Originally posted by Guppy35
Hadn't really thought about it before but I went through the 38 group histories I have that include most of the ETO/MTO and PTO groups and I can't find any photo evidence of a K-14 on a 38 in any of them.
That doesn't mean they didn't show up ever, but I can't find any photo to back it up and that includes postwar photos of 475th and 8th FG 38s.
I can find no evidence that any P-38s were manufactured with the K-14 installed as standard equipment. Might there have been some converted in the field? Possibly, but I have not seen any photos to establish that as fact.
My research shows the following gun sights being used in the P-38.
P-38F-1: N-3
P-38F-5 thru P-38J-5: N-3B
P-38J-10 and beyond: L-3
K-14s were field upgrades initially, especially in the 8th AF. However, there were no P-38s remaining in the 8th AF when the K-14 refits began. I doubt that the 9th AF got any, ditto for the 15th AF in Italy.
In view of the K-14 being a quite bulky sight, I'm not sure it was readily adaptable to the P-38.
Production aircraft getting the K-14A included the P-47D-35-RA, P-47M, P-47Ns, P-51D-20-NT and P-51D-25-NA.
My regards,
Widewing