Lockheed P-80 / F-80 Shooting Star

The History of the Lockheed P-80/F-80 Meteor

The Lockheed P-80/F-80 Meteor is undoubtedly the most successful first-generation jet fighter in the world. When the Meteor appeared in the final months of World War II, it failed to complete a single combat mission in the conflict, but in the upcoming Korean War and its two very important derivatives, the T-33 Proven itself as a two-seater trainer and an all-weather F-94 Starfire interceptor - both based heavily on the existing P-80/F-80 airframe.

The P-80 was developed by the ingenuity of Lockheed's Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, designer of the legendary two-armed P-38 Lightning. If the war in Europe continued for a few more months, the air war would certainly take on a very different side.

Background

Everything changed on July 26, 1944, when there was only one British twin-engine piston-driven de Havilland DH. 98 Mosquito - while he was happily photographing over Munich - came across a twin-engine German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter (flying as part of a test squadron). The Me 262 opened fire on the unsuspecting two crew members - perhaps through ingrained training or sheer instinct - and the Mosquitos turned to safety and managed to turn around and escape. It was the first time ever to encounter a jet enemy, and the fact that the Germans were able to use this deadly device was a new realization for the Allies.

Jet propulsion promises speed and greater flight payloads, which will directly lead to more powerful weapon options. The Germans seem to have the upper hand.

Had Adolf Hitler not intervened in the development of the Me 262 as a fighter (he envisioned these aircraft as fighter-bombers, not fighters responsible for defending Reich airspace), the creation of such a fleet of aircraft would have prolonged the war by potentially several years , let alone months. Both Britain and the Americans (as well as the Soviet Union and Japan) had viable jet plans at the time. The Germans developed the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, which, despite its limited range, had some combat value in terms of speed and firepower, especially when tilted in Allied bomber formations. The Heinkel He 162 Volksjager is a simplified single-seat jet fighter for pilots who do not require training. The Horten brothers discovered the limited test success of the world's first stealth aircraft in the Horten Ho 229 flying wing.

This was the expedient the Allies had to resort to in order to push back the expanding German technological front.

While the Bell P-59 Airacomet became America's first "true" jet, the system lacked all key combat qualities and became an impractical system in the field no less useful than Jet trainer. In the mock battles that followed, the P-59 couldn't even keep up with the latest piston-powered fighter jets, so limited numbers were produced for the USAAF (United States Army Air Force).

In any case, the seemingly limited exploits of his P-59 paved the way for a revolution in American jetsfantastic machines designed to fly without propellers.

The relative failure of the P-59 forced the U.S. Army to continue to look for other avenues for a jet fighter capable of engaging the enemy and meeting demand for a fairly limited period of time. While Lockheed was already committed to mass production of its legendary P-38 Lightning series (designed and developed by the great Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson), it showed a keen interest in the development of this aircraft. However, the Army would rather have their trusted P-38 fly than divert resources from Lockheed to fund and develop such experimental work.

But when the P-59 reached its limited potential, the U.S. Army turned its attention to Lockheed's interests, and the two joined forces in the creation of America's first true jet fighter.

The new specification appeared in May 1943, calling for a high-altitude jet interceptor centered on a powerful engine - this became the British de Havilland Halford H-1 Goblin engine, after receiving official documents 180 days to develop government contracts. One can only imagine Johnson licking his lips at the prospect of such a challenge (his company would be responsible for the state-of-the-art SR-71, U-2 and F-117 programs decades later).

The company name "Project MX-409" was adopted, and the government contract for the development of "XP-80" was signed on June 17.

Development

Lockheed developed and submitted a first draft, which was eventually approved by the U.S. Army. Work began at breakneck speed, and astonishingly, Lockheed engineers created a work floor concept in 141 days. The engine came from the UK and was installed almost immediately.

The design focuses on a clean fuselage, tapered straight-wing wings and a single-seat pressurized cockpit under a bubble hood. The engine and cockpit are placed near the center of the fuselage to ensure a reasonable center of gravity.

The completed prototype was shipped in sections from Lockheed's Burbank facility to the open-air area of ??the Muroc Army Air Field in the Mojave Desert.

After assembly, the XP-80 did some basic engine practice on the ground, and soon discovered that the jet was producing so much suction that the fuselage air intakes were being dragged into the plane itself. After some finger-pointing between Lockheed and de Havilland (owner of the Goblin engine), Lockheed went ahead and modified the air intake to successfully fix the problem, but at the cost of delaying the project.

On January 8, 1944, the XP-80 was again at Muroc ready for a formal demonstration to military and contract officials. The XP-80 takes off with a screech of its goblin turbojet and takes off in a seemingly effortless glide. Its initial acceleration makes it slower than its piston-driven counterparts, but once it gets up, the XP-80 really takes hold. Problems quickly followed, however, as the landing gear failed to retract, forcing the plane to return to the ground for inspection.

