RE: I am not worthy!
ramcf:
Very astute observations for a "non-twin" pilot.
I always feel much more comfortable flying my 38's when no-one else is in the air, for the reasons you mention. Usually the flight of a 38 is a big enough deal at the field that everybody stops to watch it anyway. Lately, though, my buddies have become somewhat callused to my P-38 shenanigans, and tend to keep flying while I'm out there. The way they lovingly put it is: "We know you're gonna be standing on your head tuning the engines for two hours, so there's no point in stopping everything we're doing!"
I'm sure when Metal puts his 38 up for the first time, there won't be many people breathing, much less flying.
Which reminds me of a key point for the maiden of a 38: I think my "brethren" have saved a couple of my 38's on maiden by forcibly reminding me to breathe about 20 seconds after takeoff.
mt