I found out very late in life that one of my uncles was a mechanic during WWII on the P-38s. He said they were quite respected by the enemy (called the fork-tailed devil by Germans) and he enjoyed his time on them.
Never knew where he was based or even the branch (I always assumed the Air Force). He had said he would give me copies of his papers from then but sadly I never got anything from the family.
I do seem to recall a story about long-range experiments with a fairly famous pilot who was really into flying two P-38s with their wings interlocked. They would take off, link up and fly together until it was time to land, which boosted fuel use tremendously. The pilots involved proved it would work, which was important as these planes were being sent completely around the world. The next two pilots to try it crashed and died, so the program was stopped. I may be remembering this wrong; someone enlighten me if so. But I’d like to see if anyone remembers that part.