The following are units which operated the

Lockheed P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

Operators

Australia

;

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

The RAAF received five F-4s from August 31, 1942. These aircraft were used for frontline photoreconnaissance sorties. Three served with No. 1 Photo Reconnaissance Unit RAAF and two were attached to a fighter unit,

No. 75 Squadron RAAF No. 75 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter unit based at RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory. The squadron was formed in 1942 and saw extensive action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, operating ...

. The first to enter service with the RAAF, ''A55-1'' was also the last to retire, following a crash on September 1, 1944.

China

;

Chinese Nationalist Air Force Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Republic of China received 15 P-38Js and P-38Ls and, postwar, they also flew a similar number of F-5Es and F-5Gs.Baugher, Joe
"P-38s with US Navy and Foreign Air Forces."
''USAF Fighters,'' 13 June 1999. Retrieved: 6 February 2007.

Colombia

;

Geographic Institute Agustín Codazzi The Geographic Institute Agustín Codazzi ( es, Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, IGAC), is the entity of the Government of Colombia responsible for producing the official maps and basic cartography of Colombia, and managing the national ca ...

Dominican Republic

The first P-38 of the ''Compañía de Aviación'' Air army arrived in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

on 30 March 1947. It was its first modern aircraft. The air force of this small Latin American republic employed 11 Lightnings, mostly not armed. Dominican Republic was one of the last P-38's users until late 1950, when the remaining Lightings were cut up and dumped.

Free France

;

Free French Air Force The Free French Air Forces (french: Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free Frenc ...

*Group 2/23 operated F-5AsBodie, 1991, p. 240. ;

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

* Groupe de Reconnaissance 2/33 operated the F-5G

Nazi Germany

;

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

*''

Zirkus Rosarius ''Zirkus Rosarius'' (also known as the ''Wanderzirkus Rosarius'') was an ''Erprobungskommando''-style special test unit of the Luftwaffe, specifically of the Luftwaffe High Command, tasked with testing captured British and American aircraft, all o ...

'' operated a few captured aircraft.

Honduras

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Honduran Air Force The Honduras Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Hondureña, sometimes abbreviated to FAH in English) is the air force of Honduras. As such it is the air power arm of the Honduras Armed Forces. History The first Honduras military flying took place ...

Honduras received 12 aircraft postwar.

Kingdom of Italy

;''

Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...

'' Italian pilots started to face P-38s from late 1942 and these fighters, with their long range, high speed and powerful weaponry, were quickly established as a more dangerous foe than the previously used

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

. A few P-38s fell into the hands of Germans and Italians, and, differently from captured Spitfires, these aircraft were tested and used in combat. P-38s were pitted against nearly all of the fighters in the Italian arsenal in tests at Guidonia and apparently, it fared well. Col. Tondi used a P-38, probably an 'E' version, that landed, because a navigation error, in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. Tondi then claimed at least 1 B-24 in his captured P-38, downed 11 August 1943. Shortly before Tondi attacked the bomber, an Italian Macchi MC.202 or 205 attacked, doing little damage. However, the heavy armament of P-38 proved devastating, indeed. ; Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force *3° Aerobrigata RT *4° Aerobrigata After capitulation, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force flew F-5A photo-reconnaissance missions. The Italian Air Force operated 50 late model aircraft postwar.

Italy

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Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

*3° ''Stormo'' *4° ''Stormo'' After the war, Italy received 100,Scutts 2006, p. 147 or according to other sources, 120,"Birth of Aeronautica Militare"
''Aeronautica Militare'' dismantled ex-USAAF P-38s, in an agreement dated April 1946. Seven of these airframes were not rebuilt but were reserved for use as spares. The remaining 93, after a one-month refurbishment by IMM (

Aerfer Aerfer was an Italian manufacturing company created in 1955 by the merger of IMAM and Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali. The name is a contraction of ''Costruzioni Aeronautiche e Ferroviarie'' (Aeronautical and Railway Constructions). In 1969 it ...

), were first issued to the 3rd ''Stormo'' in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

, in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

. They were a mix of P-38L fighters and PR conversions, including F-5E, G and H models. Six P-38s were modified as dual-control training craft, a version which had a separate cockpit with duplicated controls forward of the standard cockpit, in a lengthened nose. These unique training machines, which served with the SCOT (''Scuola Caccia Ogni Tempo'', meaning fighter school for all weather conditions) in Lecce and

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

, were identified as P-38DC (Dual Control). The heavy fighters flew reconnaissance missions over the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, as well as ground attack, naval cooperation and air superiority missions. Italian P-38s made their operational debut on 9 September 1948, when a single F-5 took photographs of objectives in the Balkans. Because of the big dimensions of this fighter, the old engines, and pilot errors, a very high number of P-38s were lost in accidents. At least thirty crashes of P-38s in Italian service claimed a number of victims. Despite this, many Italian pilots liked the fighter, due to its excellent visibility on the ground and its stability at takeoff. The P-38s were finally phased-out in Italy in 1956. Today, no Italian P-38s survive, nor even a single component from one, as these aircraft, because of the high value of their light alloys, were quickly recycled for their metal content.

Portugal

;

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

Two interned Lightnings were forced to land in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, while on a ferry flight from England to Algeria. Both were used by PoAF.

Soviet Union

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Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

Soviet Union operated a few damaged and repaired ex-USAAF aircraft found in Eastern Europe.

United Kingdom

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Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

The United Kingdom performed evaluation tests only.

United States

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United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

;

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

;

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Scutts, Jerry. ''Lockheed P-38 Lightning''. London: Crowood, 2006. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Lockheed P-38 Lightning operators Lists of military units and formations by aircraft Lists of aircraft operators by aircraft type Lockheed aircraft