There was never a P-38 produced with a Merlin engine and the P-38K was just a test bed aircraft. Hardly qualifies for a post war variant of the Lightning.
ack-ack
Correct. There were no post war variants of the P-38 at all, as the contract was cancelled shortly after VJ day.
However, had the war continued into 1946 or later, odds are P-38 production would have almost certainly continued, as the contract was still open until after VJ day. At some point, given the G series Allison was being produced for the P-82, Allison production would have been converted almost entirely to the G series, and turbocharged version built. Further, the days of the Curtiss Electric propeller were already numbered, so the P-38 may well have transitioned to the Hamilton Standard High Activity propeller. There you have what amounts to a P-38K, although the actual letter designation would probably have been an "N", a "Q", or an "R", considering "M" was already taken by the night fighter variant. In fact, a P-38 equipped with G series engines, turbocharged, and fitted with the common late war 4 blade Hamilton Standard prop would have been a seriously nasty beast.
