Fighter Jet
Aircraft powered by jet engines first flew during the early part of World War II, with the United States, Britain, and Germany all testing initial models. However, the technology was too new, and the production capacity too limited, for these aircraft to play a significant role in the war. Only one jet, the British Gloster Meteor, particpated in World War II operations, and then only toward the end of the conflict.
By the time of the 1948-1952 Korean War, jet aircraft were becoming commonplace, and this conflict was the first time that jets were used to any great extent in military action. The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star became the first jet that saw significant use, but more common sights in the Korean skies were the first planes that resembled truly modern fighters.
Throughout the Korean War, there was direct military action between American and Chinese pilots. The Americans flew the new F-86 Sabres, while the Chinese had been supplied with Russian Built MiG-15s. These two aircraft dueled throughout the war, with the F-86's playing a critical role in deflecting the veritable horde of MiGs available to the Chinese. The Sabres were also the first fighters to exceed the speed of sound, though they were not specifically designed to sustain such speed.
The renewed demonstration of the importance of air superiority that emerged from the Korean War, combined with rapidly advancing jet airplane technology and designs, led to an amazing proliferation of jet fighters. Before long they were the workhorses of most nations' air forces, whether designed by the country itself (as with the United States, the Soviet Union, and a number of European countries) or purchased from suppliers (as many Third World countries did). Literally hundreds of designs emerged, and they are impossible to enumerate in a short space.
Major developments in United States jet fighter technology appeared rapidly after the Korean War. The F-100 Super Sabre improved on its earlier cousin by achieving level supersonic flight. By the time of the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1975, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom had become the United States' jet workhorse, followed closesly by the 1970s Grumman F-14 Tomcat and McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The Soviets kept pace with the increasingly advanced MiG-23S and MiG-25. The more advanced of these fighters and flew well in excess of Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound), could fly up to 50,000 feet (and in the case of the MiG-25, an astonishing 80,000 feet). Increasingly advanced planes also meant increasingly expensive planes, and in the late 1970s, the United States undertook development of a lighter, less expensive fighter, eventually to enter service as the F-18 Hornet.
In the 1970s and 1980s, aircraft designers came under increasing demand to create fighters and bomber planes that were nearly invisible to radar. During the 1980s, the United States developed the F-117A "Stealth" aircraft, which is designed to minimize its radar return by using radar-absorbent material as part of its "skin," as well as incorporating numerous unusual angles to deflect radar signals hitting it. Despite some well-publicized incidents, including the breakup and crash of an F117-A during an air show near Baltimore in 1998, the futuristic-looking Stealth fighter fought successfully in the 1991 Guld war against Iraw, and remains the state-of-the-art in jet fighter technology.
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