F-80A-5

F-80A-5

F-82E

F-80C-10

F-80A-5

F-82E

F-80C-10

USA

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.7	7.0	7.0

Class:

Fighter

Jet fighter

Research:82 000

Purchase:240 000

Show in game

This page is about the aircraft F-80A-5. For the other version, see F-80C-10.

Description

The F-80A-5 Shooting Star is a rank V American jet fighter with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB) and 7.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.39. The plane was redesignated from the P-80A-5 to the F-80A-5 in Update 1.79 "Project X".

The main purpose of the F-80 is to teach a pilot how to fly jets in general. If a pilot is doing well (read: has even or close to even k/d) in the F-80, he's ready to move to higher tiered jets. Never give up your speed: it is the plane's insurance. Only trade it for the altitude in zoom climbs!

Be careful that the jet is up-tiered quite a lot. When this happens, strictly adhere to the rules set forth in this article or you will be at a great disadvantage.

One thing to take note of is the M2 Brownings. Sadly, they are insufficient for high-speed combat due to the low rate of fire and subsequently limited damage output. This issue is later on fixed with the M3 Browning on the successor F-80C Shooting star, but the ammunition load still remains low, like on the P-51D. As for piston planes: they are capable of setting enemy piston planes on fire in a short burst. All of the guns are mounted in the nose, making them deadly accurate when performing head-ons, especially once the "new 12 mm MGs" modification is installed. For ground attack, there is the usual complement of an ordinance for the USAF: HVAR rockets and standard 1000 lb bombs.

General info

Flight Performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 0 m - sea level)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	854	829	12500	24.3	24.8	19.1	18.0	950
Upgraded	899	882		21.9	23.0	28.5	23.6

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear	Drogue chute
✓	✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
990	380	560	560	360	~16	~8

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 482	< 600	< 640	N/A

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Empty mass		Wing loading (full fuel)
Allison J33-A-17		1	3,980 kg		239 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no weapons load)				Max Takeoff Weight
Weight (each)	Type		9m fuel	20m fuel	30m fuel	32m fuel
850 kg	Centrifugal-flow turbojet		4,362 kg	4,800 kg	5,199 kg	5,278 kg	6,500 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB / SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)
Condition	100%	WEP	9m fuel	20m fuel	30m fuel	32m fuel	MTOW
Stationary	1,651 kgf	N/A	0.38	0.34	0.32	0.31	0.25
Optimal	1,651 kgf (0 km/h)	N/A	0.38	0.34	0.32	0.31	0.25

Survivability and armour

• 10 mm Steel - Fore cockpit armour
• 12.7 mm Steel - Behind pilot's seat
• 38 mm Bulletproof glass

Armaments

Offensive armament

The F-80A-5 is armed with:

• 6 × 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns, nose-mounted (300 rpg = 1800 total)

Suspended armament

The F-80A-5 can be outfitted with the following ordinance:

• Without load
• 8 × 127 mm HVAR rockets
• 2 × 1000 lb (454 kg) AN-M65A1 bombs (2,000 lb total)

Usage in battles

This plane must be flown strictly as Boom and Zoom, or Boom and Run. Anything else does not work due to the aircraft's awful acceleration. For ground strike, the F-80 is a very good aircraft because of the M2 Brownings mounted in the nose, making it even easier to destroy AAA, light pillboxes and such.

At the beginning of the match, the P-80 needs to climb away from the potential combat zone.

An altitude of around 3500 m (about 11,500 ft) is sufficient. Then it might head into the battle after it gained its top speed of around 800 TAS / 700 IAS, both kph, or around 500 TAS / 435 IAS if you use miles.

As of 1.73, the F-80 is frequently up-tiered to face off against superior Axis jets in 7.7 and 8.0. Since most of these jets can outrun, out-climb and out-accelerate the F-80, the only way to succeed is to keep your altitude extremely high and to maintain energy discipline. This means no hard turns and not letting the jet slow down too much. The Axis jets can potentially outrun the F-80 even with a 2000 m altitude disadvantage.

