Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star is an early jet fighter that was designed and built by Lockheed. It was the first jet aircraft to be used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), flying active missions during the latter months of World War II.

The P-80 has its origins in Lockheed's earlier L-133 design study, although the USAAF ultimately passed it over in favour of the competing Bell P-59 Airacomet for it being technologically unfeasible. However, after the P-59's performance proved to be lacking and the discovery of Nazi Germany's Me 262 combat jet in spring 1943, Lockheed was instructed to commence work on what would become the XP-80 in May 1943. Developed to accept the British-made Halford H-1 B "Goblin" turbojet engine, it was worked on by 128 engineers led by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson in what became known as the Skunk Works. Design work on the airframe started on 26 June 1943, and the first aircraft was delivered to Muroc Army Airfield only 143 days later. On 8 January 1944, the first prototype performed its maiden flight. During early flights of the P-80, multiple pilots lost their lives, including one of America's top aces, Richard Bong. By the end of 1944, 12 pre-production aircraft had been delivered to the USAAF. While two pre-production aircraft saw limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II, they never engaged in direct combat.

Production of the P-80 continued after the conflict, being adopted by both the United States Navy (USN) and the newly-formed United States Air Force (USAF), the latter assigning it the designation F-80. The type was deployed widely during the opening years of the Cold War, forming part of the response to events such as the Berlin Blockade.