What P-80 Aircraft is this?

[Joe Scheil]

Pulled off the net, but looks like it may have an F-94 engine and fuselage spine?

Attachments

[Joe Scheil]

At Edwards?

[M-62A]

Joe,
The following was copied & pasted from http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_5.html

44-83021/83022 Lockheed XP-80A Shooting Star
MSN 141-1001/1002. Model L-141. Pressurized and powered by GE I-49 turbojet.
83021 first flight Jun 10, 1944. Crashed March 20, 1945 on Highway 99 near Rosamond, CA.
Pilot Tony LeVier parachuted to safety.
83022 first flight Aug 1, 1944. Later fitted with Westinghouse J34 turbojet in support of XP-90 program.

Another printed source refers to the pair as XP-80A-LO.

Hope this helps, Tony Broadhurst

[Woodsy Airfield]

I have a photo of the Lockheed with Info: T-33/F-94 at Greater Buffalo International Airport - North Side of field behind construction company property - dated June 20, 1987. I currently have no way of sending the photo, but will try at a later time. The aircraft has modifications to forward fuselage for a second seat plus afterburner..Rudder missing, but work done to aft section. Maybe Calspan?

[jdvoss]

WIX'er "M-62" states that his research shows that the aircraft crashed in March of 1945 after the pilot bailed out. The aircraft must not have been too severely damaged as the pictured aircraft has the red bar in the insignia which dates the photo as no earlier than January 1947.

JDV
www.fuselagecodes.com

[Dan K]

WIX'er "M-62" states that his research shows that the aircraft crashed in March of 1945 after the pilot bailed out. The aircraft must not have been too severely damaged as the pictured aircraft has the red bar in the insignia which dates the photo as no earlier than January 1947.

JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

Baugher states that 44-83021 crashed in March 1945.

The photograph is of 44-83022.

[M-62A]

WIX'er "M-62" states that his research shows that the aircraft crashed in March of 1945 after the pilot bailed out. The aircraft must not have been too severely damaged as the pictured aircraft has the red bar in the insignia which dates the photo as no earlier than January 1947.

JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

The record I copied from the Baugher USAAF serial site refers to two aircraft designated XP-80A.
Only the first, 44-83021, crashed.
The subject of the photograph is the second XP-80A, 44-83022, which was "Later fitted with Westinghouse J34 turbojet in support of XP-90 program".
I suspect what the photograph shows are the results of those modifications.

Following quote from Putnam/Francillion, "Lockheed Aircraft since 1913"...
"The second XP-80A (44-83022) was fitted from the onset with a second seat, aft of the pilot, for an engineering-observer. Later the aircraft was used as a testbed for the Westinghouse J-34 axial-flow turbojet in support of the XP-90 programme. The intended afterburner for this engine was not initially installed but instrumentation and afterburner fuel lines were housed in a dorsal spine extending from the rear of the canopy to the front of the fin."

Hopefully I have attached a copy of the Individual Aircraft Record Card for 44-83022..
I will leave to others to interpret the record as it is outside of my area of experience.
Just happens to be on the same microfilm reel as a batch of Fairchild UC-61K that I am researching.

Tony Broadhurst

Attachments

[quemerford]

Card shows '022 with Lockheed, Burbank on bailment, test as an XF-80A, then recommended reclamation (RS code) on 26Sep50 before being authorised for reclamation the following day with a 'D' "tested to destruction" code against it.

[Chris Brame]

I have a photo of the Lockheed with Info: T-33/F-94 at Greater Buffalo International Airport - North Side of field behind construction company property - dated June 20, 1987. I currently have no way of sending the photo, but will try at a later time. The aircraft has modifications to forward fuselage for a second seat plus afterburner..Rudder missing, but work done to aft section. Maybe Calspan?

Here we go. Strange... I wonder if this is 49-2500, the hybrid one that ended up at Castle?
ETA: Yep, looks like it:

F-94A-5-LO s/n 49-2500
*1951: ARDC at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH.
*Bailed to Cornell University's Aeronautical Laboratory for testing purposes.
*11/1958: Donated to the Buffalo, New York public school system.
*Was preserved at Warner-Robbins AFB, GA.
*Currently preserved at the Castle Air Museum, CA.

[Joe Scheil]

Great information... so wild she was a two seater!

It really seems the P-80 was grown into the F-94 almost before the T-33 was developed! Lots of interesting threads to align to make the history of the P-80 and her descendants accurate and complete.

Amazing knowledge here on the thread, and a humble th AK you to all!

[eze240]

The first two YF-94A prototypes were built from TF-80Cs....as in early T-33 airframes...
The early F-94s....A models....were basically T-33 center section, cockpit, wings, landing gear, etc....with a new nose section and new tail...... Thus the T-33 nose fits on that F-94A #2500....
Even the engine was the same J-33, just fitted with an after burner for the F-94A and B models....
A models were almost all converted to B models....seems to have been mostly engine and burner mods....
The F-94C was almost a complete redesign with much less interchangeable with earlier models and T-33s

Update*
The two YF-94 prototypes , I believe, were 48-0356 and 48-0373...both still exist, 356 is at the museum at Edwards.... 373 , is privately owned and has been for sale...but is incomplete...
If I'm reading the numbers right, 356 may also have been the first TF-80C/ T-33....

[AirJimL2]

I have a photo of the Lockheed with Info: T-33/F-94 at Greater Buffalo International Airport - North Side of field behind construction company property - dated June 20, 1987. I currently have no way of sending the photo, but will try at a later time. The aircraft has modifications to forward fuselage for a second seat plus afterburner..Rudder missing, but work done to aft section. Maybe Calspan?

Most certainly 49-2500 as stated by Chris, and I think you are correct regarding the Calspan connection. Ended up with the Niagara Aerospace Museum in the 90s. (I have photos of it in their mall location.) No idea it has moved on twice.

Jim

[Thomas_Mac]

Subject of this WIX thread correct?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55439

[Cubs2jets]

Thomas,

Thank you. That was not the exact thread, but it did lead me to it. You were a great help.

C2j