List of P-38 Lightning operators

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The following are units which operated the P-38 Lightning:

1 Operators
2 References
3 Related content

[edit] Operators

[edit] China

Republic of China received 15 P-38Js and P-38Ls and, postwar, they also flew a similar number of F-5Es and F-5Gs.^[1]

Chinese Nationalist Air Force

[edit] France

Free French Air Force

Group 2/23 operated F-5As^[2]

French Air Force

Groupe de Reconnaissance 2/33 operated the F-5G

[edit] Germany

Luftwaffe

Zirkus Rosarius operated few captured aircraft.

[edit] Honduras

Honduras received 12 aircraft postwar.

Honduran Air Force

Italian pilots started to face P-38s from late 1942 and these fighters, with their long range, high speed and powerful weaponry, were quickly established as a more dangerous foe than the previously used Supermarine Spitfire. A few P-38s fallen in the hands of Germans and Italians and differently from captured Spitfires, these aircraft were tested and used in combat. P-38s were pitted against nearly all of the fighters in the Italian arsenal in tests at Guidonia and apparently, it fared well. Col. Tondi used a P-38, problably an 'E' version, that landed, because an navigation error, in Sardinia. Tondi then claimed at least 1 B-24 in his captured P-38, downed 11 August 1943. Shortly before Tondi attacked the bomber, an Italian Macchi MC.202 or 205 attacked, doing little damage. However, the heavy armament of P-38 proved devastating, indeed.

After the war, Italy received 100 P-38s in an agreement dated April, 1946. Those heavy fighers, mainly P-38Ls, but also F-5s, were put in service in 4 Stormo. They flew reconissance missions over the Balkans, as well as ground attack, naval cooperation and air superiority missions. Delivered after a 1 month refurbishing, they finally were all sent to AMI not before 1952. Other wings, like 3 Stormo, used the P-38 as well. Due at the big dimensions of this fighter, the old engines and pilot error, a very high number of P-38s, sadly, were lost in accidents. At least 30 crashes of P-38s in Italian service claimed a number of victims. Despite this, many Italian pilots liked the fighter, due to its execellent visibility on the ground and its stability at take off. Finally, P-38s were phased-out in 1956. Today, no Italian P-38s survive, nor even a single component from one, as these aircraft, with the value of light alloys, were quickly dismantled.

After capitulation, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force flew F-5A photo-reconnaissance missions ^[3]. The Italian Air Force operated 50 late model aircraft postwar.