Germany started believing in rocket power and jet design a lot earlier than any other countries, and introduced the earliest jet fighters in the later half of WW II. As a response to the German Messerschmidt ME-262 jet fighter, the U.S. Air Force commissioned development their own, which became the first American turbojet fighter.

On this day, June 19, in 1947, an XP-80 test flight was clocked at 623 miles per hour, the first time any airplane broke the 600 mph barrier.

The resulting design became the F-80 / P-80 “Shooting Star”, seeing extensive service in Korea. They were, however, slower than the Soviet MiG-15 planes, which utilized the German swept-wing design and could approach the speed of sound. Using captured German research, the U.S. quickly acted to replace the Shooting Star with a much faster swept-wing F-86 “Sabre”.