Lockheed P-800 "Seattle Defender"

[Brian da Basher]

As part of Air Def Op Plan '55, the U.S. Air Force started looking for a fast, point-defense fighter to guard sensitive U.S. military installations and key industrial centers. The good people of Lockheed submitted a radical proposal which was basically a significant upgrade and reworking of their venerable P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter. The U.S. Air Force found the new, rocket-fast, swept-wing interceptor ideal for the role and the Top Secret Lockheed P-800 was born.







The new fighter featured a radical "Diamond Cut" composite swept wing and all-flying tail and was Mach capable. It could reach 30,000 ft. in under a minute. Armed with four .50 caliber guns and two Raytheon R-4600 Sockeye "bomber killer" missiles, the P-800 was perfect to counter the Soviet bomber threat.







Air Def Op Plan '55 had squadrons of P-800s stationed around various strategic sites, one of them being the Boeing plant near Seattle. The 987th Interceptor Wing (known as the Sharks for their distinctive nose art) were tasked with protecting the Renton facility. The irony of being defended from a sneak Red attack by Lockheed aircraft wasn't lost on the Boeing workers, who would often mutter "Lockheed Losers!" under their breath whenever they saw the shark-mouthed aircraft fly overhead.







Irony aside, basing these new interceptors there would prove fortunate indeed as tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. boiled over in early 1957. It all started when the Soviet Charge d'Affairs was given a cheese danish instead of the creampuff he asked for at a diplomatic brunch and things degraded to the point where the U.S. embassy in Moscow was evacuated and militaries all over the world went on alert.



Family fallout shelters were being dug all over the U.S. and Civil Defense was mobilized. Cities were blacked out and air raid drills became a regular occurrence. An undercurrent of fear was palpable. When the attack came, it would be different than anyone expected.



More to follow...

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

In the wee hours of Friday, February 29th, a drowsy airman at some remote northern outpost spotted the first blip on his radar scope. Soon there were more. The alert was given and tocsins sounded all over the U.S. west coast. By the time the 987th was airborne, the radar blips were identified as one lone flight of five aircraft, heading for Seattle.





The Sharks sped into action and engaged the Red Menace. Two of the enemy turbo-prop bombers disintegrated after being hit by Sockeye missiles. A third was shot down by P-800 gunfire and the last two were forced down to ditch in Puget Sound. More bombers were expected soon over other U.S. cities, but no more attacks followed. While the Soviets are brave and tenacious, they're also terrible at Time-On-Target due to faulty wrist-watches. When no more aircraft had taken off 30 minutes after the first flight, cooler heads in the Kremlin prevailed and the rest of the sneak attack was called off.



The P-800 was withdrawn from service in 1962 and none survive, despite their role in the event that brought humanity closest to all-out atomic war. What you see here is the famous, long out of production Merkin Models kit, the only one ever made of this historic aircraft.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

This all started with the 1/72 Sword P-80. Isn't that some pulse-pounding box art?



I've always had a soft-spot for the Shooting Star. It makes me think of those old Hudson autos with curves and lots of chrome. The P-80 seems to me to perfectly encapsulate the bridge between the 1940s and 150s.

This kit is a bit pricey, but as there was a dearth of venerable 1/72 Airfix P-80s, I took the plunge. The quality of the moldings and the detail of this kit, along with unused resin extras didn't disappoint:



Imagine my surprise upon discovering that for my $28.95 this kit HAS NO LOCATING PINS WHATSOEVER, NONE, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN HERE BUD. Yup I was up a creek without a paddle and with glue all over my fingers...again.

All was not lost and I was able to sand off most of the fingerprints once I put it all together. I decided to upgrade the classic P-80 by adding the wings and stabs from a (1/100?) F-117. The tail from a (1/200?) Space Shuttle fit like it was meant to be there all along and I decided to swap out the kit canopy for a more modern, streamlined Squadron vac meant for a Banshee or early Phantom. Here's how it all looked before paint:











The missiles are 1/48 Bearcat rockets to which I added fins cut from sheet stock. The model was brush-painted by hand in acrylics and decals were all from spares, the shark's mouth from the much-maligned Academy P-40B.





It took me a little less than two weeks to put this all together if you take out the days work got in the way.







Many thanks to Bill and Jeff for their ideas and help and for sending me the Space Shuttle that donated its tail.





I hope you enjoyed the model and the story of when the Cold War briefly turned Hot.

Brian da Basher

[Volkodav]

You've done it again, love it! :)

[FAAMAN]

Nicely played!! Well done!!

[finsrin]

Admit my memory is foggy on things in 1957.  But do think I saw that Newsweek issue at grandmother's house in Tacoma back in the day.
With US Navy being in Puget Sound, you can bet they were quick to recover the bombers and bombs.
All hushed up and covered up better than Roswell.  Is why you don't hear about it.  Again proving you are quite the history slueth.

Thatz one slick build Brian :)
Shows what can be done with wing mods to P-80 fuselage.

[Frank3k]

Nice and sleek! I love the P-80 and you've done a great job with this one! It looks like a Gina from some angles.

[PR19_Kit]

Excellent stuff there Brian.  :)

How come Lockheed never got around to doing that? Did they even build ANY swpt wing fighters until the '117?

[kitnut617]

Excellent stuff there Brian.  :)

How come Lockheed never got around to doing that? Did they even build ANY swpt wing fighters until the '117?

XF-90  maybe ------ 

[PR19_Kit]

Excellent stuff there Brian.  :)

How come Lockheed never got around to doing that? Did they even build ANY swpt wing fighters until the '117?

XF-90  maybe ------ 

Yes, that counts, but there was only one, wasn't there? (they should have called it the Highlander....  )

[jcf]

Funny stuff.

Two XF-90 Kit, one is still around after being rescued from the firing range.

p.s. Brian, Newsweek didn't go to full-bleed covers until the early '60s. 

[GTX_Admin]

Two XF-90 Kit, one is still around after being rescued from the firing range.

A nuclear firing range - its currently at the National Museum of the United States Air Force undergoing partial restoration and decontamination prior to being displayed.  At present, the museum plans to display the XF-90 in its damaged, mostly unrestored condition, to demonstrate the effects of nuclear weaponry.