Lockheed T-33

Flew the Seastar (T1-A) '70-'71 at VT-10, NAS Pensacola.
530 Hrs.- Squadron Traded it on the TF-9J Cougar. J33-A24 engine had to be blown down on shutdown with GTC-85 huffer. 1st jet I flew. Great all weather machine.

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I flew this aircraft from 1956 - 1971 along with the F-86, F-102, F-106 and the F-4CDE. I loved to fly this dependable airplane. Each squadron having a few of these allowed pilots to gain a lot of varried experience and pleasure. Class of 57T.

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It was my first jet aircraft in the Air Force. I flew it after the T6. Big challenge. The fuel system just amazing, and the aileron boost for the first flights. Any way great plane and it gave to me a good preparation for the next fighters that I flew.

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My introduction to the T Bird was at Connally Air Force base in Texas in 1952 then in 1955 at Osan(K55) in Korea and I fell in love with that plane as it took me quite a few times to Japan(Itauzki)for 100 hour inspection and sometimes the stay was a week or more.It was a tough bird and in a year had very little maintaince problems

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I was a plane captain on T-33 & T-1a's from 1967-68 at Cherry Point NC. USMC. Nice plane but I liked the T1A better. I was able to fly back seat if it was empty. I also have about 4-5 actual stick time because pilots were bored and let us fly their TPQ's. Doesn't seem like many hours to a pilot but when you have zero experience it still was great. The only time that I got scared is when a pilot pulled a stall without telling me what he was doing. The other pilots would tell me when they were going to do something unusual. During this stall maneuver I was ready to bail out. If the pilot would have cleared his throat I would have been gone, but he put the nose down and then I realized what he was doing. When we got back the other guys asked how the ride was. Seemed like I was the only one who didn't know about this pilot. Never rode with him again but I would have. The only thing that I didn't like was that you can not see the ground from the back seat.

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The T-bird was the greatest "seasoning" aircraft. In the '60s, most bases had a few T-33s and young pilots in more sophisticated a /c could build up their time with Tbird cross-countries to almost anywhere. Maxwell was a favorite stop as they had supposedly the best T-33 maintenance. You could always tell if a bird had been to MXF as there would be a chalk message to that effect in the tailpipe. If you could fly instruments in the Tbird, you could fly instruments in anything: The cockpit layout was haphazard, with a huge heading indicator in the middle and everything else placed wherever there was a hole. That's because it was built before the standard "T" layout of subsequent instrument panels. I also remember there were about seven different airstart procedures. I heard from an IP or two that selecting "manual fuel" could give you another 30% to help in formation! Never had the guts to try. 65B at Moody, 1500 hours at Duluth, and I donated my Dash 1 to the Franklin Institute. Hope it's on display with their T-33.

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Boeing A /C in Everett, WA still use t-Birds as chase planes. I saw one spring of 2010 when they flew a new liner. I was more interested in the T-Bird. I had a great view and air show as they flew over the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

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I flew "T-Birds" at Laredo AFB, Class of 66F. Enjoyed aerobatics the most though I never mastered clover leafs. Hated flying under that bag in the back seat. My copilots today don't believe you can make a zero zero take off from the back seat of a jet. But they wouldn't believe a lot of the things we did then.
I bounced a night solo landing and learned the "sinking" sensation earned by such a mistake. Sitting 30 feet above the runway, airspeed deterioriating, wing starting to shudder, can't put the nose up or down, just wait while the J-33 behind you takes 12 seconds to spool from idle (35%) to 100%. I made it, but it made Flight Captain Johnson's nappy hair a little gray in mobile control.
Looking back through forty five years of professional flying, I believe Lockheed's T-33 prepared us pretty well. And so did Captain Johnson. Once in close trail position, Capt Johnson took the controls from the back and did rolls around lead's tail while lead was doing his own maneuvers oblivious to the rolls. Lead's tailpipe never left the exact top center of my windshield. Explaining that the maneuvers were not in the cirriculum, he wanted me to see what the plane could do. Through him I learned what it meant to be one with your machine.
The planes were well maintained. And tough! A guy in the class ahead of us over rotated on take off. I watched from mobile control while his T-Bird mimicked the horrific F-100 "Sabre dance". The plane disapperaed in a cloud of dust, impacted the dirt in a level attitude, sheared off all three gears, and speed brakes which the hapless pilot had put out contrary to the crash landing checklist. As he said later, he wanted something between him and the ground. Nor did he punch off the tips. "Pedro" found him across the highway, beside the drive in resteraunt, engine still running, fuel everywhere. The pilot got out without a scratch while the firemen had to wade through the fuel, reach into the cockpit and stopcock the throttle.
Fuel was cheap then and each graduation ceremony rated a sixteen ship T-33 fly by, courtesy of the class behind you. A sky full of USAF jets during the National Anthem. Wow! My Dad's buttons popped off his shirt and Mom cried. Those were good times.

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I was a Crew Chief of a T-33 at New Castle DE. 1956-57. My Plane 51-9176 was involved in 2 1 /2 in flight collisions with other aircraft and target,and survived them all. 1st was with a F-94C it's right Elevator ripped thru the left tip-tank of the 94 and tore the Elevator off. The second was on a GCA approach to New Castle and the pilot looked up and a tail wheel of a C-46 was on the canopy, it slid off and ripped of the left tip-tank bent up the left wing, tore the tail wheel off the 46. The Pilot jettisond the right tank and saftly landed. I was in the back seat while towing a Delmar target when reeling it in one of the fins must have been hit by one of the rockets that the 94's were shooting at it. It was osculating and hit the left horizontal stab tip and bent it down. Took a half hour to fix after we landed.

