Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockhe..._Shooting_Star

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was the first jet fighter used operationally by
the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Designed and built by Lockheed in
1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of the design process,
production models were flying, and two pre-production models did see very
limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II. Designed with
straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States
Air Force (USAF) as the F-80.

America's first successful turbojet-powered combat aircraft, it helped usher in
the "jet age" in the USAF, but was outclassed with the appearance of the
swept-wing transonic MiG-15 and was quickly replaced in the air superiority role
by the transonic F-86 Sabre. The F-94 Starfire, an all-weather interceptor on
the same airframe, also saw Korean war service. The closely related T-33
Shooting Star trainer would remain in service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy
well into the 1980s, with the last NT-33 variant not retired until April 1997.
Many still serve in a military role in foreign air arms or are in private hands.

The XP-80 had a conventional all-metal airframe, with a slim low wing and
tricycle landing gear. Like most early jets designed during World War II—and
before the Allies captured German research data that showed 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 in the fuselage, a format previously used in the pioneering German
Heinkel He 178 V1 of 1939, and the slightly later British Gloster E.28/39
demonstrator of 1941. Other early jets generally had two engines because of
their limited power, these being mounted in external nacelles for easier
maintenance. With the advent of more powerful British jet engines, fuselage
mounting was more effective, and it was used by nearly all subsequent fighter
aircraft.

The P-80 testing program proved very dangerous. Burcham was killed on 20 October
1944 while flying the third YP-80A produced, 44-83025. The Gray Ghost was lost
on a test flight on 20 March 1945, although pilot Tony LeVier escaped. Newly
promoted to chief engineering test pilot to replace Burcham, LeVier bailed out
when one of the engine's turbine blades broke, causing structural failure in the
aircraft's tail. LeVier landed hard and broke his back, but returned to the test
program after six months of recovery. 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. Both Burcham and Bong crashed as a result
of main fuel pump failure. Burcham's death was the result of a failure to brief
him on a newly installed emergency fuel pump backup system, but the
investigation of Bong's crash found that he had apparently forgotten to switch
on this pump, which could have prevented the accident. He bailed out when the
aircraft rolled inverted but was too close to the ground for his parachute to
deploy.

After the war, the USAAF compared the P-80 and Me 262A 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. The Me 262 apparently has a higher critical Mach number (the Me
262A's being at M 0.86), from a drag standpoint, than any current Army Air Force
fighter."


Role
Jet fighter

National origin
United States

Manufacturer
Lockheed Corporation

Designer
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson

First flight
8 January 1944

Introduction
1945

Status
Retired

Primary users
United States Air Force
United States Navy

Number built
1,715

Unit cost

US$110,000 in 1945


Variants
Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star

Developed into
Lockheed F-94 Starfire

Shooting Stars first saw combat service in the Korean War, employing both the
F-80C variant and RF-80 photo-recon variants. The F-80 flew both air-to-air and
air-to-ground sorties, claiming several aerial victories against North Korean
Yak-9s and Il-10s. On 8 November 1950, the first American claim for a
jet-versus-jet aerial kill was made when Lieutenant Russell J. Brown, flying an
F-80, reported that he shot down a MiG-15. Soviet records showed that the MiG
survived the encounter. Despite initial claims of success, the speed of the
straight-wing F-80s was inferior to the 668 mph MiGs. The MiGs incorporated
German research that showed that swept wings delayed the onset of
compressibility problems, and enabled speeds much closer to the speed of sound.
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. However, F-80 pilots still claimed to have
destroyed a total of six MiG-15s in aerial combat. 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. By
the end of hostilities, the only F-80s still flying in Korea were
photo-reconnaissance variants.

Of the 277 F-80s lost in operations (approximately 30% of the existing
inventory), 113 were lost to ground fire and 14 to enemy aircraft. F-80s are
credited by the USAF with destroying 17 aircraft in air-to-air combat and 24 on
the ground. Major Charles J. Loring, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of
Honor for his actions while flying an F-80 with the 80th Fighter-Bomber
Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing on 22 November 1952.

Specifications (P-80C/F-80C)

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 34 ft 5 in (10.49 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Height: 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m)
Wing area: 237.6 ft² (22.07 m²)
Aspect ratio: 6.37
Empty weight: 8,420 lb (3,819 kg)
Loaded weight: 12,650 lb (5,738 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 16,856 lb (7,646 kg)
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0134
Drag area: 3.2 ft² (0.30 m²)
Powerplant: 1 × Allison J33-A-35 centrifugal compressor turbojet, 4600 lbf
(20.46 kN) / 5400 lbf (24.02 kN) with water injection

Performance
Maximum speed: 600 mph, Mach .76 (P-80A 558 mph at sea level and 492 mph at
40,000 ft) (965 km/h)
Cruise speed: 410 mph (660 km/h)
Range: 1,200 mi (1,930 km)
Service ceiling: 46,000 ft (14,000 m)
Rate of climb: 4,580 ft/min (23.3 m/s) 5.5 min to 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Wing loading: 53 lb/ft² (260 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.364 (0.427 with water injection)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 17.7

Armament

Guns: 6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns (300 rpg)
Rockets: 8 × 127mm unguided rockets
Bombs: 2 × 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs




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