P80 Aircraft - XP-80A flies over the Mojave Desert, ca. 1944. The P-80 Shooting Star was designed by noted aeronautical engineer Clarence L. Designed by Johnson. Photo by Lockheed Martin
One of the countless stories of early jet aviation concerns the four Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star fighters that arrived in Europe in early January 1945. German aircraft, particularly the Messerschmitt Me 262, shot down the Allied bombers. When the P-80s arrived, it was not yet clear how long the Allied conflict with the Third Reich would last.
P80 Aircraft
Army Air Forces (AAF) Chief General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold probably did not intend to throw the P-80 into combat against the Luftwaffe, at least not until their numbers swelled, but the jet-powered P-80 did play a role in the war.
Lockheed P 80 Shooting Star In Europe During Wwii. Four Yp 80as Arrived In Europe (two In England, Two In Italy). One Of The Aircraft In England Was Lost In A Fatal Crash, Temporarily
XP-80A, approx. 1944. This historic Lockheed aircraft was designed and built from blueprint to takeoff in just 143 days. Flying higher and faster than any aircraft in the world, the Shooting Star was assigned to military units in Okinawa, Germany, Alaska, the Panama Canal Zone, Japan, and the United States. The Shooting Star was the first mass-produced jet aircraft. Photo by Lockheed Martin
Four of these early American jets, known as the YP-80A model, went overseas - two each to England and Italy. They were fully functional. He was less successful in England than in Italy and his contribution is hardly remembered today.
The P-80 (later F-80) was mostly designed by Lockheed engineer Clarence L. Johnson had the work, nicknamed "Kelly" because of his preference for green ties despite his Swedish origins. After failing to sell the jet design in 1939, Johnson got a second chance when, on June 18, 1943, representatives of the US Army Test Service at Wright Field, Ohio, contacted Lockheed. With the support of Lockheed president Robert Gross and chief engineer Hal Gibbard, Johnson set out to further develop a new aircraft based on the British jet engine. The Army Air Force was already testing the Bell XP-59A Airacomet but, influenced by reports of the German Messerschmitt Me 262, sought a more advanced jet.
After the first flight of Milo Burcham's spinach-green XP-80 (44-83020) named Lulu Belle on January 8, 1944, Lockheed built two XP-80A models (44-83021/44-83022) and won a contract with the AAF. . To build 13 service test aircraft YP-80A (44-83023-83035). The first made its maiden flight on 13 September 1944, and all were handed over to the AAF by 31 December. Burcham was killed in a YP-80A (44-83025) on October 20, 1944, but the program did not lose its momentum.
Lockheed T 33
AAF Chief Arnold was following jet development in Germany and was keen to get the YP-80A there. Asked when he would like to get the YP-80A in Europe, Arnold simply said, "Now."
On November 13, 1944, Colonel George E. Price received approval for Project Extraversion to send four YP-80A service test aircraft across the Atlantic—two to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in England and two in Italy. Mediterranean Theater of Operations. The term "extraversion" refers to a stable personality trait that includes an extroverted mental state, i.e., a person who is the opposite of an introvert. So perhaps this project was a symbol of achievement. The four YP-80As were disassembled, crated and placed on ships.
It is unclear whether Arnold, Price and others expected to see these YP-80As in combat. It is clear that one of the purposes of their visit was to boost the morale of the heavy bomber crews of the 8th and 15th Air Forces, who were encountering German aircraft every day.
A pair arrived in England on 30 December 1944 for ETO (44-83026/44-83027). Ground crews collected them at Burtonwood.
Lockheed P 80r > National Museum Of The United States Air Force™ > Display
Almost overlooked by historians are the four American YP-80A Shooting Star jet fighters that arrived in Europe during World War II, two in England and two in Italy. They were externally identical to this P-80A (Army Serial No. 44-85000, Navy Bureau No. 29667) seen in this previously unpublished portrait in 1945 during testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Photo by Jim Hawkins
His time in England, which could have provided great drama, turned out to be short and miserable.
Colonel Marcus Cooper and Major Frederick Austin Borsody, Wright Field pilots assigned to the project, began flying in January 1945, with Cooper flying the first P-80 outside the United States. Borsody took the YP-80A into the air on 28 January 1945, but a tail tube flange tension failure caused some of the hot gases to escape into the tail section of the fuselage, spread through the tail surfaces and burn, forming a tail. To separate the flap section. The plane crashed into a field and Borsodi died.
