03/17/2020
โฒโชโฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โฃ Friday, 17 March 1961
Air Training Command received its first T-38A (serial number 59-1954)
.
A lone T-38 Talon streaked over Austin, Texas, headed for Randolph Air Force Base (AFB) near San Antonio. After signaling his approach to Randolph with a sonic boom, pilot Lt. Col. Arthur W. Buck flew low over the base and landed Air Training Command's (ATC's) first supersonic jet trainer. This aircraft was the first of over 1,000 T-38s the U. S. Air Force would order to upgrade its pilot training programs. The Talon derived from a military aircraft that Northrop Corporation's Norair Division had developed as a private venture in the early 1950s, a lightweight, supersonic aircraft featuring advanced avionics and structural innovations. Later in the decade, the Air Force became interested in a trainer version of the same aircraft to replace its aging T-33, so the arrival of the T-38 at Randolph, headquarters for Air Training Command, was long awaited. The T-38 would bridge a "performance gap" in the T-33 that limited the ability of Air Training Command to train fighter pilots for the growing inventory of supersonic aircraft in the U.S. Air Force. The Talon, equipped with two jet engines capable of speeds up to 805 mph, arrived at Randolph with great promise. As Lt. Col. Buck, T-38 project officer for Air Training Command, wrote later: We believe that as a result of the new ATC pilot training program the first-line units will get a man who can become combat-ready in any weapon system with less training and with a higher degree of flying safety than has ever been possible before. This should reduce the units' training time, costs, and the number of two-seat combat-type aircraft that are required. Training on the T-38 started only after months of testing, as flight instructors developed a new training regimen and worked out bugs associated with the new aircraft. Meanwhile, phase-in of the T-38s continued over the next few years as ATC included more of the supersonic trainers in its several flying training wings located at other bases, mainly in the Southwest. By January 1967 the Talon had logged 1,000,000 training hours in Air Training Command. At about the same time, the air war in Vietnam had begun to escalate, creating a demand for more pilots.
During the 11-year production period, ATC took delivery of 1,114 T-38s.
Citation:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_T-38_Talon
The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first supersonic trainer and is also the most produced. The T-38 remains in service as of 2019[update] in several air forces.