P-38 question...

[Bruno]

What was the first P-38 squadron to transition to the P-38J? What was the service date? When did the P-38J enter service in the MTO? Please source your answer...

TIA

[Ack-Ack]

It would help which variant of the J model you're looking for.  By April of '44, the fighter groups in the 8th and 9th AAF were already flying the J-25-L0 series.


ack-ack

[Brooke]

Originally posted by Bruno
What was the first P-38 squadron to transition to the P-38J? What was the service date? When did the P-38J enter service in the MTO? Please source your answer...

TIA

I'm looking through the chronology in the P-38 section of America's Hundred Thousand, by Dean.  The only reference to a particular date of P-38J's I see is Dec. 28, 1943, where "The 20th FG, 8th Air Force flies its first mission as a group with P-38J's."  It doesn't specifically say that this is the first group with P-38J's, though.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Brooke is probably correct as to that being the group that got them first. The 8th AF in the ETO had priority for P-38 production after 9/43, and late November to early December is generally accepted as when the first of the P-38J models arrived in England. I'm sure the MTO was behind the ETO on that, and the 20th and 55th FG's were fairly large, so the groups in the MTO likely had to wait a couple of months, at least. The P-38 was a single source fighter, and production was limited because Lockheed was tasked with producing B-17s as well. The guy to ask about this is probably Guppy, or Widewing.

[Bruno]

Found what I was looking for in previous posts by WW and Guppy:

Sorry, wrong on all accounts. Those aircraft that equipped the 55th and 79th Fighter Groups in November of 1943 were the P-38H, but the 55th had also received a few of the new P-38J. These P-38Js were flying combat missions in November of 1943. I have a photo dated 13 November, 1943 of a P-38J-5-LO belonging to 338th FS CO Richard Busching. The mission that day was escorting bombers to Bremen. At the time, the 55th had a total of five P-38Js, only two of which were combat ready. Thirty seven P-38Js arrived in Britain on October 18. Per Hap Arnold's orders, all P-38Js would be sent to the 8th AF as fast as was possible. That meant that as they were delivered, they would be flown to the east coast where they were sealed up to prevent corrosion and promptly loaded on ships headed to England. Planes delivered in late August were arriving in British ports just 45 days later.

My regards,

Widewing

F,Gs, Hs in the MTO. As Widewing points out, the 20th and 55th came with Hs but got early J models soon.

Interestingly enough you could find Gs still being flown in combat in the MTO as late as June 44. Replacement pilots coming to the MTO 38 Groups were surprised to find such war-weary models still in combat after training on later J models in the States.

At one point the MTO 38 groups were sending pilots to England to ferry down the 8th AF hand me down Hs. If the Picture Hanger was working, I'd post a photo of a 1st FG P38H where you can clearly see the former 8th AF Markings starting to show through the paint on the tail.

Guppy35

Any further info is appreciated...