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F-80 Shooting Star Units Over Korea by Warren Thompson.
Although serving pre-war as the USAFs first successful jet fighter interceptor, the F-80 actually made a name for itself in combat as a strike bomber during the Korean War. Indeed, during the first four months of the conflict, F-80Cs bore the brunt of the fighting against a numerically superior communist force, flying 15,000 sorties. A Shooting Star also shot down the first MiG-15 claimed during the campaign in what is believed to have been the worlds first ever jet-versus-jet engagement. Flown principally by the 8th and 49th Fighter Bomber Wings in Korea, F-80Cs completed an amazing 98,515 combat sorties, shot down 17 aircraft (including three MiG-15s) dropped 33,266 tons of bombs and fired off 80,935 air-to-ground rockets. Aside from the fighter-bomber F-80C, the ultra rare, but heavily used photo-reconnaissance RF-80A is also featured within this all-colour volume - the first in print devoted exclusively to the Lockheed Shooting Star in Korea. |
