The first US turbojet aircraft to enter combat service, the P-80 was also the first product of Lockheed’s secretive “Skunk Works” division headed by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Johnson had sketched out the advanced L-133 jet fighter well before the US entered WWII, but this was to remain a paper project, and the XP-80 was to be a completely different and much less radical design.
Color frontal photo showing the Air Force Museum’s P-80R “Racy” speed record holder
The solitary P-80R is seen here displayed at the (then) Air Force Museum main facility, circa late 1980s. Compared with standard Shooting Stars, this aircraft had enlarged intakes, cut down canopy, reduced wingspan, and no armament; as configured, it was used to set a world speed record of 623.753 mph in June 1947. The tail of the museum’s P-59 Airacomet is in the background.
The prototype XP-80 Lulu Belle flew in January 1944 under the power of a British-supplied de Havilland H.1B Goblin engine; even with the underpowered Goblin, the new fighter could exceed 500mph, but plans were already in place for the slightly larger XP-80A, with the much more powerful GE I-40/J33. Two of these were built, followed by thirteen service-test YP-80As and 563 (from a projected 3,500) production P-80As. Early P-80As had J33-GE-11s, or the license-built Allison J33-A-9, while later blocks had the uprated A-17.
Wartime plans had called for North American to contribute by building the type under license as the P-80N; the end of the war put paid to such plans, but the Shooting Star still served the postwar USAF in large numbers, and numerous high profile public demonstrations and trailblazing flights helped show that the Air Force had entered the jet age in a major way.
The definitive F-80C was based on the P-80B, with an ejection seat and the J33-A-23 engine. Just under 800 new-build examples were bought, and several hundred earlier aircraft were brought up to the later configuration.
F-80C Shooting Star at Air Force Museum photo
The NMUSAF’s F-80C, 49-696, is a combat veteran of Korea, one of the few remaining. This aircraft was transferred to Uruguay in 1958, and was returned to the US in 1970, going on display at Dayton in 1979.
F-80C walk around picture – nose guns
The F-80C’s internal armament of six Browning AN/M3 .50-cal machine guns in the nose.
F-80C Shooting Star wing
The Shooting Star could carry a pair of 1,000lb bombs or eight HVAR rockets underwing.
The F-80 was the first USAF jet to take part in the Korean fighting, and early on in the air war dominated North Korean IL-10s and Yak-9s. This situation changed in the fall of 1950 as Russian-provided MiG-15s entered the fighting, and although an early encounter between the types resulted in a Shooting Star pilot claiming a kill, but the disparity in performance between the straight-winged F-80 and the swept wing MiG was too great, helping prompt the deployment of F-86s to the theater. The Shooting Star’s performance in the air to ground role also left something to be desired, as the type’s endurance over the battlefield was minimal, especially when operating from Japan. The advent of “Misawa” tanks – standard external tanks fitted with additional sections- alleviated this, and both F-80s and their RF-80 recce counterparts participated in combat air refueling trials using KB-29 tankers, although routine combat AAR operations would have to wait for Vietnam.
RF-80s were pivotal in bringing back intelligence on Communist activities all the way up to the Yalu – and even beyond, keeping an “eye” on MiG bases in Manchuria. The recce Shootign Stars were the first jet reconnaissance aircraft available in Korea, and as such were used early on for runs into ‘MiG Alley”, where piston powered aircraft were at a distinct disadvantage. Even so, the straight winged RF-80s were themselves soon vulnerable, requiring F-80, and later F-86 escorts.
Combat operations by fighter model Shooting Stars wrapped up in late April 1953; in all, F-80s flew over 98,000 sorties in Korea, dropping over 33,000 tons of bombs, and accounting for 37 Communist aircraft, six of those being MiG-15s. In return, 373 Shooting Stars were lost. including seven to MiGs.
The F-80E was a proposed Shooting Star derivative that would have combined swept wings and an afterburning engine with the stretched airframe of the TF-80C/T-33. The P-80D would have been similar, but would have retained the standard straight wing.
