Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (Lockheed/Skunk Works/Kelly Johnson)

[Dronescapes]

Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star. One Of Kelly Johnson/Skunk Works Aircraft. Photo taken during the Korean War (circa 1951). The main opponent of the P-80 was the MiG 15, and interestingly both of them had the same turbojet engine, both derived from Frank Whittle's invention. Frank Whittle was sent from Britain to the U.S. together with his turbojet, whereas the Soviets purchased a few units from Rolls Royce, and cloned them, fitting them into their aircraft after discarding the flawed, and problematic WW2 German engines.
➤➤ VIDEO - Frank Whittle, Genius of the jet: https://dronescapes.video/FrankWhittle
➤➤ VIDEO - Lockheed & Skunk Works, Part 1: https://dronescapes.video/SkunkWorks

 

[MIflyer]

My favorite shot of a P-80A. I have a copy of the magazine and I'm going to frame the cover.

 

[Sabrejet]

Interesting shot: this aircraft was delivered on 18 June 1945, supposedly for use by Allison engines at Indianapolis but it actually went to the 4000th AAF Base Unit at Wright AAF.

 

[MIflyer]

Interesting shot: this aircraft was delivered on 18 June 1945, supposedly for use by Allison engines at Indianapolis but it actually went to the 4000th AAF Base Unit at Wright AAF.

They would have assigned the aircraft to a USAAF unit and since Wright Field was the development center that would be where you would expect such an aircraft used for testing to be assigned. T-33A was the first aircraft I ever flew in that I got to handle the controls and since the November issue has an aircraft like I fly today, I'll frame and display both of the covers.

 

[Sabrejet]

They would have assigned the aircraft to a USAAF unit and since Wright Field was the development center that would be where you would expect such an aircraft used for testing to be assigned.

Not usually; a contractor bailment would still indicate its end user. In this case the Wright (and Patterson) AAF Base Unit assignments indicate that it wasn't bailed to Allison after all.

 

[MIflyer]

Wright Field was where the contracting agency was located. The aircraft was not bailed back to the manufacturer, Lockheed, because it was not going to Lockheed but to Allison. The contracting agency - the 1940's equivalent of Aeronautical Systems Division- had separate contracts for the airplane and the engines, a tradition that continued from since before WWII all the way up to today and even included rocket engines for ballistic missiles and space boosters. The provision of the P-80A to Allison would have been done under the terms of a procurement contrast for J-33 engines. The Wright Field Air Base Group was the administrative home of the procurement office and the P-80A would have been assigned to that organization - the normal way to do things. When I was sent to Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center I was assigned to the associated Air Base Group and then provided as an asset to OC-ALC.

 

[Sabrejet]

Irrespective, the IARC would show bailment to Allison and doesn't. I didn't mention bailment to the manufacturer.