The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was America 's first operational jet fighter , a fairly conventional design aside from the jet engine and laminar flow wing. By the end of World War II , four units were in Europe ready for combat, but did not get to fly any missions.

Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of the design process, production models were flying and two pre-production models saw very limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II. Designed with straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States Air Force ( USAF ) under the designation F-80 .

It was America's first successful turbojet- powered fighter aircraft , helped usher in the " Jet Age " in the USAF, but was superseded by the appearance of the transonic swept- wing MiG-15 and was quickly superseded in the air superiority role by the transonic F-86 Saber . The F-94 Starfire , an all-weather interceptor in the same airframe, also saw service in the Korean War. The closely related T-33 Shooting Star trainer remained in service with the US Air Force and Navy well into the 1980s, with the last NT-33 variant not retired until April 1997

(wikipedia)