2-839-588 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Germany and Great Britain went to war in 1939 with jet aircraft programs well underway, but the United States took longer to appreciate and develop the new technology. By 1943, mounting combat losses of American strategic bombers to German propeller-driven interceptors, and the knowledge that Germany was preparing to field the potent Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter (see NASM collection), encouraged the United States Army Air Forces (AAF) to push for a new combat jet. AAF leaders asked the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to develop the aircraft. Lockheed's most capable engineer, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, and a team of designers began work on a prototype, designated the XP-80 but nicknamed "Lulu-Belle," on June 21, 1943.