Through on-site repairs, the XP-80 was lifted off the ground, giving all attendees a stand-alone flight show. With the XP-80 becoming the first U.S. plane to surpass and sustain 500 mph, the future of jet-powered flight may be more realistic than ever.

The XP-80 was so responsive that test pilot Milo Burcham worried him to a certain extent, even though he admired the aircraft's capabilities from the start. A notable issue was the lack of any stall characteristics of the airframe, which could easily lead to a loss of control and eventual death of the pilot. Kelly Johnson solved this problem by adding wing fillets. In its current form, the XP-80 could easily outperform all existing American fighter platforms, even some.

Unfortunately, Burcham was later killed on October 20, 1944, when the third YP-80A he was flying crashed shortly after takeoff due to a complete loss of fuel pressure.

The initial test flight proved so promising that the U.S. Army took the opportunity to further develop the Lockheed product. A larger and faster version of the XP-80 - known internally as "Model L-141" - was envisioned as two prototypes, designated "XP-80A". The XP-80A prototype was equipped with a combat arsenal of full 6 x 12.7mm M2 Browning machine guns to encourage this sophisticated machine to go into production in the shortest possible time.

The XP-80A contract was signed on February 10, 1944, and a short follow-up contract for the Army was signed on February 14 for 13 pre-production aircraft. To add to an already tight schedule, Lockheed was subsequently awarded a full production contract for 500 P-80A fighter jets.

The original XP-80 was only slightly modified and continued to fly for the program to collect as much flight data as possible in preparation for the development of two XP-80As.

Allis-Chalmers has been awarded a contract to authorize the production of de Havilland Halford Goblin turbojets, but there were some deficiencies in setting up a localized government manufacturing facility, forcing the project to look elsewhere for a solution. As a result, the unproven but technically superior GE I-40 was chosen because it promised to deliver 4,000 pounds of thrust - a huge improvement over the relatively primitive British product. In order not to completely strip the P-80 of its British ancestry, the I-40 is actually an evolution of the British-designed Frank Whittle W.1 engine.

The I-40 eventually emerged under the new designation J33, kicking off a long line of successful General Electric "J" military jet engines whose pedigree continues to this day.

Two XP-80As (designated and painted "Grey Ghost" and "Silver Ghost") were introduced in the summer of 1944. Compared to the original prototype, these developments are basically brand new aircraft. The cockpit and engines are housed in a longer fuselage and are further spaced apart, creating an entirely new center of gravity. These XP-80As are larger than their predecessors, with greater operating weight and load, while adding more surface area.

These changes mean that the XP-80A will still be in development, evaluation and testing for some time, as all the problems that existed in the original XP-80 prototype will now be amplified in the XP-80A. Grey Ghost eventually disappeared in an accident, its tail was completely torn from the fuselage, and the pilot was barely ejected to safety, but not without a fractured vertebra.

Tests progress and delays increase as the new frontier of jet-powered flight gives Lockheed engineers a headache. Kelly Johnson found that installing external wingtip fuel tanks instead of using the traditional underwing center location actually helped eliminate critical drag (it should be noted that this seemingly minor design decision was used in most early jets where cold reigns) Aircraft developed into warfare, especially in America).

While most of the other bugs were eventually fixed, some were temporary fixes to speed things up. Tested against modern piston-powered fighter jets, the redesigned XP-80A delivers uncompromising results and secures its future legacy in U.S. military aviation.

13 YP-80A service test models completed and delivered to the USAF on September 13, 1944. The second such service test aircraft had camera equipment in the nose assembly and was designated the XF-14, intended as a photo reconnaissance prototype.

In February 1945, the first production Meteor was finally delivered to the U.S. Air Force.

Honeymoon is over

While the development of the P-80 program was exciting and moving so quickly, its real test was in the hands of combat squadrons responsible for flying and training the aircraft. As soon as the program went live, accidents occurred due to structural failures, engine problems or general pilot error on the controls. Meanwhile, Imperial Japan has collapsed, effectively ending World War II, and the P-80's once-broad future is now being called into question by these worsening casualties. A notable accident killed American war ace Richard Bong - bringing the P-80 to the attention of many suspects and grounding the entire fleet until the program (and accident) could be reviewed and explained.

Like other aircraft in the postwar world, huge contracts for the P-80 (about 2,631) were cut and inevitably cancelled.

Lockheed recognized the need for aggressive propaganda and used a Meteor - first the regular P-80A (44-85213), then the improved P-80R (44-85200) - to Compete for a new airspeed record, then hold the British Gloucester Meteor held at 606 mph, recovering some time later at 616 mph. Improvements to the P-80R include an improved Allison J33-A-21 engine with 5,079 lbs of thrust and alcohol water jets, removal of weapons for more fuel, improved air intakes and removal of all drag-producing external elements . While the first record attempt of 44-85213 didn't even exceed 600 mph, the second attempt of the modified P-80R set a new record of 623.8 mph - putting America forever in jet development frontier.

The P-80R is still in use today as part of the U.S. Air Force Museum's Research and Development Gallery.