Lockheed L-133 yet more technology before its time.

This isn't the first time I have seen an online thread about this aircraft, however it seems as if the threads die once people cannot find information about the more current "top secret" technology held within.

The technology this plane held was in active use during WWII and was not retired until nearly a decade later, in which the technology was simply transferred over to another project.

There are rumors that this was the first plane to officially break the sound barrier, this is hear-say so please inform me otherwise if I am wrong..

If anyone has any information on which aircraft this technology was transferred over to or what aircraft is possibly using the same technology today, I would be more than a little curious to hear about it.

Also, what exactly was this aircraft capable of? It doesn't look stealthy but does look fierce and fast, sort of like seeing a Dodge Viper on a two lane highway in the 1950's.

Ideas?

reply to post by NewWorldDisorder


All of the information that I've found is that the XP-86 was the first to break the sound barrier, shortly before Chuck Yeager in the X-1, but do to political concerns the X-1 is the first official aircraft to break it. The L-133 would have been ages ahead of its time, but it was never built. It was designed to fly at Mach 0.94 at 50,000 feet. The only portion that was built was the L-1000 engine.

When the L-133 was shown to the military, they told Lockheed to stop wasting their time, and build more P-38s. The military thinking at the time was still that they would fighting flights of bombers in formation. They wouldn't need any kind of speed, since they would only be going about 400 mph.

One of the reasons that the P-80 (the first jet fighter in the US) was built so fast is that it has the same wing as the L-133.

One of the designers on the project was Kelley Johnson. He was the same designer that worked on the U-2, F-104, and SR-71 projects.

[edit on 3/21/2009 by Zaphod58]