Happy 50th Birthday, T-38 Talon

Valley Press on ^ | Monday, April 20, 2009. | Sr. Airman Julius Delos Reyes 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

[BenLurkin]

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Fifty years and an old runway ago, a T-38 Talon flew over Edwards, marking the beginning of its career. From then on, the aircraft continued to add to its list of accomplishments, and on April 10, Team Edwards celebrated the T-38's first flight and its historical achievements.

The T-38 is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer used in a variety of roles because of its design, economy of operations, ease of maintenance, high performance and exceptional safety record. The T-38 has swept wings, a "soda-bottle" shaped fuselage and tricycle landing gear with a steerable nose wheel. Two independent hydraulic systems power the ailerons, rudder and other flight control surfaces.

"It is a cheap, cost-effective supersonic trainer for the Air Force," said Tech. Sgt. Anthony Accurso, of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum. "It has been a major piece of history. Most of our service's pilots have flown that airplane over the past 50 years."

Five decades after first streaking across the Mojave Desert, the sleek jet is still a common sight in the skies over Edwards.

"The Talon is the workhorse of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School curriculum," said Jay Dunham, the school's T-38 chief pilot. "Approximately 50% of our curriculum sorties are flown in the T-38. The combination of speed, maneuverability and classic flying qualities make it an effective platform for developing the core competencies required of our graduates."

Recently, Maj. Brian Deas, Test Pilot School student, piloted the aircraft during a performance data collection sortie.

"After flying the T-38, it was clear why it had been around for so long," Maj. Deas said. "The aircraft is perfectly designed for its mission. It is easy to operate through a wide range of performance capabilities."

[WayneS]

Great plane.

Served the USAF Thunderbirds very well for YEARS.

[knarf]

The same rule for Ann Coulter MUST also apply to other beautiful creations ...

[knarf]

oops .. I didn’t think it was so large.

[ironwill]

[JoeProBono]

[TankerKC]

Two from the 14th FTW @ Columbus AFB, MS...

[ko_kyi]

How cool was it for Major Nelson - he gets to fly one of those around then go home to Jeanie.

[WayneS]

Turns out it was only seven years (’74-’81), but it is the T’birds #2 longest serving plane behind the F-16.

Maybe I’m just biased. Most of the times I got to see them were during the T-38 years.

Also, can some tell me whether I am correct in remembering that the F-5 Tiger was a single seat fighter version of the T-38 airframe?

[WayneS]

Or perhaps ...someONE...?

[Centurion2000]

They are awesome little birds.

[Bringbackthedraft]

I prefer the T 39, it was a lot more comfortable to ride in for me back during the Cuban Crisis.

[DuncanWaring]

...a "soda-bottle" shaped fuselage ...

Most "soda bottles" are not pinched in the middle like a T-38.

If they use the classic term do they have to pay royalties?

[jaydubya2]

I believe the F-5 is a variant of the T-38, though the F-5 has a different wing.

[ChinaThreat]

The F-5 was a privately funded “light-fighter” program started by Northrop. The US wasn’t looking for a light-fighter but we sold variants to allies. The F-5 program is actually what created the T-38 training variant. My father worked at Reese AFB in Lubbock Texas during the 60s. There were a ton of these things.

The F-5 was tried briefly in Vietnam and declared a success but it was never in serious consideration for a stock fighter for the USA.

[SJSAMPLE]

Yes.
Same basic airframe.

[jaydubya2]

"Both the F-5 and T-38 offer superb performance, excellent flight characteristics, and unmatched safety records in military service. While there is a high level of commonality between these aircraft, the F-5 has a drag chute, large power disk brakes and provision for external fuel. On the other hand, the T-38 is lighter and has somewhat higher performance than the F-5. The range of the T-38 at 750NM is slightly greater than than that of the F-5 in the clean (tip tanks) configuration. However, the range of the F-5 can be extended to 850NM with the addition of an external centerline fuel tank. Take-off and landing performance of the F-5 is superior to that of the T-38 due to the drag chute and larger wheels and brakes of the F-5. In addition, the F-5 exhibits less buffet in the traffic pattern due to its leading edge flaps.

Buy one here:
http://www.thorntonaircraft.com/body/body.cfm?page_name=mil

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Was doing launch recovery at Edwards and saw a plane taxi in front of me and thought that it was a strange looking T-38. Only when it got further down the taxiway did I notice that it was the X-29 ( the plane with the swept forward wing ). Later found out that the X-29 has the same nose as a T-38.

[jaydubya2]

That's interesting, found this on Wikipedia. Apparently they took an F-5 and an F-16 and glued them together to make the X-29:

" Two X-29As were built by Grumman Aerospace Corporation from two existing Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter airframes (63-8372 became 82-0003 and 65-10573 became 82-0049)[1] (after the proposal had been chosen over a competing one involving a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon). The X-29 design made use of the forward fuselage and nose landing gear from the F-5As with the control surface actuators and main landing gear from the F-16."

[tomkat]

I believe that's the largest pic I've ever seen posted on FR              

Shore is a perty thing tho !