Originally posted by oboe
Guppy, can you give us an estimate in date ranges for the service life of the 38F, G, H, J, and L?
Many profiles are listed with a month/year, and that info may help skinners decide if their skin qualifies...
It depends on where they were flying.
The MTO P38 groups are a great example of this. They were flying F models like "Sad Sack" that I posted today into May of 44 and G's into June alongside the J models. New pilots who had trained on newer model 38s were surprised to see G's still being flown in combat when they arrived in the MTO.
Sad Sack was an F-15 and flew combat from December 42-April 44 amassing 183 combat missions and 16 kills with numerous pilots and only came out of combat after an accident.
Personally I don't think there is an issue with the Js and Ls. If it has a landing light on the leading edge consider it the L time frame from roughly September 44 til the end.
If it has large intakes but no wing leading edge landing light, it's an early J from Early 1944 until the end of the war in Europe, May 45.
In the Pacific They were getting the Js in February 44. They didn't get Ls until September 44.
The 475th for example got their first L-1s in when the 431st Squadron got theirs on September 29th. The 433rd from the same group didn't get their Ls until November and kept flying the J-20s until then.
As mentioned before the 80th FS in the Pacific was operating Fs Gs and Hs together. On "Bloody Tuesday" in November of 43 over Rabaul you can find specific F, G and H being flown by the 80th in that fight, so you are basically taking the F,G, H models right up until the Js.
Hows that for long winded
Dan/Slack