page_title: 412th Test Wing
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 412th Test Wing / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Air Force Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star (s/n 44-85004) in flight. This aircraft was later upgraded to an F-80C-11-LO.
context_page_description: The 412th Test Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force, assigned to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
context_section_description: The 412th Test Wing's origins can be traced to 29 November 1943 when the 412th Fighter Group was activated at Muroc Army Air Field, California. Testing of the Bell P-59 Airacomet jet fighter was being conducted at a site on the north shore of Rogers Dry Lakebed, about six miles away from the training base at Muroc.
  The group remained a headquarters only until 11 March 1944 when the 445th Fighter Squadron was assigned to begin flying the Airacomet for operational testing. In June, the group moved to Palmdale Army Air Field, California and was brought up to full strength in the summer, when the 29th and 31st Fighter Squadrons were assigned. Its original mission was to conduct tests and engage in experimental aircraft work as part of IV Fighter Command.
  The 412th was the first American jet fighter group to be activated.  The P-59A was shortly joined by a second jet fighter, the Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star.  As with virtually all of the test programs conducted during the war years, most of the initial flight test work on the XP-59 had been conducted by the contractor. The group developed training programs and trained aircrew and ground personnel as cadres for newly formed jet aircraft-equipped units.  Problems with the planes' Allison J33 engines kept the group's Shooting Stars grounded through part of 1945, and the plan's accident rate was twice that of any other fighter in the Army Air Forces inventory.
  In November 1945, the group moved to March Field, California, where the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron was attached to it to begin testing the P-80 as a reconnaissance aircraft. The group was inactivated on 3 July 1946 and its mission, personnel and jet aircraft were transferred to the 1st Fighter Group.
caption: Early Lockheed P-80
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:06:26 18:01:10", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6583", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1795", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1389"}