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75-757: The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 by lengthening the fuselage by slightly more than 3 feet (1 m) and adding a second seat, instrumentation, and flight controls. It was initially designated as a variant of the P-80/F-80, the TP-80C / TF-80C . Design work on the Lockheed P-80 began in 1943, with the first flight on 8 January 1944. Following on the Bell P-59 , the P-80 became

150-598: A turbojet -powered, low-wing aircraft, complete with a tricycle undercarriage and a side-by-side cockpit arrangement. Despite a lack of official backing from the Canadian Government, the Royal Canadian Air Force 's (RCAF) Directorate of Training’s Jet Trainer Liaison Committee had closely engaged with the company; their involvement in the project had reportedly made a significant impact in the aircraft's final design. During September 1961,

225-491: A T-33A-1-LO Shooting Star trainer, AF Ser. No. 49-0905, in Forestville, Maryland. Gentile was credited with 20 air kills during his combat tours. Data from Lockheed Aircraft since 1913 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star

300-697: A YP-80A (44-83026) at RAF Burtonwood , Lancashire, England, on 28 January 1945, the YP-80A was temporarily grounded. Before World War II ended, however, two American pre-production Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star fighter jets saw limited service in Italy with the USAAF on reconnaissance, in February and March 1945. Because of delays in delivery of production aircraft, the Shooting Star saw no actual combat during

375-624: A dive at low altitude. Despite initial claims of success, the speed of the straight-wing F-80s was inferior to the 668 mph (1075 km/h) MiGs. The MiGs incorporated German research showing that swept wings delayed the onset of compressibility problems, and enabled speeds closer to the speed of sound. F-80s were soon replaced in the air superiority role by the North American F-86 Sabre , which had been delayed to also incorporate swept wings into an improved straight-winged naval FJ-1 Fury . However, F-80 pilots still destroyed

450-525: A federal crown corporation until 1986 when, having experienced record losses during its development of the Challenger business jet, the Mulroney government sold it to Bombardier Inc. Shortly after Canadair's acquisition, Bombardier was able to restore it to profitability; the company soon acquired other aviation companies, such as the near-bankrupt Short Brothers of Belfast , Northern Ireland, and

525-552: A jet-versus-jet aerial kill after he claimed to have shot down an F-80. According to the Americans, the F-80 was downed by flak. One week later, on 8 November, the first American claim for a jet-versus-jet aerial kill was made when Lieutenant Russell J. Brown, flying an F-80, reported that he downed a MiG-15. Soviet records claim that no MiGs were lost that day and that their pilot, Senior Lieutenant Kharitonov, survived by pulling out of

600-715: A low wing and a single fuselage-mounted engine, to be designated XP-59B , but by this time the Bell factory was swamped with other work so the USAAF transferred the project to Lockheed. The impetus for development of the P-80 was the discovery by Allied intelligence of the Me 262 in spring 1943, which had made only test flights of its own first quartet (the V1 through V4 airframes) of design prototypes at that time, all fitted with retracting tailwheel landing gear. After receiving documents and blueprints comprising years of British jet aircraft research,

675-427: A newly installed emergency fuel pump backup system, but the investigation of Bong's crash found that he had apparently forgotten to switch on this pump, which could have prevented the accident. He bailed out when the aircraft rolled inverted but was too close to the ground for his parachute to deploy. After Bong's death, both the USAAF and Lockheed wanted to prove the reliability of the airplane. Robert E. Thacker from

750-463: A result of this purchase, Canadair was reorganised as Convair's Canadian subsidiary. During the 1950s, Canadair decided that it would develop its own indigenous trainer aircraft as a private venture. This aircraft, which would become the CT-114 Tutor was the product of the company’s in-house Preliminary Design department. By August 1957, the basic configuration had been completed, which was of

825-514: A revised underfloor hull structure. Perhaps the company's most commercially successful product was the Challenger 600 business jet . Originally conceived of by the American aviation inventor Bill Lear as the LearStar 600 , at the end of 1975, Canadair gave its backing to the concept; during April 1976, the company opted to acquire the whole project, formally launching it with the backing of

