when was the P-38 phased out of USAF service?

[gregv]

howdy all

wondering when the P-38 was phased out of USAF service; I figure it was almost immediately after the war, so by 1947 the type would have been almost completely out of inventory (save for any stored examples i.e. Kingman)?

any info appreciated

greg v.

[John Dupre]

I remember reading that Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover first met in the air in a friendly dog fight, one in Mustang and the other in a P-38. This was post war and probably about 1946.

[flyboyj]

I think the last operational USAF ones were gone by 1948. Martin Cadin claimed in the book "Forked Tail Devil" he saw a whole bunch of them get scrapped in Korea a few months before the Korean War broke out. Take it for what it's worth...

[John S]

I believe it was around 1949 or so. Italy operated them until 1956.

[hang the expense]

The 49th FG flew them up to right before Korea when the P-80 started showing up.Bulldozed them right off the field.

[gregv]

thanks for the info guys!

cheers

greg v.

[John Dupre]

Any photos out there of P-38s in star and bar markings? Were they in camo or natural metal?

[jdvoss]

In the book "Buzz Numbers" by Bowers, pg. 36 there is a photo of a P-38 with the red horizontal bar (very faded at that) in the insignia and has the Buzz number of PA-236 (44-53236). It's natural metal finish and appears to be surplus as it is sitting in a weed field.

[SHAEF1944]

From the Lockheed/Martin Website :

By 1944, P-38s were starting to be phased out, but continued to play a major role in the war effort in both combat and reconnaissance roles until VE Day. Some of the aircraft stayed in service after the war, were transferred to the new United States Air Force and redesignated as F-38s in June, 1948. By 1950 all of the P-38/F-38s were retired from service.


http://www.lockheedmartin.com/aboutus/h ... tning.html

[flyboyj]

The 49th FG flew them up to right before Korea when the P-80 started showing up.Bulldozed them right off the field.

If that come from Cadin, I'd take that with a grain of salt. He also made up the story about a captured P-38 being operated in Italy, finally being shot down by a B-40 gunship.

[Ken]

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