Another YP-80A could be sent to the Reich if one wanted to use it to fight the Messerschmitt Me 262. It is not clear if the YP-80A had enough range to reach the Me 262 airfield, and it would not have done much. It makes sense to send this single jet on a ride by itself. A later version, the F-80C, would later be credited with the first aerial victory in jet-vs-jet combat (in Korea), but it was not to be in 1945. Instead of fighting Adolf Hitler's jets, the only YP-80A in England was given to Rolls-Royce for flight testing with the Nene B.41 turbojet engine. It survived the war, but was destroyed on November 14, 1945, during an emergency landing after an engine failure, typical of early jet aircraft.
File:lockheed P 80 Shooting Star, Sacramento Aerospace Museum, California.jpg
Perhaps coincidentally, two YP-80As (44-83028/44-83029) arrived at Lesina, Italy in late January 1945, around the time that Arado R234B jets based at Udine in northern Italy flew reconnaissance missions over Ali. started executing The lines on the Italian front. It is understood that the YP-80As were not dispatched in response to the Ar 234B operations, but it is not clear whether the Lockheed jets would have been able to intercept the Arado jets, had events developed differently. Lessina, with a single runway with a steel surface, was part of the Foggia Airfield Complex, a series of World War II military airfields located within a 25-mile radius of the city of Foggia.
US Air Force Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star (serial number 44-85004) in flight in 1946 or 47. The YP-80s in Europe didn't have tips like this shooting star. Photo by US Air Force
The exact dates when both the YP-80A and Ar 234B entered service in Italy are disputed; Later dates appear variously as January, February or March 1945 in different stories. "Pete 57", a blogger who studied the YP-80A and Ar 234B operations in Italy, wrote that "one cannot help but wonder if the YP-80A only weeks after the start of Operation Arados The delivery to the operational unit of was only one. Coincidence...»
Almost everything we know about Project Extraversion in Italy comes from a draftee in the early 20s. Albert James "Jim" Bertolio was the official photographer for the 94th Fighter Squadron "Hat in the Ring" based in Italy and was part of the 1st Fighter Group equipped with P-38J Lightnings - and later assigned to re-equip P-80 shooting. was gone Stars in 1946. Bertoglio (1925–2012), who was from Madison Lodge, Kansas, was interviewed extensively after the war. He recalled that although the YP-80A was flown by both test and operational pilots, civilians served them. Bertolio is widely quoted as having seen a YP-80A flying north of his base near Foggia, Italy on some mysterious mission that has never been explained.
Postage Stamp 1:96 Lockheed F 80 Shooting Star: United States Air Force
According to Bob Esposito, a historian who studies the history of the P-80, the deployment of the jets in Europe was already classified and became even more classified after the Borsody crash in England. "YP-80A operations were strictly off limits to full-time AAF personnel," Esposito said in a March 24 telephone interview. "It was all very comfortable."
The official history of the 1st Fighter Group states that Major Ed LeClair, a 94th Air Force pilot, flew "two operational fighter sorties" in a YP-80A, but "without encountering combat." Other historians suggest that the YP-80As would have been used in combat if they had encountered the German enemy under the right conditions.
This is one of two YP-80A Shooting Star fighters (44-83029) that went to Italy on Project Extraversion, seen shortly after its return. Piloted by Major Steve Pisanos, the plane made an emergency landing in a bean field in West Virginia. It was repaired and about to fly off the road. The plane was en route from Camden, New Jersey to Wright Field, Ohio. Photo by Bob Esposito
Two YP-80As deployed to Italy were returned to the United States. One of these (44-83028) as shown on boarding card returned to Air Command at Buffalo, NY, probably en route to Wright Field, 16 Jun 1945; It had a long service life and eventually became an unmanned drone. Another (44-83029) also returned to the state on June 16; It survived a crack in a cornfield to be lost in a crash near Brandenburg, Kentucky on August 2, 1945. Debris was scattered over a large area, the official report said.
Lockheed P 80 Shooting Star Fleece Blanket By Camm Kirk
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