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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.

• Modified at Wright Field for aeromedical experiments with asymmetric positioning of cockpit in port boom.
• Scrapped at Bush Field, GA May 7, 1945

• Assigned to CL-26 at San Bernardino, CA Apr 27, 1943

• Assigned to CL-26 at Muroc AAB, CA Jul 27, 1943

• crashed at Muroc AAB Jul 24, 1942.
• Assigned to CL-26 at Curtiss-Wright Tech Institute, Glendale, CA Mar 24, 1943.

• crashed into bay 500 yds offshore of Hamilton Field, CA May 18, 1942.
• Pilot killed

• Assigned to CL-26 at March Field, CA Jun 15, 1943

• condemned at McChord AAF, WA Feb 13, 1943

• Assigned to CL-26 at Bolling Field, DC Sep 21, 1943

• Assigned to CL-26 at Santa Maria, CA Apr 30, 1943

• scrapped at North Island, CA Feb 4, 1945

• crashed on takeoff at Patterson Field, Oh Aug 19, 1941.
• Pilot killed

• crashed on takeoff at North Island, CA Mar 13, 1942.
• Pilot killed

• scrapped at Patterson AAF, OH Jun 29, 1945

• scrapped at San Bernardino, CA Nov 28, 1945

• surveyed at San Bernardino, CA Aug 1, 1943

• scrapped at March Field, CA Jul 3, 1946

• crashed near Onalaska, WA Nov 24, 1942.
• Pilot killed.

• Assigned to CL-26 at Spokane, WA Mar 7, 1943

• Prototype with pressurized cockpit.
• Scrapped at Bush Field Mar 28, 1945.

• Written off Nov 5, 1941 at McClellan Field, CA.
• Condemned Mar 19, 1942

• wing ruptured in flight Apr 4, 1943 at Ontario, CA and landed OK.
• Assigned to CL-26 Apr 23, 1943

• scrapped at San Bernardino, CA May 22, 1945

• crashed during emergency landing attempt at Beaufort, SC Oct 16, 1941.
• Pilot killed.

• in midair near Natchitoche, LA Sep 19, 1941.
• Pilot killed

• Written off Jul 21, 1942 at Mines Field, CA.
• Assigned to CL-26 at Lockheed Sep 5, 1942

• scrapped at Hill Field, UT Jul 23, 1945

• Destroyed in midair collision off San Diego, CA Dec 21, 1941.
• Pilot killed.

• Assigned to CL-26 at March Field Sep 6, 1943

• scrapped at March Field Feb 2, 1945

• DBR 15 mi E of Muroc AAB Feb 11, 1942

• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA

• Written off May 3, 1942 at Muroc, CA 

• Written off Apr 15, 1942 at Muroc, CA 

• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA

• Written off Oct 6, 1943 at Mendota, CA 

• Written off Oct 15, 1941 at Richmond, MI 

• Written off May 25, 1942 at Mills Field, CA 

• Crashed and burned at Mills Field, CA Jun 15, 1942.
• Pilot killed, plus crew chief on the ground

• Written off Dec 10, 1941 at Economy, IN 

• Written off Mar 24, 1942 at Mills Field, CA 

• Written off Nov 13, 1941 at Palm Springs, CA 

• Written off May 12, 1942 at Muroc, CA 

• Written off Mar 7, 1943 at Ontario AAF, CA
• repaired (?)
• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA 

• Written off Aug 2, 1944 at Ontario AAF, CA

• Written off Oct 7, 1942 at El Segundo Pier, CA 

• Written off Jun 22, 1942 at San Francisco Bay, CA 

• Written off Nov 12, 1942 at Muroc, CA 

• Written off May 27, 1942 at March Field, CA 

• Written off Feb 20, 1942 at Los Alamitos NAS, CA 

• Written off Nov 17, 1941 at Woodruff, SC 

• Written off Mar 29, 1942 at Pt. Vincente, CA 

• Written off Jan 14, 1942 at NAS San Diego, CA 

• Written off Dec 21, 1941 at 10 mi W San Diego, CA 

• Written off Dec 17, 1942 at Paine Field, WA 

• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA

• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA

• Withdrawn from use at RFC Ontario, CA

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