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The squadron used Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft photo-reconnaissance variant F-5 throughout the war. The F-5 and F-5A were used from the summer of 1943 until the summer of 1944 when F-5B, F-5C, and F-5E Lightnings were brought in. All P-38 Lightning variants were used for the remainder of the war.
The first combat-capable Lightning was the P-38E (and its photo-recon variant the F-4) which featured improved instruments, electrical, and hydraulic systems. Part-way through production, the older Hamilton Standard Hydromatic hollow steel propellers were replaced by new Curtiss Electric duraluminum propellers.
The squadron was activated as the 27th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron at Peterson Field, Colorado in February 1943 and equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and two reconnaissance models of the Lightning, the F-4 and the F-5. [2] It was one of the original squadrons of the 6th Photographic Group.
The first P-38 of the Compañía de Aviación Air army arrived in Santiago 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 Lightnings were cut up and dumped. [3]
The P-38 was quickly declared obsolete in 1946 and the last USAF flight was in 1948. This was an extremely complicated aircraft to maintain. The P-38 Lightning has been consistently on the civil registry since 1946 since the first aircraft were released from the military.
In the last half of 1942 Lockheed would produce 96 F-5As, based on the P-38G with all later P-38 photo-reconnaissance variants designated F-5. In its reconnaissance role, the Lightning was so effective that over 1,200 F-4 and F-5 variants were delivered by Lockheed, and it was the United States Army Air Forces 's (USAAF) primary photo ...
— The famous P-38 Lightning Fighter plane flown by World War II ace of aces Richard I. Bong — and decorated with a photograph of its namesake "Marge" — was discovered last week nose-down in ...
Combat Photo-Reconnaissance. 7th Reconnaissance Group; Constituted as 7th Photographic Group May 1943-Nov 1945 Eighth Air Force (ETO) Operated Spitfire PR XI, P-51 (Escorts) Combat Photo-Reconnaissance. 8th Reconnaissance Group; Sep 1943-Nov 1945 Tenth Air Force (CBI) Operated F-5 (P-38), F-6 (P-51), F-7 (B-24), P-40 (Escorts) Combat Photo ...