Des Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 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 I have read in a couple of books that while most P-38 were withdrawn at the end of WWII small numbers of the fighter variant (as opposed to the reconnaissance F4/5) survived in service as late as 1949 which should have had them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 More sharing options...
72modeler Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 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 I have read in a couple of books that while most P-38 were withdrawn at the end of WWII small numbers of the fighter variant (as opposed to the reconnaissance F4/5) survived in service as late as 1949 which should have had them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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 (edited) It would be incredibly interesting should any info surface on this subject, fingers crossed. Edited May 18, 2019 by spaddad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 (edited) P-38L (more correctly, F-38L) 44-53236 at Poplar, Wisconsin circa 1950; it was withdrawn from use in 1948 and is now with the Richard Bong memorial.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. Edited May 19, 2019 by Sabrejet 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Oh, well done. I said nothing 'cause I had nothing to show, but I was highly dubious that such a pic existed. Delighted to see that it does. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepy Pete Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 In 1959 it had USAF on top of the right wing as well, but by then it has been on display for many years, so no idea how accurate it still was. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matti64 Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 I believe that this was tyhe inspiration for, if not the actually supplied scheme for the Aurora P-38. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Des Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 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 More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now