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900-675: A similar role until they were finally retired, with the last being an NT-33 variant retired in April 1997. The T-33 has served with over 30 nations and continues to operate as a trainer in smaller air forces . Canadair built 656 T-33s on licence for service in the RCAF— Canadian Forces as the CT-133 Silver Star , while Kawasaki manufactured 210 in Japan . Other operators included Brazil , Turkey , and Thailand , which used

975-419: A single T-38 Talon . Actor and pilot Michael Dorn owned a T-33, which he jokingly referred to as his "starship". Khodkar Iranian conversion of T-33A into drone. For operators of Canadian-built aircraft, refer to Canadair CT-133 Silver Star . Numerous T-33s have been preserved as museum and commemorative displays. On January 28, 1951 : WW2 Ace Dominic Salvatore Gentile was killed when he crashed in

1050-488: A single fuselage-mounted engine was more effective, and this configuration was used by nearly all subsequent fighter aircraft. Lockheed was the first American aircraft company to start work on a jet-powered aircraft, beginning work on the L-133 in 1939. The L-133 eventually developed into an extremely advanced design, including futuristic features such as canard forewings and a blended wing body , but when Lockheed presented

1125-638: A small light-weight all-terrain amphibious tracked vehicle. In turn, Canadair developed the CL-70 RAT Remote Articulated Track ; this vehicle, while not a commercial success, gave Canadair useful experience towards the development of the upgraded CL-91 Dynatrac, which was a marketing success and purchased by the US Army as XM-571 . During 1976, the Canadian government acquired Canadair Ltd. from General Dynamics. It remained

1200-843: A squadron of the 56th FG led by Colonel David C. Schilling made the first west-to-east Atlantic crossing by single-engined jets in July, flying to Germany for 45 days in Operation Fox Able I. Replaced by the newly Shooting Star-equipped 36th Fighter Group at Fürstenfeldbruck , the 56th FG conducted Fox Able II in May 1949. That same year F-80s first equipped the 51st Fighter Group, based in Japan. The 4th ( Langley Air Force Base , Virginia), 81st ( Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico), and 57th ( Elmendorf Air Force Base , Alaska) Fighter Groups all acquired F-80s in 1948, as did interceptor squadrons of

1275-612: A total of six MiG-15s in aerial combat. When sufficient Sabres were in operation, the Shooting Star flew exclusively ground-attack missions, and were also used for advanced flight training duties and air defense in Japan. By the end of hostilities, the only F-80s still flying in Korea were photo-reconnaissance variants. F-80Cs equipped 10 USAF squadrons in Korea: One RF-80A unit operated in the Korean War: During

1350-579: Is the first jet fighter used operationally by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II . Designed and built by Lockheed in 1943 and delivered just 143 days from the start of design, two pre-production models saw limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II . Designed with straight wings, the type saw extensive combat in Korea with the United States Air Force (USAF) as

1425-709: The Air Defense Command . The first Air National Guard unit to fly the F-80C was the 196th FS of the California ANG in June 1947. Several P-80A Shooting Stars were transferred to the United States Navy beginning 29 June 1945, retaining their P-80 designations. At Naval Air Station Patuxent River , one Navy P-80 was modified with required add-ons, such as an arrestor hook , and loaded aboard

1500-527: The CL-204 , was a purpose-designed water bomber that evolved into an amphibian flying boat configuration, powered by two shoulder-mounted 2,100 hp (1,566 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2800 piston engines . Its design was shaped by a desire for the CL-205 to be well-suited for performing a range of roles, including air-sea search and rescue , cargo haulage and commercial passenger-carrying, in addition to

1575-531: The CL-44D , based on the British Bristol Britannia airliner , was the first design that allowed access by swinging the entire rear fuselage. The CL-89 and CL-289 were the first surveillance drones to be put into service in several countries' armed forces. The experimental CL-84 was the first VTOL aircraft that rotated the wings to achieve vertical lift-off ( tiltwing ). The CL-215 was

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1650-657: The Canadian federal government shortly thereafter. Development of the Challenger 600 was hampered by a deadly crash amid the flight test programme on 3 April 1980; despite this, type certification for the aircraft was approved by both Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration later that same year. The high cost of developing the Challenger 600 has been attributed as a major cause of Canadair's poor financial situation during

