Sometime around 1970, another in the long succession of owners converted 44-53087 back to fighter configuration, with a fighter nose purchased from MGM movie studios. CAF acquired another P-38 in 1963 and, once again, 44-53087 was sold to work as an aerial mapping and survey airplane. It continued in that role with several owners until 1961 when it was purchased by a member of the Confederate Air Force based in Texas, becoming the CAF’s first P-38. It received a bubble nose and was used for aerial cartography.
Number 44-53087 remained intact and passed through three private owners before being sold to a Canadian mapping and survey company in 1951. Most of these P-38s were “parted out” at great profit. When the government offered several of its surplus aircraft for sale in early 1946, the airplane was one of 48 Lightnings sold to a single buyer for $1,250 each. Army Air Forces boneyard at Kingman, Arizona. When the war ended in August 1945, this airplane was sent for disposal to the U.S. It saw brief action as a fighter and was then converted to a night fighter, but was never used in that role. It came off Lockheed’s assembly line in June of 1945 as a P-38L-5-LO, serial number 44-53087, and cost $15,000. Built in 1945, this P-38 saw action as a fighter in World War II and later served as a civilian mapping platform.
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