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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. [1] Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, two pre-production models saw limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II.
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star: US: January 1944: Operational: January 1945: 361: First operational US jet fighter. Four deployed during the war, two seeing limited service in Italy, but no combat. [22] McDonnell FD Phantom: US: January 1945: Production: July 1947: 62: Postwar production, designation changed April 1946 to FH. [23] [24] McDonnell ...
Republic P-47 fighter-bomber: 1941: retired 1966: 15,678 [notes 2] Vought F4U Corsair fighter-bomber: 1940: retired 1979: 12,571: Vought SB2U Vindicator/Chesapeake dive bomber: 1936: retired 1945: 260: Vought TBU/Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf torpedo bomber: 1941: retired 1948: 180: Vultee A-31/A-35 Vengeance dive bomber: 1941: retired 1945: 1,528
It was the first United States jet fighter squadron to be activated, and spent most of its early existence in experimental testing of the Bell P-59 Airacomet and Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star aircraft. The squadron developed training programs and trained aircrew and ground personnel as cadres for newly formed jet aircraft-equipped units.
Planning for Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter production included a visit in February 1945 by two Lockheed representatives, and in April Lockheed shipped a P-80 to the bomber plant for study. Work began on building jigs for P-80 production, space was cleared for P-80 production in the high bay, and the B-25 assembly line was shortened.
23d Fighter Squadron F-80 [note 2] After being inactivated in March 1946, the squadron was reactivated in October 1946 at Howard Field, Panama Canal Zone, flying the P-47 and the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. In July 1948, the squadron returned to Germany at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base.
At Taego, the squadron exchanged its Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jets for propeller-driven North American F-51D Mustangs which were more suited to the ground attack and support role. Combat targets included tanks and armored vehicles, locomotives, artillery and antiaircraft guns, fuel and ammunition dumps, warehouses and factories, and troop ...
The following day saw the first use of a T-6 Texan for a FAC aircraft, as the original FACs flew a sortie directing air strikes by Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars that knocked out 17 North Korean tanks near Chonui. During the direction of Royal Australian Air Force P-51 Mustangs, the T-6 radio became unserviceable. The FAC continued indicating ...