1725-474: The F-80 . America's first successful turbojet -powered combat aircraft, it was soon outclassed with the appearance of the swept-wing transonic MiG-15 and was quickly replaced in the air superiority role by the transonic F-86 Sabre . The F-94 Starfire , an all-weather interceptor using the same airframe, also saw Korean War service. The closely related T-33 Shooting Star trainer remained in service with

1800-497: The Korean War , and were among the first aircraft to be involved in jet-versus-jet combat. The Americans used the F-80C variant and RF-80 photo-recon variants in Korea. The F-80 flew both air-to-air and air-to-ground sorties, claiming several aerial victories against North Korean Yak-9s and Il-10s . On 1 November 1950, a Russian MiG-15 pilot, Lieutenant Semyon F. Khominich, became the first pilot in history to be credited with

1875-495: The RT-33A with a camera installed in the nose and additional equipment in the rear cockpit was also produced. Although primarily intended for export, the U.S. Air Force used a single example of the type for secret overflights of South Vietnam and Laos from 1961, with these flights codenamed FIELD GOAL. This lasted until the aircraft were replaced by the more capable McDonnell RF-101 Voodoo in this role. The USAF began phasing

1950-611: The XP-80 in May 1943. Since the British turbojet was not yet delivered, Lockheed obtained its blueprint dimensions from Bell as ordered by the USAAF. Lockheed's team, consisting of 28 engineers , was led by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson in the same manner as the P-38 Lightning , in the same remote building with high security and greater autonomy, a continuation of Lockheed's Skunk Works style of research and development. With

2025-497: The business jet specialist Learjet of Wichita, Kansas , as well as de Havilland Aircraft of Canada of Toronto , Ontario . Together with these other entities, Canadair became a core component of Bombardier Aerospace . Following the company's acquisition by Bombardier, the Canadair name had continued to be prominently used in the branding of its larger series of business jets and regional jets , which have been marketed as

2100-561: The 1980s, being reportedly close to bankruptcy ; the company's condition in turn ultimately contributed to its acquisition by Bombardier Inc. during 1986. In the long run, the business jet was well received by the market and can be considered to be a success, being produced for over four decades. In excess of 1,000 Challenger 600s had been reportedly completed by late 2018. Outside of the field of aviation, Canadair opted to diversify into various other sectors, developing its own range of industrial and commercial products. The "Canarch" division

2175-486: The 2,457 miles (3,954 km) run between Long Beach and New York in 4:13:26 hrs at an average speed of 584 mph (507 kn; 940 km/h), aided by the upper-level westerly winds, to set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record. The P-80B prototype, modified as a racer and designated P-80R , was piloted by Colonel Albert Boyd to a world air speed record of 623.73 mph (1,004.2 km/h) on 19 June 1947. The P-80C began production in 1948; on 11 June

2250-531: The August 1944 record flight of 504 mph (811 km/h; 438 kn) by a special high-speed variant of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt . Contemporary pilots, when transitioning to pioneering jets like the Shooting Star, were unused to flying at high speed without a loud reciprocating engine and had to learn to rely on the airspeed indicator . The second prototype, designated XP-80A ,

2325-520: The Canadian government, having been impressed by the performance of the prototype, placed a sizeable order for 190 production aircraft on behalf of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Serving as the service's primary trainer platform, the Tutor would be operated as such for over thirty years. Another indigenously-developed design was the CL-215 amphibian. It arose from an internal research study during

Lockheed T-33 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-532: The Flight Test Division at Wright Field was ordered to select three other pilots, pick up 5 P-80s from Lockheed and fly them to Muroc Army Airbase , and fly each airplane there for 500 hours. Thacker tapped Chuck Yeager , plus two other pilots and they put 500 hours on each airplane without further incident. After the war, the USAAF compared the P-80 and Me 262 concluding, "Despite a difference in gross weight of nearly 2,000 lb (900 kg),

2475-464: The Germans and British clearly far ahead in development, Lockheed was pressed to develop a comparable jet as quickly as possible. Kelly Johnson submitted a design proposal in mid-June and promised that the prototype would be ready for testing in 150 days. The Skunk Works team, beginning 26 June 1943, produced the airframe in 143 days, delivering it to Muroc Army Airfield on 16 November. The project

2550-518: The Korean war, 368 F-80s were lost, including 277 in combat missions and 91 non-combat losses Of the 277 F-80s lost in operations (approximately 30% of the existing inventory), 113 were lost to ground fire, 14 to enemy aircraft, 54 to "unknown causes" and 96 were "other losses". F-80s are credited by the USAF with destroying 17 aircraft in air-to-air combat and 24 on the ground. Major Charles J. Loring Jr.

