Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

what is it?

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 favor 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.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 11.8 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 956 km/htop speed
• range 1,930 kmwithout refuelling
• size 7,646 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,732made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 82 years ago, in 1944.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.8 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,930 km: 11× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.6× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1944-01-08

introduced

1945

retired

1975

status

retired

number built

1,732

role

jet fighter

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Lockheed Corporation, California, Burbank

engines

1× Allison J33-A-35 / J33

crew

1

length

10.5 m

wingspan

11.8 m

height

3.4 m

max take-off weight

7,646 kg

top speed

956 km/h

cruise speed

706 km/h

range

1,930 km

ceiling

14,265 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family