge explained that the reborn Jandina III uses aluminum core radiators instead of brass like a wartime Lightning, since the new aluminum versions keep this P-38 cooler, especially when running its Allison engines on the ground for any length of time.

The result is a stunning, living, breathing, flying P-38J Lightning carrying the markings of pilot Jay Robbins in the Pacific in 1944.

Assigned to the 8th Fighter Group, Robbins met his wife, the future Ina Robbins, when she was a U.S. Army hospital nurse in Melbourne, Australia. Robbins was in the hospital for some checkups and answered Ina’s call for help in moving a patient.

Their romance blossomed and Ina even managed to snare a ride in Jay’s P-38.

Robbie Robbins, Jay and Ina’s son, offered some insight into the naming of his father’s several combat P-38s. They were iterations of the portmanteau word, Jandina, made by combining Jay and Ina into Jandina. But the elder Robbins, who did not like the phonetics suggested by the letters, said the pronunciation would actually be Juandina, harking back to Mexican style from his native Texas.

Jandina III came to grief in May 1944 when the nosewheel would not extend. Robbins made a belly landing at Yamai Airfield on the north coast of New Guinea. This ended Jandina III’s war, while Robbins went on to a new Jandina P-38.

The carcass of Jandina III was plucked over the years and left to the elements.

The salon-quality rebirth of this P-38, and its debut at AirVenture 2025, is just one more example of what makes AirVenture a top-tier adventure for thousands of visitors each summer.