The first postwar jet fighters, such as the Gloster Meteor, de Havilland Vampire, the Yakovlev Yak-15 or Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, were straight-wing differed little in configuration or performance from the late-war piston-engine fighters, except for jet propulsion.

But these were quickly followed in the 1940s by designs that took advantage of swept-wing research conducted by German engineers during the war.