2625-676: The Marine Corps, equipping VMF-311 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro . These aircraft were eventually sent to reserve units. The success of these aircraft led to the procurement by the Navy of 698 T-33 Shooting Stars (as the TO-2/TV-2) to provide a two-seat aircraft for the training role. Lockheed went on to develop a carrier-capable version, the T2V SeaStar , which went into service in 1957. Shooting Stars first saw combat service in

2700-465: The Me 262 was superior to the P-80 in acceleration, speed and approximately the same in climb performance. The Me 262 apparently has a higher critical Mach number (the Me 262A's being at M 0.86 ), from a drag standpoint, than any current Army Air Force fighter." The Shooting Star began to enter service in late 1944 with 12 pre-production YP-80A s, one of which was destroyed in the accident in which Burcham

2775-584: The PBY contract, a development contract to produce a new variant of the Douglas DC-4 transport was also underway. The resulting aircraft, the Canadair DC-4M , which was powered by an arrangement of four British -sourced Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, began production during 1946; it was marketed under the "Northstar" name. During the immediate postwar era, Canadair purchased the "work in progress" on

2850-590: The T-33 extensively. Some T-33s retained two machine guns for gunnery training, and in some countries, the T-33 was even used in combat: the Cuban Air Force used them during the Bay of Pigs Invasion , scoring several kills including sinking two transport ships. The RT-33A version, reconnaissance aircraft produced primarily for use by foreign countries, had a camera installed in the nose and additional equipment in

2925-815: The T-33 out of front-line pilot training duties in the Air Training Command in the early 1960s, as the Cessna T-37 Tweet and Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft began replacing it for the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) program. The T-33 was used to train cadets from the Air Force Academy at Peterson Field (now Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs). The T-37 replaced the T-33 for Academy training in 1975. The final T-33 used in advanced training

3000-549: The U.S. Air Force and Navy well into the 1980s, with the last NT-33 variant not retired until April 1997. The XP-80 had a conventional all-metal airframe, with a slim low wing and tricycle landing gear . Like most early jets designed during World War II—and before the Allies captured German research data that confirmed the speed advantages of swept-wings —the XP-80 had straight wings, similar to previous propeller-driven fighters. It

3075-400: The XP-80. The P-80 testing program proved very dangerous. Burcham was killed on 20 October 1944 while flying the third YP-80A, 44–83025. The Gray Ghost was lost on a test flight on 20 March 1945, although pilot Tony LeVier escaped. Newly promoted to chief engineering test pilot to replace Burcham, LeVier bailed out when one of the engine's turbine blades broke, causing structural failure in

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3150-401: The aircraft carrier USS  Franklin D. Roosevelt at Norfolk, Virginia , on 31 October 1946. The following day the aircraft made four deck-run takeoffs and two catapult launches, with five arrested landings, flown by Marine Major Marion Carl . A second series of trials was held on 11 November. The U.S. Navy had already begun procuring its own jet aircraft, but the slow pace of delivery

3225-478: The aircraft's tail. LeVier landed hard and broke his back, but returned to the test program after six months of recovery. The top-scoring World War II USAAF ace Major Richard Bong was also killed on an acceptance flight of a production P-80 in the United States on 6 August 1945. Both Burcham and Bong crashed as a result of main fuel pump failure. Burcham's death was the result of a failure to brief him on

3300-668: The commanding General of the Army Air Force, Henry H. Arnold , believed an airframe developed to accept the British-made Halford H-1 B "Goblin" jet engine could provide the superior performance to match the new German jets, and the Materiel Command's Wright Field research and development division tasked Lockheed to design the aircraft based on their experience with the L-133. Concept work began on

