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The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is a World War II-era American piston-engined fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil (German: der Gabelschwanz-Teufel) by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese. The P-38 was used for interception, dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.

For more information on the P-38 Lightning, please visit the United States Army Air Force Resource Center.

• Crashed during high-speed dive over Glendale, CA, November 4, 1941.
• Test pilot Ralph Virden fatally injured.

• Assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, VA, November 27, 1941 to February 4, 1942.
• Transferred to Parks Air College, St Louis, MO, February 26, 1942.

• assigned to NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, VA, November 27, 1941.
  
• Scrapped at Sacramento Air Depot, December 17, 1945.

• scrapped at Lowry Field, Denver, CO Jul 5, 1945.

• Assigned to class CL-26 maintenance trainer at Chanute, AK Jul 24, 1942.

• Assigned to class CL-26 maintenance trainer, Granite Falls, WA, January 5, 1943.

• w/o Jul 23, 1941, Alpena, MI.

• used as class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed

• scrapped Mar 20, 1946 San Bernardino, CA.

• Crashed on Jun 23, 1941, Atlanta, MI.
• Pilot Lt Guy Leland Putnam killed.

• Assigned to class CL-26 maintenance trainer jan 27, 1943 at Brookley Field, Mobile, AL.

• Assigned to class CL-26 maintenance trainer Jan 5, 1943 at Lockheed

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