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Compressor		Offensive 12 mm
II	New Boosters		Airframe		FRC mk.2
III	Wings Repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs
IV	G-Suit		Cover		FLBC mk.1

As with most M2 armed aircraft, the default belts are sub-par, so Offensive 12 mm should be focused on first. Due to early jet's bad acceleration, unlocking Compressor and Engine afterwards are crucial. To help F-80's not the best manoeuvrability, New boosters and then Wings repair are recommended to fix this problem. Afterwards, the G-Suit upgrade will come in handy. Fuselage repair and Cover are not really useful and can be ignored until the very end.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good energy retention compared to piston planes
• Great zoom climb compared to piston planes
• Faster than any piston plane
• High dive top speed
• All weapons in the nose
• Due to M2's lower rate of fire, the pilot can spray longer and have less trigger discipline

Cons:

• M2 Brownings are insufficient for high-speed combat due to a low rate of fire and limited damage output
• Poor acceleration performance
• Loses a lot of speed in turns
• Small rate of climb
• No WEP in realistic battle
• Only a 105% Increase in throttle in an arcade battle
• Frequently up-tiered to battle vastly superior Axis jets like the G.91
• Four large fuel tanks on each wing.

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === Encyclopedia Info ===, also if applicable).

In-game description

"An all-metal, single-seat fighter-bomber with one turbojet engine. The aircraft was created by a group of Lockheed engineers (headed by Clarence ""Kelly"" Johnson) in only 143 days.

The first flight of the XP-80 prototype was performed in January 1944. The first production version, designated the P-80A Shooting Star, entered service in 1946. The P-80 became the first combat-capable jet aircraft to enter service with the USAAF.

1947 saw the appearance of the next production version of the aircraft, the P-80B. The ninth production P-80A-1 was converted to a new prototype, designated the XP-80B. It had an Allison J33-A-17 turbojet engine producing 1,816 kg of thrust, equipped with a methanol-water injection system. The airfoil was thinner, but the skin's thickness was increased. To install a water mixture tank, the plane's fuel quantity had to be sacrificed by reducing it from 1,781 to 1,610 liters The aircraft also received a Lockheed-designed ejection seat and a cockpit air-conditioning system.

The plane's armament consisted of six 12.7 mm Colt-Browning M3 machine guns with 300 rounds each in the forward fuselage. One 1,000 lb (454 kg) bomb or ten 5-inch (127 mm) unguided HVAR missiles could be suspended under each wing panel.

A total of 240 P-80B fighter-bombers were built from March 1947 to March 1948, including P-80B-1s and 31 P-80B-5s. The В-5 variant was intended to be operated in Arctic conditions; its heated canopy prevented icing. In addition, special types of oil and special rubber were used to operate the aircraft in low temperature conditions.

At least five P-80Bs were equipped with a guidance system for Bell GAM-63 RASCAL air-to-surface missiles. Externally, these aircraft differed in the shape of the forward fuselage and the wing-mounted tanks. Also, they were fitted with extra spoilers on the upper and lower wing surfaces.

In June 1948, when the US military aircraft designation system was changed, the P-80B was renamed to the F-80B.

When the Korean War started, F-80Bs were stationed in the USA and in Europe, being used by the USAAF mainly for training purposes. Later, 117 F-80Bs were brought up to the F-80C's standards and re-designated ""F-80C-12."" The remaining F-80Bs were withdrawn from service by the end of 1951."

Media

Videos

F-80A-5 Shooting Star (The Wishing Well!) - Jengar

War Thunder F-80A-5 - Wingbreaker - Adam514

RB Gameplay - P-80A-5 - Early Jet Tutorial! - theOrangeDoom

See also

Related development

• F-80C-10

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Bell P-59 Airacomet
• de Havilland Vampire
• Gloster Meteor
• Messerschmitt Me 262
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9
• Yakovlev Yak-23

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.

Lockheed Corporation
Fighters	XP-38G · P-38E · P-38G-1 · P-38J-15 · Bong's P-38J-15 · P-38K · P-38L-5-LO · YP-38
Bombers	B-34 · PV-2D
Jet Fighters	F-80A-5 · F-80C-10
	F-104A · F-104C
Strike Aircraft	F-117
Export / License	A-29 · ▄Hudson Mk V
	␗P-38L-1
	␗F-104A · ▀F-104G · ␗F-104G · ▄F-104G · ▅F-104J · ▄F-104S
	The Lockheed Corporation merged with Martin Marietta Corporation in 1995 to form Lockheed Martin Corporation.
See Also	SABCA · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries · Fiat Aviation