Lockheed F-96 Brightstar
At the end of the 1940s the USAF
was looking for a replacement for the Lockheed P-80 and early F-86 jet
fighters. Lockheed offered what was in effect a scaled up P-80. In 1950
a contract was awarded for 4 prototypes of what was designated the
Lockheed F-96 Brightstar.
![](images/F-96-2.JPG)
On 3
November 1952, the first F-96A prototype conducted its first flight.
The design of the prototypes had initially featured both Fowler flaps
and a leading edge slot; this slot was discarded as unnecessary after
trials with the prototypes and never appeared on subsequent production
aircraft. Triangular fences were added near the wing roots during
flight testing in order to improve airflow when the aircraft was being
flown at a high angle of attack. A small batch of F-96A prototypes
completed design and evaluation trials with series production of the
F-96B beginning in 1953.
![](images/F-96-3.JPG)
In total
1268 F-96s were delivered to the USAF. On top of that more than 800
were exported to the UK, Germany, Holland, Taiwan and Italy. The last
F-96 was withdrawn from active service with the USAF in 1964.
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