Jump to content

USAF P-38 Lightning


Des

Recommended Posts

Have been wondering about this for a while although despite having a couple of stashed P-38 kits it is not a project that I am about to start very soon.

 

I have read in a couple of books that while most P-38 were withdrawn at the end of WWII small numbers of the fighter variant (as opposed to the reconnaissance F4/5) survived in service as late as 1949 which should have had them carrying the current (post-1947) red/white/blue full colour style of 'Star and Bar' but I have never been able to find any images of aircraft in these markings.

 

Anyone ever seen any and can provide any other information such as unit markings etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/17/2019 at 10:31 AM, Des said:

Have been wondering about this for a while although despite having a couple of stashed P-38 kits it is not a project that I am about to start very soon.

 

I have read in a couple of books that while most P-38 were withdrawn at the end of WWII small numbers of the fighter variant (as opposed to the reconnaissance F4/5) survived in service as late as 1949 which should have had them carrying the current (post-1947) red/white/blue full colour style of 'Star and Bar' but I have never been able to find any images of aircraft in these markings.

 

Anyone ever seen any and can provide any other information such as unit markings etc.

I have yet to see any photo of a P-38J or L in postwar service, but I do know the buzz number assigned to the P-38/F-38 was FA- I kinda doubt they ever carried the new star and bar with the red stripe, or USAF wing marking, as they were undoubtedly few in number and used very little until being SOC- there were numerous instances of aircraft that carried the old national insignia during the transition period.  I could be (and probably am!) wrong.

Mike

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

P-38L (more correctly, F-38L) 44-53236 at Poplar, Wisconsin circa 1950; it was withdrawn from use in 1948 and is now with the Richard Bong memorial. It may be the only one. Photo via Dave Menard.

 

img265

 

Edited by Sabrejet
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

Oh, well done

Fer cryin' out loud- where in the world did you find that photo, Duncan? Incredible! It even had the PA- applied buzz number that preceeded the FA- one. We are not worthy! You are  da man!  👍 (Off topic, but is there an airworthy F-86D/K/L anywhere? Just wondering!)

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Fer cryin' out loud- where in the world did you find that photo, Duncan? Incredible! It even had the PA- applied buzz number that preceeded the FA- one. We are not worthy! You are  da man!  👍 (Off topic, but is there an airworthy F-86D/K/L anywhere? Just wondering!)

Mike

It's actually in Dave Menard's 'Buzz Numbers' book - a limited issue gem!

 

And sadly no airworthy F-86D/K/L or even a project: there was one in Texas for a while but sadly it is now a static machine. Very sad but maybe one day someone will turn that 'complex' fuel control system into a stamp-sized piece of computerized wizardry and get one flying :)

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, matti64 said:

I believe that this was  tyhe inspiration for, if not the actually supplied scheme for the Aurora  P-38.

I vaguely remember when I built the Aurora P-38 back in the day it had yellow USAF wing marking decals! Looks like they got part of the markings right, after all!

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to all for their interest , their comments and the imagery , thinking about getting round to building one of the F-38s sooner than I planned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...