| In June 1943 the AAF invited Lockheed Aircraft Corp. to design a high performance aircraft around the newly developed British De Havilland turbojet engine. Designed by a Lockheed team headed by Mr. Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, the XP-80 made its first flight on Jan. 8, 1944, only 143 days after work began. WWII ended before the P-80 could enter combat, but early in 1946 P-80 "Shooting Stars" were assigned to a few of the fighter squadrons still in service. In 1948 the aircraft was redesignated as F-80 ("P" for "Pursuit" was changed to "F" for "Fighter"). The advent of the jet age would mean new production techniques and flight procedures as well as major changes in maintenance operations throughout the AAF. |
