davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
An Old friend is retiring.
Vance bids farewell to T-37 'Tweet'
By Jeff Mullin Senior Writer
An aviation era came to an end Friday afternoon at Vance Air Force Base, as the T-37 Tweet made its final flight over Enid.
At the conclusion of a retirement ceremony at Vance Club, the base's last T-37 — piloted by Capt. Bryan Yeargin of the 33rd Flying Training Squadron — peeled away from a four-ship formation featuring Vance's other three aircraft — a T-38, T-1 and T-6 — and headed west to Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., more commonly known as "The Boneyard."
Some thoughts and memories.
Noisy! Had to wear both earplugs and ear muffs.
Underpowered. After training in the T-37 in the winter, we wondered if it would ever take off in the summer. Luckily we had graduated to the T-38 by summer.
Slow response. When accerating from idle, you had to wait while the engine wound up with increasing noise, then finally a gentle push in the back as a massive 2000 lbs of thrust struggled to come out.
Rugged, easy to fly, forgiving, indestructable, predictable. Traits of a great training plane.
Introduction to rolls, loops, and spins. Memories of finding myself upside down with no airspeed then realizing that I entered a loop with a barrel roll entry speed. The T-37 fell through with no complaints.
Fun to fly. My instructor once said that flying a T-37 was like screwing a sheep. A lot of fun when you were doing it, but you don't want to talk about it afterward. I am not quite sure how he knew that. I didn't ask.
50 years of service!
Goodbye, faithful friend, you served well.
Vance bids farewell to T-37 'Tweet'
By Jeff Mullin Senior Writer
An aviation era came to an end Friday afternoon at Vance Air Force Base, as the T-37 Tweet made its final flight over Enid.
At the conclusion of a retirement ceremony at Vance Club, the base's last T-37 — piloted by Capt. Bryan Yeargin of the 33rd Flying Training Squadron — peeled away from a four-ship formation featuring Vance's other three aircraft — a T-38, T-1 and T-6 — and headed west to Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., more commonly known as "The Boneyard."
Some thoughts and memories.
Noisy! Had to wear both earplugs and ear muffs.
Underpowered. After training in the T-37 in the winter, we wondered if it would ever take off in the summer. Luckily we had graduated to the T-38 by summer.
Slow response. When accerating from idle, you had to wait while the engine wound up with increasing noise, then finally a gentle push in the back as a massive 2000 lbs of thrust struggled to come out.
Rugged, easy to fly, forgiving, indestructable, predictable. Traits of a great training plane.
Introduction to rolls, loops, and spins. Memories of finding myself upside down with no airspeed then realizing that I entered a loop with a barrel roll entry speed. The T-37 fell through with no complaints.
Fun to fly. My instructor once said that flying a T-37 was like screwing a sheep. A lot of fun when you were doing it, but you don't want to talk about it afterward. I am not quite sure how he knew that. I didn't ask.
50 years of service!
Goodbye, faithful friend, you served well.
