While rummaging around Flikr today ran across this pic of a junkyard in Guadalcanal in 1945. What aircraft restoration guys today wouldn't give for this pile of parts. Most likely all went to the smelters, but there are at least 5 P-38 airframes in there. If only time travel were possible, there wouldn't be a shortage of warplanes for museums and enthusiasts worldwide. Not to many years ago, if a guy wanted a P-38, he had to dig down 260 feet into Greenland's ice to get one. Out of 10,000 built, fewer than 25 are around today, and only about 9 of those can still fly.
From Adelaide Archivist on Flikr
The P-38 was the primary long range fighter for the US in the Pacific, but was used extensively elsewhere. These were the planes that killed Yamamoto in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attack, and were called "Fork Tailed Devils" by German adversaries, or "Two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese. Not a forgiving aircraft, most of the survivors have been rebuilt from crashes more than once. It has been said the P-38's in the picture were all written off from crashes. But the math was right for the ones that didn't crash. 2 Allison V-12's, divided by 4 Browning 50 caliber machine guns plus one 20mm Hispano cannon.
This video from HucksterFoot's channel is the news story for the recovery of Glacier Girl
