Shooting Star

The Army finally gave the public a look this week at the plane which Army Air Forces chief General Henry Arnold called the world's fastest fighter plane--the Shooting Star (P-80), which Lockheed has been producing since February.

With a service ceiling of 45,000 ft., it can thunder along at 550 m.p.h. Stories of its vast speed include one that a P-80 was flown from California to New York in three hours and 57 minutes. (Best previous nonstop time: six hours, 39 1/2 minutes). Its power is a kerosene-burning jet engine: it has no propeller. Its round nose houses six 50-cal. machine guns. On its wings it can carry either bombs or fuel tanks. Wings and torpedo-like fuselage are painted and polished to the slickness of a wet eel.

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