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#Post#: 852--------------------------------------------------
American Fighter/Interceptors
By: Thorgrimm Date: April 1, 2013, 12:26 pm
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LOCKHEED P-133 "SHOOTING STAR" FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR
HTML http://www.stgfc.com/pnp/Images/L133_1.jpg
HTML http://www.stgfc.com/pnp/Images/L133_2.jpg
HTML http://www.stgfc.com/pnp/Images/L133_3.jpg
HTML http://www.stgfc.com/pnp/Images/L133_4.jpg
Wing Span: 46 feet 8 inches
Length: 48 feet 4 inches
Height: 18 feet
Weight: 18,745 lbs. empty/23,910 lbs. gross
Armament: 4 .50 cal MGs and four 20mm cannon
Engines: Two turbo-supercharged J-37 axial-flow turbojets of
1,800 rated hp. each (approximately 1,650 hp. actual)
Crew: One
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 625 mph.
Cruising speed: 430 mph.
Range: 2,500 miles
Service Ceiling: 50,000 ft.
History:
The Lockheed company was the first aircraft manufacturer in the
US to start work on a jet powered aircraft, the L-133. The
design started in 1939 as a number of "Paper Projects" by
engineers Clarence R "Kelly" Johnson and Hal J Hibbard. By 1940
preliminary work on the company financed jet fighter had been
started, which progressed to several different versions for wind
tunnel testing.
In the mean time Lockheed was working on an axial-flow turbojet
of their own design, the L-1000, which was intended to power the
culmination of the fighter project the Model L-133-02-01, this
was a single seat, canard design powered by two L-1000 engines.
The design was noticed by the USAAF, but at the time they showed
no great interested in the idea of a jet powered fighter and
missed the opportunity of giving the US a lead in this new
technology.
Towards the end of 1940, the Lockheed Aircraft Company believed
that a radical new approach was required to produce a
fundamentally different aircraft. The company wanted to build a
fighter that had such an advantage in speed and altitude that
nothing made by any other country could touch it. So they
contacted the War Department with their latest design concept.
It was described to the USAAF as a Mach 0.94 aircraft capable of
flying at 50,000 ft. The L-133 was demonstrated as a canard
single seater aircraft powered by two of the L-1000 axial-flow
engines. It length was to be 48 ft. and 4 in. and a span of 46
ft. 8 in. Armament was to be four .50 cal MG's and four 20 mm
cannons concentrated in the nose.
Besides it speed other unique concepts were boundary-layer
control and reaction thrust roll control. Rather than be
impressed, the Army Air Corps was nearly horrified. It told
Lockheed to stop wasting time and to build more P-38 Lightings.
At this time period and because of their lack of experience, the
American military planners were still thinking that defending
aircraft would be fighting incoming bombers at 10,000 feet and
need not to go much faster than 400 mph.
Lockheed was unaware at the time that the Army Air Corps knew
about the progress of other turbine engines and was trying to
control the overall development of this type of engine in the
US. However, thanks to the foresight of H.P Hibbard, Lockheed
V.P. of engineering, this design was saved from the dustbin of
history as he gave the go ahead for this project, because he
felt that his company would be alone with a design for a 600 mph
class of aircraft. Moreover, they would benefit from that fact
when the Army Air Corps came around looking for jet designs.
When the USAAF suddenly began to show interest in the idea of a
jet powered combat aircraft in 1942, and spurred on by
intelligence reports of the advances in jet propulsion by the
Germans and British, the USAAF would turn once again to the
Lockheed company for it's first jet powered fighter, the
Lockheed P-133 "Shooting Star".
The 625 mph P-133 was a quantum jump beyond the already advanced
P-38. Bursting with highly innovative features (canard surfaces
to combat control problems near the speed of sound, thin wings
for maximum critical Mach number, laminar flow control using
boundary layer suction for drag reduction, turbine intercooling
using surface radiators, and reaction thrusters for roll
control), it was the design that the the Army Air Force had been
looking for to combat the German jets.
It was one of the most powerful and efficient fighters of its
time. Construction and testing of the aircraft and it's engine
was started during the war, but Lockheed gave up on its
developmental testing of the L1000 engine and permitted Pratt &
Whitney Co, who then designated the engine the J-37, to continue
with it so Lockheed could concentrate on the development of the
airframe.
Due to teething problems and the need to keep the project a
secret, the testing was transferred to the Groom lake testing
facility at Nellis Army Air base. Testing and development
continued but the aircraft was not ready for construction and
deployment to the American Fighter/Interceptor squadrons until
after the war was already won.
In fact, the P-133 was not deployed to the 42nd Fighter Group
based out of Iwakuni Army Air base in the Territory of Japan
until late spring of 1950, just two weeks before the North
Koreans launched their devastating conquest of South Korea.
In the first ever combat deployment of the P-133, the 422nd
Fighter Squadron shot down 7 Korean MIG 15's, which was later
proven to to be flown by Russian pilots, in the space of 4
minutes with the loss of not one American Fighter. It can be
argued that the appearance of the American P-133 was as big a
shock to the Soviets as the appearance of the Me-262 was to the
Western Allies in WW2.
The Soviets knew they were in trouble in the air and it would
take them decades to close the gap in the air because of this
outstanding and very deadly Fighter.
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