Today in History

March 10, 1944



On The Home Front





       Virgil Wray turned 18 today







In The U.S. Miltary


       On March 10, 1944, toward the end of a bleak wartime winter, a lanky Army Air Force test pilot named Wallace A. "Wally" Lien climbed into a sleek, dark green jet and took it into the skies. Lockheed’s brand-new XP-80 was a concept demonstrator that hopefully would exceed the tepid performance of the Bell XP-59 and give wartime America its first true jet fighter plane. Nicknamed Lulubell, the XP-80 was a smaller version of its successor, the prototype XP-80A Shooting Star. Subsequent P-80s would be larger and more powerful, with redesigned inlet ducts and vertical stabilizer. But the plane that Lien flew that day had what it took. It proved to be faster and much more maneuverable than the sedate Airacomet, and immediately relegated the Bell fighter to trainer status.






USS ESSEX arrived in San Fransico for dry dock



The Day In Baseball



No Major League Games Today