Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star for V12 (2024)

TheLockheed P-80 Shooting Starwas the firstjetfighterused operationally by theUnited States Army Air Forces(USAAF) duringWorld War II.Designed and built byLockheedin 1943 and delivered in a record setting 143 days from the start of the design process.

The development process was rapid to say the very least. In May 1943 Lockheedwas invited to submit a fighter proposal built around the British de Havilland built Halford H.1B (goblin) turbojet. In June 1943 the USAAF issued a letter of contract with a 180 day target completion. In late July1943 a mock-up was ready for inspection. In November a non-flyable version designated XP-80 was formally accepted by the USAAF only 143 days after the project started. First flight was in January 1944.

A few initial problems were quickly fixed. In subsequent test flights the XP-80 reached a top speed of 502 mph at 20,480 feet, becoming the first USAAF aircraft to exceed 500 mph in level flight.

The initial production version of the Shooting Star, the P-80A, was ordered on April 4, 1944 for two batches of 500 aircraft. In June of 1945 an additional 2500 P-80As were ordered. However, following V-J Day the contract was cut back to 917 aircraft.

Two pre-production models did see very limited service in Italy just before the end ofWW2. The P-80 did, however, see extensive combat in Korea with theUSAF as theF-80.Theclosely relatedT-33 Shooting Startrainerremained in service with the USAF and Navy well into the 1980s, with the last NT-33 variant not retired until April 1997.

New for V12:

• Improved glass and instrument glass reflections
• Rain and rain sound effects
• V12 lights
• Improved switch manipulators
• Updated dynamic instrument dials and lighting
• Improved A/P pop up - click "No Handhold"
• Extra A/P controls - inc terrainfollowing
• Improved co*ckpit lightingand textures

(Laminar did some default camera changes in V12 so I also suggest change Settings / Graphics / tick Enable Flat (fractional) offsets and set the Vertical Offset to -0.5. This will give good forward view and a good instrument view.)

The aircraft depicted here is the P-80A. The external 3D model and liveries were provided byMatt @MDIvey. I added the flight model, animations, weapons, plugin coding, PBR, 3d co*ckpit and instruments, additional textures and FMOD sounds - and now the V12 update.

The co*ckpit is a sim friendly, but mostly in the right place very recognisable version of the P-80 layout – with a few controls moved to be well placed for the sim pilot.

Main Panel: Usual selection of controls and instruments. A switch top right provides a pop-up autopilot and radio - this can also be accessed by clicking the "No Handhold".Switches for the guns, bombs and rockets are also on the main panel for ease of use. Fuel controls are to the bottom right. Note XP will always take fuel from the droptank first – the fuel control will only move if the tanks are dropped and will switch automatically to Wing tanks – Main and Off can then also be selected.

The switch panel to the right has the main engine and lighting controls. The canopy lever is also to the right.

On the left side we have the throttle and controls for gear, flaps and trim. Note there was no rudder trim accessible from inside the aircraft…… The trim controls have reset buttons.

Start up is easy – flip the battery and generator on, check the fuel selector.Press and hold the starter switch mid right until started.

Take Off:One notch of flaps, brakes off and ease the throttle up. The engine rolls up rather than snaps up. Once airborne – gear up and get some altitude.

Cruising:When at cruising altitude ease back the throttle to around 60 or 70% RPM – this should give you about 400mph.Probably best to switch on the oxygen system now – its difficult to find if you are unconscious – the system is fitted with a yellow blinker to demonstrate flow.

Landing:If necessary take some speed off with the airbrakes - switch main, left lower. You can also arm the airbrakes for automatic deploy on landing. Flaps down say 2 notches, on settling to the runway brake gently.

Weapons:we have 6 * M3 Browning 50 calibre guns and 2 * 500lb bombs and 4 * 5” HVAR unguided rockets.

There are 8 liveries – 5 with lots of bare metal.

The aircraft runs well in AI - so withFMOD you can fill your local airfield with noisy P-80A’s.

PM me for a Paint Kit.

Enjoy

(And - thank you the XPFR Team for the pilot.)