P-38 pilots used flaps regularly in combat.
Oh I don't doubt some did.
However, looking at the larger picture, using flaps was not something one would want to do under normal circumstances since it commonly indicates a pilot entering a fight with higher risks than compared to a 'standard' type of team fighting doctrine.
In a sense, it could be loosely considered that the more personal confidence a group of pilots feel, the more they would want to step out of the 'basic doctrines'.
From such behaviors would legendary and spectacular pilots be born... who ironically, usually also have a tendency of meeting an untimely death during combat as well.
It is interesting to note that almost all of the pilots in every airforces, that are known for their spectacular flying skills and unorthodox methods of combat, usually end up dead sooner or later.
Wick(engaged multiple bandits recklessly)
Marseilles(test flight accident, suspicions of tampering with the G-2 he was scheduled to fly in)
Nowotny(chased down and shot down in a 262)
Fadayev(engaged multiple Germans)
McGuire(bad/reckless judgement).. all killed in combat.
Galland was shot down and wounded a number of times, Bader and Gabreski ultimately became POWs..(Gabreski, especially after attempting a dangerously low strafing) and etc etc.
Famous pilots, famed for their enthusiasm towards personal flying skills and hot combat, usually end up dead. Ofcourse, that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with flap usage, however, I think it does show a tendency that when some people prefer the exotic over the basics, in the end the consequences catch up with you one way or another. And basically, flaps weren't for combat use, whether or not they were named 'combat flaps' or not.
