Today in World War II History—January 8, 1944: First flight of US Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter at Muroc Army Air Base, CA, but it won’t be ready for combat until the war is over.
Sarah Sundin.
Yesterday we reported on the P59. As can be seen from her entry above, already a much better jet fighter was coming up.
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1,715 of the fighters would be produced in various versions before production was ceased, the design having been eclipsed, in 1950. It would see action in the Korean War, although there were better jet fighter designs already in service. It would be phased out of US service in 1959, by which time it was very obsolete.
She also reports that Gen. Sir Henry Maitland Wilson officially replaced Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean.
Jumbo Wilson, as he was nicknamed, was a British career soldier who as 63 years old at the time. He had seen combat service before World War Two in the Boer War and the Great War. He'd live until 1964, dying at age 83.
The Red Army took Kirovohrad, Ukraine. In night operations, the Red Army's 67th Tank Brigade hit the headquarters of the German 47th Panzer Corps. The raid featured tank riders.
The Italian Social Republic put the 19 members of the Fascist Grand Council, six of whom were in their custody, on trail for voting to remove Mussolini. Five of the six in custody would be found guilty and executed on January 11.
I can't help but note how authoritarian losers like to put those who voted against them on trial. . . a warning for voters this fall on what could happen with a Trump return.
The U-426 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by a RAAF Short Sunderland. The U-757 was sunk in the North Atlantic by the HMS Bayntun and the Canadian corvette Camrose.
The U.S. Navy bombarded Japanese installations on Shortland Island in the Solomons.
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