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The P-38 Pathfinder was designed to allow the P-38 to be used as a bomber in poor weather conditions. Like the earlier P-38 Droop Snoop it replaced the guns in the nose of the P-38 with a bombardier’s station, but in this case that station carried the AN/APS-15 Bombing Through Overcast (BTO) “Mickey) radar unit behind an opaque radome. This radar equipment could be used for poor weather bombing, or for radar ground mapping.
The Pathfinder was produced by Lockheed at their Dallas Modification Centre. The prototype was produced from a P-38J, while the production aircraft were modified P-38Ls. The P-38 Pathfinder was developed in mid-1944, just as the P-38 was being phased out in Europe, but despite this the majority of Pathfinders were deployed to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.