de Havilland Comet – Lockheed Lightning – same wing?

Proof that I know almost nothing about airplane design, should any be needed:

I was looking at photos of two of my favorite twin-engined planes, the de Havilland HD-88 Comet, and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning when I noticed something interesting. Their wings are very nearly the same shape but the Comet (or possibly the Lightning) has them on backwards. Here are the two planes:
side-by-side

 

If I lay one atop the other, you can see that the wings are similar, but that’s about it. The angles at the leading and trailing edges don’t match up very well.overlay-normal

 

However, if I flip one of the planes, nose-for-tail, the wings match up very closely indeed.
overlay-flipped

 

Why should that be? I have no idea.

 

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