What-If color profile of a Lockheed P-80E swept wing version of the Shooting Star fighter
F-80 Bibliography:
Photo (small): P-80 cockpit Aviation News October 1, 1945 p.26
Color in-flight shot of P-80 485004 Flying November 1945 front cover
Photo: “New Wing of Speedbreaker” Aviation Week August 4, 1947 p.13 Side view of P-80R.
Photo: “Stinger Nose” Side view of P-80 485116 with rocket launcher in nose. Aviation Week September 1, 1947 p.12
Photo: XF-80R as fitted with flush NACA intakes Aviation Week August 9, 1948 p.15
“F-80 Flies on Ramjet Power alone” Aviation Week November 8, 1948 p.14
Photo showing a pair of F-80Cs over Alaska with speedbrakes deployed Flying May 1951 p.57
Several photos of QF-80 drones used for nuclear cloud sampling Aviation Week August 17, 1953 p.92-93
Irving Stone “AMC to Test All Magnesium F-80C” Aviation Week September 28, 1953 Includes structural photos
Color profiles, including a camouflaged RF-80A, QF-80F drone, Flight Test Division F-80A, P-80A Baby Jean. Air International August 1982 p.88-89
Roland Beamont “Testing the early American Jets” Aeroplane Monthly September 1987 Includes photos of P-80As 44-85004, 44-85123, YP-80A 44-83027
Bob Steinbrown “Building Lockheed’s YP-80A in 1/48 scale” FineScale Modeler January 1989 p.42-48 Kitbashing the Monogram F-80C kit into one of the service test aircraft.
Richard A. Franks Review of the Airfix 1/72 F-80C kit. Scale Aviation Modeller International July 1997
Larry Davis “67th TRW in Korea” International Air Power Review Vol.10 Autumn/Fall 2003 Several good shots of RF-80A/Cs, including a close-up image of a camera installation.
Color profiles, including Brazilian & Chilean F-80Cs, QF-80F, Navy TV-1, RF-80C Mary Lou, and a Kansas ANG F-80C with a high-visibility scheme Scale Aviation Modeller May 2004
Dave Stern “Blowtorches and Big Birds” The Aviation Historian 12/July 2015 Includes a photo showing a lineup of P-80Bs at Ladd Field, and other Shooting Star shots
“Monogram – QF-80B Target Drone” Model Aircraft November 2016 Building the old 1/48 scale kit as drone 52957.
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Modern Military Aircraft Anatomy F-80C cutaway drawing, plus a photo showing an improvised ski gear configuration, and an in-flight color shot of a 56th FG P-80A.
William Green, Gordon Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters p.346-347 F-80B cutaway drawing
Phil Butler Air Arsenal North America: Aircraft for the Allies 1938-1945 – Purchases and Lend-Lease p.235 photo of P-80A 483027 in the UK
Ray Bonds Classic Fighters – The Inside Story p.125 F-80C cutaway drawing
Military Aircraft Visual Encyclopedia p.260-261 color profiles include F-80C Evil Eye Fleagle, QF-80, RF-80A, and a camouflaged Bolivian T-33.
Chris Bishop The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare Aerospace Publishing, 2001 p.339 color view of F-80C Salty Dog(Yak-9 killer)
Lloyd S. Jones U.S. Fighters: Army-Air Force 1925 to 1980s p.203 F-80B scale 3-view plans
Donald Nijboe, Dan Patterson Cold War Cockpits p.28-29: photo and cockpit layout of the NMUSAF’s F-80C
Gerry Manning 1000 Preserved Military Aircraft p.10 photos FAC F-80C 2061, Ecuadoran FT-714
Jay Miller Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works Includes an XP-80 3-view, drawings of Shooting Stars with wingtip ramjets and the unmanned L-159 cruise missile derivative proposal.
Bill Norton U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 p.228: photo of the XP-80 with tail removed, showing the Goblin engine