Unsung Heros, T-33, F9F

[davparlr]

Just a comment recognizing the contributions of two aircraft that took the US military from propellers to jets and from WWII tactics to cold/hot war tactics. The T-33 began its life in the middle of WWII as the first generation jet P-80, as it became outclassed in the late 40s, it morphed into F-94 and the T-33. The T-33 was operational in the AF until the 70s. The F9F Panther started out as a second generation fighter for the Navy in the late 40s but quickly became obsolete and morphed into the swept wing F9F Cougar and then to the TF-9 Advanced trainer, a roll it had until the mid 70s. This was time of massive changes in aviation and these two aircraft helped navigate through those changes. When I went into the military in 1969, had I gone into the Navy, and was good enough, I would have flow the F-9 in advanced training. The AF, which I did go into, had progressed to the t-37 and T-38, both of which I flew so didn't fly the T-33, however, a friend who was transitioning to the OV-10, did indeed train in the AT-33. Mighty planes.

One note: These planes testify to the ruggedness and dependability of the those early British Centrifugal engines.

 

[tyrodtom]

At all the stateside USAF bases I was stationed at up to my discharge in 1969, they still had T-33s for the pilots assigned to grounds duties to fly so they could stay current and qualify for flight pay.

I saw them at Lackland, Lowry, Seymour Johnson, and Hill AFB, but I don't recall them at any of the overseas bases I was at..

 

[davparlr]

At all the stateside USAF bases I was stationed at up to my discharge in 1969, they still had T-33s for the pilots assigned to grounds duties to fly so they could stay current and qualify for flight pay.

I saw them at Lackland, Lowry, Seymour Johnson, and Hill AFB, but I don't recall them at any of the overseas bases I was at..

IIRC, At McGuire we had at T-39 that was on tap for the big shots. We were a wing headquarters. Some of the bases had T-38s. I remember that when congress wanted to pull flying status from the generals, we were all called in to the base theater to listen to the general talk about how important it was for the generals to "fly the line" in order to understand the problems aircrews had. I was copilot on one of those C-141 flights and this is how they worked out. Every general flight had a flight instructor as aircraft commander and all general officers were noted on the flight plan. The crew would go out to the plane and run all the pre-flight checks, the general's plane never had any maintenance issues, and was always fueled up, then the general would ride out in his air conditioned car, climb into the cockpit and start engines, taxi out, and take off. At the receiving base, having been notified by the flight plan that a general was on board, we were met by the fuel trucks and maintenance. On shut down, the general would climb out, get into his air conditioned car, which was waiting for him, and drive off. So, they got no idea of the issues flight crews had with "flying the line", getting maintenance, fuel, load issues, getting fussed at by command for not getting the off on time, bailing crew members out of the brig, dealing with crew members so potted they couldn't find the aircraft if it was right beside them, dealing with passengers, customs, command posts that try to kill you, etc., etc. These are a few things that that I had to deal with when I was aircraft commander.

 

[tyrodtom]

RHIP.
I remember when I was at Nakon Phanom Thailand , we had at one time, only 2 round eye females on the post.
One was a nurse at the infirmary, the other was the post commander's driver.

 

[davparlr]

RHIP.
I remember when I was at Nakon Phanom Thailand , we had at one time, only 2 round eye females on the post.
One was a nurse at the infirmary, the other was the post commander's driver.

Hmmm, kinda like Eisenhower.