Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star is the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. [1] Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, two pre-production models saw limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II.
He was a command pilot with more than 6,500 flying hours, most of which were in fighter aircraft including the P-40, P-47, P-51 Mustang, P-80, F-86, F-100, F-102, A-7, F-104, F-106, F-4, and F-111. He had more than 650 hours combat flying and is the nation's sixth ranking jet ace.
During this time, Loring primarily flew P-39 Airacobra and P-40 Warhawk fighter and ground attack aircraft. [3] After a stint of this duty, the 36th Fighter Group returned to the United States to Charleston Army Airfield in Charleston, South Carolina. There, Loring and the other pilots of the unit trained with the P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft.
The squadron was the first F-86 Sabre unit deployed to the Fifth Air Force to counter the threat by the Soviet MiG-15s. [11] By 2 January 1951, he had flown five combat missions in F-86s and had damaged one MiG-15 Korean jet fighter in air combat. [18]
He was therefore sent to Williams Air Force Base, near Phoenix, in February 1951 for advanced training, [15] initially in the North American T-28 Trojan, and then the F-80 jet fighter. Fighter pilots were being sent to Korea, where the Korean War had broken out the year before.
The 8th Fighter Wing is known for the heroic actions of its members, including Major Charles J. Loring, a pilot in the 80th FS, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on 22 November 1952 when he flew his badly damaged F-80 aircraft into an enemy artillery emplacement near Sniper Ridge so that entrenched U.S. Infantry ...
The F-22 Raptor is the top US fighter, known for stealth, speed and agility. A USAF pilot describes how the jet handles for airshow demos vs. combat.
In 1949, Harvey and fellow Tuskegee Airman Edward P. Drummond Jr. were transferred from Lockbourne AFB, Ohio to an F-80 squadron at the Misawa Air Base in Japan as a Fighter Pilot and Flight Commander. Harvey became the first African American jet fighter pilot to engage in combat during the Korean War.