Post war F-38?

[Streakfalcon 57]

I did a search but no dice, any one interested in whipping up a lightning in USAF markings? I enjoy flying the National Guard F-47 so much, I'd like to give the fork tailed devil a shot. It seems most were gone by they were officially retired from inventory in 1949, I can't even find a pic of a National Guard F-38 but I know Delaware, Ohio, and Florida had them in 1948

[Stratos 3,168]

I'm interested too. Tought all were retired by late 1945.

[Streakfalcon 57]

? I looked it up on Wiki and went to the Richard Bong Memorial site. Just can't find any pics with USAF on the tail or wings. When Wrench sees this thread, I'm sure he'll share the facts. Seems right up his alley. I've got the DAT P-38 and it comes with a nice basic silver skin.

 

Got this from Joe Baugher's website;

 

"With the end of the war, large numbers of Lightnings were scrapped. A few were sold off as surplus. Some of these were used for aerial surveys and some were flown in postwar National Air Races. There were still a few P-38Js and P-38Ls still around when the USAF was formed, and in June 1948 they were redesignated F-38J and F-38L. By 1949, all of these F-38s were out of service.

 

Sources:

 

 

 

Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute Press, 1987

 

 

The P-38J-M Lockheed Lightning, Profile Publications, Le Roy Weber Profile Publications, Ltd, 1965.

 

 

War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William Green, Doubleday, 1964.

 

 

Famous Fighters of the Second World War, William Green, Doubleday, 1967.

 

 

The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987.

 

 

Wings of the Weird and Wonderful, Captain Eric Brown, Airlife, 1985.

 

 

United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.

Edited November 17, 2013 by ikon71

[macelena 1,070]

My favourite USAAF fighter, however, it was kind of obsolete by the time it all was over. If anything, i guess it would have been a better idea to keep F-47Ns as tactical aircraft instead of the F-51, but back in the day, i imagine there was not a clear picture on how to use those aircraft...keep the better performer for air to air to match as close as possible jet adversaries? or relegate piston engined aircraft to tactical missions? the answer to that determined wich one remained in service.

[Streakfalcon 57]

Yeah , I agree, seriously though, can anyone even find a pic of an F-38 in USAF markings? I like the juxtaposition of these prop planes in a jet sim even if the time they shared was brief.

[Wrench 9,461]

your buzz number prefix is FA. where it goes....???? I'd guess aft of the radiators? Star would go forward of radiators, like WW2 markings

 

lets see, why would we NOT want to keep them in the inventory....

twice as maintenance intensive as the Mustang

twice as vulnerable to combat damage as the Mustang (and more so, when compared to the D/N Jugs)

performance equaled/excelled (range, payload, etc) by Mustang and late-mark Jugs...

Jets

 

EDIT: forgot the most important reason:

The Budget

 

a "good number" of F-5s were used post-war by Allied nations (Italy, France, ROC) probably until the late 40s. I know the AdA and AMI phased them out sometime in 46-ish.

 

-------------------------------

of course, use the DAT one; when 50% (or more) of CA users that might want it, can't get it.

 

better off sticking with the 3w Mustang, and Russ's N-Jug

Edited November 17, 2013 by Wrench

[Wrench 9,461]

.

[Streakfalcon 57]

Cool man, The Dat bird got me interested as it's one of their better efforts but the insignias are painted on to the skin and we would need the red bar to be accurate,so the model available here would be a better choice anyway. I really can't find any pics of F-38s in Gaurd markings, I guess I got hyped on the idea after seeing the N jugs in stateside glory.

[Wrench 9,461]

1 (and ONLY one) photograph was discovered after 2 hours of searching the net and my multitude of books

 

heaven forbid that folks use that fantabulos decal system TK gave us, huh? The reason decals have to be used on Wolfs, is the mapping is, well to be polite, not as good as it could be. Other than it's lack of 'moveable parts', Wolf's hold up pretty well for a 2004 model.

 

we REALLY do need new (completely!!! Freeware) Lightnings...