Editing Lockheed P-38 Lightning (section)

==Noted P-38 pilots==

===Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire===
[[File:Richard Bong in cockpit.jpg|thumb|Major [[Richard Bong]] in his P-38]]

The American ace of aces and his closest competitor both flew Lightnings and tallied 40 and 38 victories, respectively.<ref name="AcePilots.com">{{citation |first=Stephen |last=Sherman |date=June 1999 <!-- "Updated December 14, 2016" --> |url=http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_pto_aces.html |title=PTO/CBI Pilots of WWII, Top American aces of the Pacific & CBI |work=acepilots.com. |access-date=8 May 2007 |archive-date=26 March 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060326204955/http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_pto_aces.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Majors [[Richard Bong|Richard I. "Dick" Bong]] and [[Thomas McGuire|Thomas B. "Tommy" McGuire]] of the USAAF competed for the top position. Both men were awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].

McGuire was killed in air combat in January 1945 over the [[Philippines]], after accumulating 38 confirmed kills, making him the second-ranking American ace. Bong was rotated back to the United States as America's ace of aces, after making 40 kills, becoming a test pilot. He was killed on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, when his [[Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star]] jet fighter flamed out on take-off.

[[File:Thomas B. McGuire (L) and Charles Lindbergh (R).jpg|thumb|upright|(L–R) [[Thomas B. McGuire]] and [[Charles Lindbergh]] discussing a mission on Biak Island in July 1944]]

===Charles Lindbergh===
[[Charles Lindbergh]] became famous for his transatlantic solo flight before the war. By WWII he was a civilian working for [[Vought]] in the South Pacific area. He received preferential treatment as if a visiting colonel. 
In Hollandia, Lindbergh attached himself to the 475th Fighter Group which was flying P-38s. Although new to the aircraft, Lindbergh was instrumental in extending the range of the P-38 through improved throttle settings, or engine-leaning techniques, notably by reducing engine speed to 1,600&nbsp;rpm, setting the carburetors for auto-lean and flying at {{convert|185|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} [[indicated airspeed]], which reduced fuel consumption to 70&nbsp;gal/h, about 2.6&nbsp;mpg. This combination of settings had been considered dangerous as it was believed this would upset the fuel mixture, causing an explosion.{{sfn|Kirkland|2003|pp=29–35}}

While with the 475th, he took part in a number of combat missions. On 28 July 1944, Lindbergh shot down a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]] "Sonia" flown by the veteran commander of the 73rd Independent Flying [[Chutaicho|Chutai]] of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] Captain Saburo Shimada. In an extended, twisting dogfight in which many of the participants ran out of ammunition, Shimada turned his aircraft directly toward Lindbergh, who was just approaching the combat area. Lindbergh fired in a defensive reaction brought on by Shimada's apparent head-on [[Aerial ramming|ramming attack]]. Hit by cannon and machine-gun fire, the "Sonia's" propeller visibly slowed, but Shimada held his course. Lindbergh pulled up at the last moment to avoid collision as the damaged "Sonia" went into a steep dive, hit the ocean, and sank. The unofficial kill was not entered in the 475th's war record. On 12 August 1944, Lindbergh left Hollandia to return to the United States.<ref>[http://www.charleslindbergh.com/wwii/ "Charles Lindbergh and the 475th Fighter Group."]  ''Lightning Strikes''. Retrieved: 10 October 2010.</ref>

===Charles MacDonald===
{{Main|Charles H. MacDonald}}
The third-ranking American ace of the Pacific theater, Charles H. MacDonald, flew a Lightning against the Japanese and scored 27 kills<ref name="AcePilots.com"/> in his aircraft, the ''Putt Putt Maru''.

===Martin James Monti===
{{Main|Martin James Monti}}
Martin James Monti was an American pilot who defected to the Axis powers in a stolen F-5E Lightning, which was handed over to the ''Luftwaffe'' ''[[Zirkus Rosarius]]'' for testing afterward.

===Robin Olds===
{{Main|Robin Olds}}
Robin Olds was the last P-38 ace in the 8th Air Force and the last in the ETO. Flying a P-38J, he downed five German fighters on two separate missions over France and Germany. He subsequently transitioned to P-51s and scored seven more kills. After World War II, he flew [[McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II|F-4 Phantom IIs]] in Vietnam, ending his career as brigadier general with 16 kills.