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what a plane. the t-33 was used at williams afb in az for the acro jetsd. these were the fore runners of the thunder birds. I also worked on these at craig afb . I was there untill 54.

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I flew the T-33 as a student in 1955, out of Grenville, Mississippi. We had finished out training, and were waiting in the class room for the next step, when a Sargent came into the class room and said "009 needed an hour of flight time"-(009) being the tail number. I beat everyone else out of the room, and walked over to the plane, fired it up and took off. I had forgotten my 'clip board' I started several maneuvers and began an entry for a loop. I remember looking at the airspeed indicator. I had entered the maneuver well below the recommended speed, and as a result, there was only enough speed to go to the top of the loop, but not enough to finish it. I found myself upside down with no forward airspeed left. The plane began to fall strait down - upside down! I was in trouble. I tried the controls, but they were dead. There was no air speed for the controls to push against. It was the same feeling as when the plane was sitting on the ground. No push back from the air. I thought of ejecting, but I could see that in this condition, if I did eject, it was likely that the plane would fall right on top of me - since we were both "upside down." As I continued to search for answers, I was mindful of the ground rapidly getting closer. After a little more time, I felt the controls begin to have some push back, and I was finally able to pull out and fly level. That was my last flight in the T-33, and one I will always remember. It had responded just in time to save a young and stupid pilot from what could possibly have been fatal

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Great aircraft. Highest was 47,500' on a cruise-climb cross country out of Brian AFB, Tx, and just a bit less in the Base Operations T Bird out of Pease AFB, NH. I believe there are very small differences in airframe and engines that effect altitude capabilities. Acro in the T Bird was euphoric. Instructing in the Jet Qualification Course at Craig AFB, AL was frightening, but rewarding.
Do I ever wish I owned a T Bird? No, not more than three or four times a day, every day.

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I worked on the T-Birds when I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB,AK 1971-74. I loved the ease of maintenance having just left an assignment as an F4C crew chief. The only plane I ever lost was my T-Bird. It ran out of fuel due to some bad weather advice my pilot had gotten on headwinds. Now retired in Biloxi,MS we have one of our old T-33s from Elmendorf on display in the main boulevard median. It brings back a lot of good memories every time I see her proudly in flight on her pedestal.

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As a newly assigned A1C, the first ride I ever took in an Air Force jet was in a T-33 at McChord AFB, WA. After that, I used to ride in them regularly, traveling between McChord and McClellan AFB, CA. My second DCO after being assigned to McChord was Col. Crutchfield and I remember so clearly the day that he went missing on a return flight from McClellan. We found the crash site on Mt. Rainier at a little over 14,300ft. The mountain is officially 14,410. I believe the remains of the plane are still there on that glacier. One of the saddest days of my long AF career. It was a great little jet and even though I've flown on just about every training model of AF fighter jets during my career, I still remember and love the T-33.

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No comment about the airplane, but why did you accept that dopy comment from the lady that is looking to give her $29 million to someone? Don't you have a way of screening these comments? That thing she's up to is one of the oldest-running frauds around.

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WAS A CREW CHIEF ON THE T 33 FROM 55 TO 58 AT SCHULTHORPE AFB 47TH BOMB WING ENGLAND.WE DID IT ALL ENGINE ,HYDRAULICS,AIR FRAME TILL I BELIEVE IN 57 THEN EVERY THING BECAME SPECIALIZED.HYDRAULIC MECHANICS,ENGINE MECHANICS.RADIO AND ELECTRONICS WAS ALWAYS DONE BY THE TECHS.PRIOR TO 100 HOUR INSPECTIONS AND BREAK DOWN OF ENGINE AND UP GRADES TO AIR FRAME WE DID IT ALL RIGHT ON THE FLIGHT LINE.IN 3 YEARS ALWAYS HAD AN OK FLIGHT OTHER THAN A DIRTY CANOPY ONCE IN AWHILE.HOW MANY YOU GUYS REMEMBER A GREEN PILOT HITTING HIS FUEL SWITCH BEFORE HIS IGNITION SWITCH AND HAVING TO PUSH THE NOSE UP TO DRAIN THE FUEL FROM THE TAIL PIPE.PLUS CLEANING UP THE BACK SEAT FROM A WEAK STOMACH.

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I'm a retired Air Force bomb loader whose first assignment out of tech school was Cannon AFB, where I loaded bombs, rockets and ammo on the AT-33. I rarely saw them after that until I visited the Franklin Institute in Philly a few years ago, where they had one on display! It sure brought back memories!

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Grauated from Williams AFB in Class 55-S. Have almost 4,000hours in the T-Bird. The only aircraft I liked bettedr was the Lockheed C-140 JetStar

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Looking for members of Lorado AFB class 55L (Jet Pilot School) who knew Martin(Marty)J. Joyce USAF Retired.

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I was a crew chief on the T-33A at Peterson Field Air Base, CO. From 1974 to 1976. And just few years ago I came across one of my T-Birds the local community college. It was still used for training, but instead training pilots. It's training new mechanics. I had fly time in the seat.

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