Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star is the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II.Like most early jets designed during World War II—and before the Allies captured German research data that confirmed the speed advantages of swept-wings—the XP-80 had straight wings, similar to previous propeller-driven fighters.It was the first operational jet fighter to have its engine buried in the fuselage, a format previously used in the pioneering German Heinkel He 178 V1 of 1939, and the later British Gloster E.28/39 demonstrator of 1941.[4] The impetus for development of the P-80 was the discovery by Allied intelligence of the Me 262 in spring 1943, which had made only test flights of its own first quartet (the V1 through V4 airframes) of design prototypes at that time, all fitted with retracting tailwheel landing gear.Powered by the replacement Halford H1 taken from the prototype de Havilland Vampire jet fighter,[N 1] it first flew on 8 January 1944, with Lockheed test pilot Milo Burcham at the controls.Contemporary pilots, when transitioning to pioneering jets like the Shooting Star, were unused to flying at high speed without a loud reciprocating engine and had to learn to rely on the airspeed indicator.The top-scoring World War II USAAF ace Major Richard Bong was also killed on an acceptance flight of a production P-80 in the United States on 6 August 1945.[11] After the war, the USAAF compared the P-80 and Me 262 concluding, "Despite a difference in gross weight of nearly 2,000 lb (900 kg), the Me 262 was superior to the P-80 in acceleration, speed and approximately the same in climb performance.[13] Before World War II ended, however, two American pre-production Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star fighter jets saw limited service in Italy with the USAAF on reconnaissance, in February and March 1945.[16] He completed the 2,457 miles (3,954 km) run between Long Beach and New York in 4:13:26 hrs at an average speed of 584 mph (507 kn; 940 km/h), aided by the upper-level westerly winds, to set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record.When the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin, a squadron of the 56th FG led by Colonel David C. Schilling made the first west-to-east Atlantic crossing by single-engined jets in July, flying to Germany for 45 days in Operation Fox Able I.At Naval Air Station Patuxent River, one Navy P-80 was modified with required add-ons, such as an arrestor hook, and loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt at Norfolk, Virginia, on 31 October 1946.[20] The U.S. Navy had already begun procuring its own jet aircraft, but the slow pace of delivery was causing retention problems among pilots, particularly those of the Marines who were still flying Vought F4U Corsairs.[21] Soviet records claim that no MiGs were lost that day and that their pilot, Senior Lieutenant Kharitonov, survived by pulling out of a dive at low altitude.F-80s were soon replaced in the air superiority role by the North American F-86 Sabre, which had been delayed to also incorporate swept wings into an improved straight-winged naval FJ-1 Fury.When sufficient Sabres were in operation, the Shooting Star flew exclusively ground-attack missions, and were also used for advanced flight training duties and air defense in Japan.
P-80 (disambiguation)Jet fighterManufacturerLockheed CorporationClarence "Kelly" JohnsonUnited States Air ForceUnited States NavyLockheed T-33 Shooting StarLockheed F-94 StarfirefighterUnited States Army Air ForcesWorld War IILockheedturbojettransonicMiG-15air superiorityF-86 SabreF-94 StarfireT-33 Shooting Startrainerlow wingtricycle landing gearswept-wingsHeinkel He 178Gloster E.28/39nacellescanardblended wing bodyBell P-59 AiracometMe 262Henry H. ArnoldairframeHalford H-1 B "Goblin"Wright FieldblueprintengineersClarence L. "Kelly" JohnsonP-38 LightningSkunk WorksMuroc Army Airfieldforeign object damageVampiretest pilotMilo BurchamRepublic P-47 Thunderboltairspeed indicatorGeneral ElectricTony LeVierRichard BongRobert E. ThackerMuroc Army AirbaseChuck Yeagercritical Mach numberLangley AFB1st Fighter GroupLesina AirfieldRAF Burtonwood412th Fighter GroupMuroc Army Air FieldFédération Aéronautique InternationaleAlbert Boydair speed recordStrategic Air CommandGiebelstadtSoviet Unionblockaded BerlinDavid C. SchillingLangley Air Force BaseKirtland Air Force BaseElmendorf Air Force BaseAir Defense CommandAir National GuardNaval Air Station Patuxent Riverarrestor hookUSS Franklin D. RooseveltNorfolk, VirginiaMarineMarion CarlVought F4U CorsairsNaval Air Station North IslandVMF-311Marine Corps Air Station El ToroT2V SeaStarKorean WarYak-9sIl-10sNorth American F-86 SabreFJ-1 Fury8th Fighter-Bomber WingSuwon Air BaseF-86 SabresTaegu AB (K-2)F-84 ThunderjetKimpo AB (K-14)PohangP-51 MustangCharles J. Loring Jr.Medal of Honorde Havilland-built Halford H.1BGeneral Electric I-40Rolls-Royce LimitedB-25 Mitchellchase planereconnaissanceSchräge Musikejection seatMuseu AeroespacialMuseo Nacional Aeronáutico y del EspacioLos Cerrillos AirportSantiagoNational Air and Space MuseumAir ZooHill Aerospace MuseumHill AFBAir Force Flight Test MuseumEdwards Air Force BaseKalamazoo Air ZooKalamazoo, MichiganMedford, New JerseyPlanes of FameChino, CaliforniaMuseum of AviationRobins Air Force BaseWarner Robins, GeorgiaCastle Air Museum