Built within a 180-day time limit in 1943, the F-80 Shooting Star first saw service in Italy in the final year of World War 2, and consequently was sent to bases in the US, Europe and the Far East after VJ Day. It was the latter groups based in Japan that initially bore the brunt of the early fighting in Korea, engaging MiG-15s in the world's first jet-versus-jet combat. Flown principally by the 8th and 49th Fighter Bomber Wings, the F-80 served until the end of the war, completing an astonishing 98,515 combat sorties, shooting down 17 aircraft (including three of the vastly superior MiG-15s), dropping over 33,000 tons of bombs, and firing over 80,000 air-to-ground rockets. Aside from the fighter-bomber Shooting Stars, the ultra-rare, but heavily used, photo-reconnaissance RF-80A saw extensive use in the frontline in Korea as a replacement for the vulnerable RF-51D. Filled with first-hand accounts and rare colour photographs taken by the veterans themselves, this is the engrossing story of the pioneering F-80 Shooting Star.

Built within a 180-day time limit in 1943, the F-80 Shooting Star first saw service in Italy in the final year of World War 2, and consequently was sent to bases in the US, Europe and the Far East after VJ Day. It was the latter groups based in Japan that initially bore the brunt of the early fighting in Korea, engaging MiG-15s in the world's first jet-versus-jet combat. Flown principally by the 8th and 49th Fighter Bomber Wings, the F-80 served until the end of the war, completing an astonishing 98,515 combat sorties, shooting down 17 aircraft (including three of the vastly superior MiG-15s), dropping over 33,000 tons of bombs, and firing over 80,000 air-to-ground rockets. Aside from the fighter-bomber Shooting Stars, the ultra-rare, but heavily used, photo-reconnaissance RF-80A saw extensive use in the frontline in Korea as a replacement for the vulnerable RF-51D. Filled with first-hand accounts and rare colour photographs taken by the veterans themselves, this is the engrossing story of the pioneering F-80 Shooting Star.

A fully illustrated study of the US Korean War fighter that fought in the first ever jet-versus-jet engagement in the history of aviation. Filled with first-hand accounts and rare color photographs taken by the veterans themselves, this is the engrossing story of the pioneering F-80 Shooting Star. Built within a 180-day time limit in 1943, the F-80 Shooting Star first saw service in Italy in the final year of World War 2, and consequently was sent to bases in the US, Europe and the Far East after VJ Day. It was the latter groups based in Japan that initially bore the brunt of the early fighting in Korea, engaging MiG-15s in the world's first jet-versus-jet combat. Flown principally by the 8th and 49th Fighter Bomber Wings, the F-80 served until the end of the war, completing an astonishing 98,515 combat sorties, shooting down 17 aircraft (including three of the vastly superior MiG-15s), dropping over 33,000 tons of bombs, and firing over 80,000 air-to-ground rockets. Aside from the fighter-bomber Shooting Stars, the ultra-rare, but heavily used, photo-reconnaissance RF-80A saw extensive use in the frontline in Korea as a replacement for the vulnerable RF-51D.

The USAF's first successful jet fighter, the F-80 actually made a name for itself in combat as a strike bomber during the Korean War. A Shooting Star also shot down the first MiG-15 lost during the campaign in what is believed to have been the world's first ever jet-versus-jet engagement. Read in this volume how the 8th and 49th Fighter Bomber Wings in Korea, F-80Cs completed an amazing 98,515, combat sorties, shot down 37 aircraft (including six MiG-15s), dropped 33,266 US tons of bombs and fired off 80,935 air-to-ground rockets. Aside from the fighter-bomber F-80C, photo-recce RF-80A/Cs and 'hack' two-seat T-33s are also featured.

The Lockheed P-80/F-80 Shooting Star was the first American operational jet fighter. David McLaren's new book chronicles the development and early trials of the aircraft during Lockheed's groundbreaking attempts to create a viable jet fighter, in a period when jet propulsion was still an innovative unknown. This period also saw engineers and test pilots like Kelly Johnson and Tony LeVier facing many challenges, incidents and accidents as they attempted to create a new fighter from yet untested aerodynamic theories, and engines that were still under development. Also discussed are the record breaking transcontinental and absoulte speed records set by the Shooting Star. Detailed analysis of the Shooting Star's combat record in Korea shows why the F-80 flew more combat missions than any aircraft in the war theater. Also presented is a summation of all USAF, USAFR, and foreign countries that flew the P-80/F-80. David McLaren is also the author of Lockheed F-94 Starfire(with Marty Isham), and Beware the Thunderbolt!: The 56th Fighter Group in World War II (both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

By the time the Korean War erupted, the F-51 Mustang was seen as obsolete, but that view quickly changed when the USAF rushed 145 of them to the theatre in late 1950. They had the endurance to attack targets in Korea from bases in Japan, where the modern F-86 fighters and other jets did not. Rather than the interceptor and escort fighter roles the Mustang had performed during World War 2, in the Korean War they were assigned to ground attack missions – striking at communist troop columns advancing south. This is the chronicle of the Mustang units that fought in the Korean War, detailing the type's involvement in a series of intense actions, its successes and its considerable losses. Drawing on meticulous research and gripping first-hand accounts from aircrew, this book explains how the faithful Mustang was able to roll back the years, fight, and prove itself in a new era of aerial warfare.

The straightwinged F-84 traces its lineage back to the heavyweight World War II P-47 Thunderbolt. It was among the most colourful aircraft to see action in Korea and the book features many photos from the author's private collection as well as specially commissioned cutaway illustrations.