===John H. Ross===
{{Main|John H. Ross}}
Ross is a decorated World War II pilot who flew 96 missions for the U.S. Army Air Forces under the U.S. 8th Air Force's [[7th Reconnaissance Group]] in the [[22nd Reconnaissance Squadron]]. Ross flew the Lockheed P-38 Lightning as a photo-reconnaissance pilot out of [[RAF Mount Farm]] in England during the war. He received 11 medals and was awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] twice for missions that were integral to Allied victory at the [[Battle of the Bulge]].

===Antoine de Saint-Exupéry===
[[File:Saint Exupery exhibit - Air & Space Museum, Le Bourget, Paris, France (12).JPG|thumb|upright|The left main landing gear of Saint-Exupéry's F-5B Lightning, recovered in 2003 from the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille, France]]
{{main|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry}}

At midday on 31 July 1944,  noted aviation pioneer and writer [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]] (''[[Night Flight (novel)|Night Flight]]'', ''[[Wind, Sand and Stars]]'' and ''[[The Little Prince]]'') vanished in his P-38 of the [[French Air Force|French Armée de l'Air's]] ''Groupe de Chasse II/33'', after departing [[Borgo-Porreta]], [[Corsica]]. His health, both physically and mentally, had been deteriorating. Saint-Exupéry was said to be intermittently subject to depression and talk had arisen of taking him off flying status.{{sfn|Schiff|2006|pp=430–433}}{{sfn|Schiff|2006|pp=436–437}}{{refn|Saint-Exupéry suffered recurring pain and immobility from previous injuries due to his numerous aircraft crashes, to the extent that he could not dress himself in his own flight suit. After his death, vague suggestions were made that his disappearance was the result of suicide rather than an aircraft failure or combat loss.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}|group=Note}} He was on a flight over the Mediterranean, from Corsica to mainland France, in an unarmed F-5B photo-reconnaissance variant of the P-38J,{{refn|He was flying a P-38-F-5B-1-LO, ''42-68223'', c/n 2734.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}|group=Note}} described as being a "war-weary, nonairworthy craft".{{sfn|Cate|1970|p={{page needed|date=May 2017}}}}

In 2000, a French scuba diver found the partial remnants of a Lightning spread over several thousand square meters of the Mediterranean seabed off the coast of [[Marseille]]. In April 2004, the recovered component serial numbers were confirmed as being from Saint-Exupéry's F-5B Lightning. Only a small amount of the aircraft's wreckage was recovered.<ref>Cyvoct, Brian. [http://www.aero-relic.org/English/F-5B_42-68223_St_Exupery/e-00-stexuperyf5b.htm "Riou Island's F-5B Lightning, Rhône's delta, France. Pilot: Commander Antoine de Saint-Exupéry."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421084204/http://www.aero-relic.org/English/F-5B_42-68223_St_Exupery/e-00-stexuperyf5b.htm |date=21 April 2008 }} ''Aero-relic.org,'' 2004.</ref> In June 2004, the recovered parts and fragments were given to the [[Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace|Air and Space Museum of France]] in [[Paris&nbsp;– Le Bourget Airport|Le Bourget, Paris]], where Saint-Exupéry's life is commemorated in a special exhibit.<ref name="LEMONDE">[http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2008/03/15/antoine-de-saint-exupery-aurait-ete-abattu-par-un-pilote-allemand_1023277_0.html "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry aurait été abattu par un pilote allemand" {{in lang{{!}}fr}}.] ''[[Le Monde]]'', 15 March 2008.</ref>

In 1981 and also in 2008, two Luftwaffe fighter pilots, respectively Robert Heichele and Horst Rippert, separately claimed to have shot down Saint-Exupéry's P-38.{{sfn|Schiff|2006|pp=438–439}}<ref name="BBCWorld">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7300489.stm "Wartime author mystery 'solved'."] ''BBC News'', 17 March 2008.</ref><ref>Tagliabuet, John. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/world/europe/11exupery.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin "Clues to the Mystery of a Writer Pilot Who Disappeared."] ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 April 2008.</ref> Both claims were unverifiable and possibly self-promotional, as neither of their units' combat records of action from that period made any note of such a shoot-down.<ref>Beale, Nick. "Saint-Exupéry Entre Mythe et Réalité "{{in lang|fr}}. ''Aero Journal'', No. 4, 2008, pp. 78–81.</ref><ref>[http://www.ghostbombers.com/various/Rippert/saint-ex_01.html "Archive sources for Luftwaffe activity over Southern France on 30 and 31 July 1944."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005053721/http://www.ghostbombers.com/various/Rippert/saint-ex_01.html |date=5 October 2011 }} ''Ghost Bombers''. Retrieved: 30 August 2011.</ref>