3375-507: The conflict. The initial production order was for 344 P-80As after USAAF acceptance in February 1945. A total of 83 P-80s had been delivered by the end of July 1945 and 45 assigned to the 412th Fighter Group (later redesignated the 1st Fighter Group ) at Muroc Army Air Field . Production continued after the war, although wartime plans for 5,000 were quickly reduced to 2,000 at a little under $ 100,000 each. A total of 1,714 single-seat F-80A , F-80B , F-80C , and RF-80 s were manufactured by

3450-668: The controls. Production at Lockheed ran from 1948 to 1959. The US Navy used the T-33 as a land-based trainer starting in 1949. It was designated the TV-2 , but was redesignated the T-33B in 1962. The Navy operated some ex-USAF P-80Cs as the TO-1 , changed to the TV-1 about a year later. A carrier-capable version of the P-80/T-33 family was subsequently developed by Lockheed, eventually leading to

3525-507: The design to the Army Air Force, it was rejected as being technologically unfeasible. Instead the USAAF concentrated development around the much less radical Bell P-59 Airacomet , which first flew in October 1942. It quickly became obvious, however, that the P-59's performance was only marginally superior to current piston engined fighters. Bell performed preliminary work revising the P-59 with

3600-542: The early 1960s at Canadair, originally conceived of as a twin-engined floatplane transport based on the design of the 369 Canso (a variant of the PBY). However, it was altered into a "firefighter" following a request by forestry officials in the Quebec Service Aérien ( Quebec Government Air Service ) who wanted a more effective way of delivering water to forest fires. The 1962 preliminary design, designated as

3675-401: The end of production in 1950, of which 927 were F-80Cs (including 129 operational F-80As upgraded to F-80C-11-LO standards). However, the two-seat TF-80C, first flown on 22 March 1948, became the basis for the T-33 trainer, of which 6,557 were produced. On 27 January 1946, Colonel William H. Councill flew a P-80 nonstop across the U.S. to make the first transcontinental jet flight. He completed

3750-434: The engine had warned Lockheed that the skin of the inlet ducts was too thin but the American engineers ignored this warning and both ducts collapsed and were sucked into the engine when at full throttle. This delayed the first flight until a second engine (the only other existing) could be delivered from Britain, de Havilland generously donating the engine intended for the prototype Vampire . The first prototype (44-83020)

3825-403: The existing Douglas DC-3 / C-47 series. In 1946, the Electric Boat Company , an American industrial group, bought a controlling interest in the company; shortly thereafter, the two companies merged to form the American company General Dynamics in 1952. During 1954, General Dynamics opted to purchase Convair , which had been created by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft; as

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3900-416: The first jet fighter to enter full squadron service in the United States Army Air Forces . As more advanced jets entered service, the F-80 took on another role—training jet pilots. The two-place T-33 jet was designed for training pilots already qualified to fly propeller-driven aircraft. Originally designated the TF-80C, the T-33 made its first flight on 22 March 1948 with Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier at

3975-410: The first purpose-designed water bomber. Canadair was formally created on 11 November 1944 as a separate entity by the government of Canada. Having absorbed the operations of the Canadian Vickers company, it initially operated as a manufacturer of Consolidated PBY "Canso" flying boats on behalf of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Benjamin W. Franklin became its first president. In addition to

4050-586: The former USN aircraft being expended as full-scale aerial targets for air-to-air missile tests from naval aircraft and surface-to-air missile tests from naval vessels. Several T-33s were assigned to USAF McDonnell F-101 Voodoo , Convair F-102 Delta Dagger , and Convair F-106 Delta Dart units, to include similarly equipped Air National Guard units, of the Aerospace Defense Command as proficiency trainers and practice "bogey" aircraft. Others later went to Tactical Air Command , and TAC gained Air National Guard F-106 and McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II units in

4125-681: The government of Canada on 11 November, 1944. Throughout much of its existence, it was a subsidiary of various other aircraft manufacturers prior to being nationalized by the Canadian government in 1976. For a decade, the company operated as a federally-owned Crown Corporation . In 1986, Canadair was privatized via its sale to Bombardier, after which it became a core element of the firm's aerospace division . The company's former principal manufacturing facility, Canadair Plant One , remains intact, although Cartierville Airport itself has been closed and since undergone redevelopment. During its operational years, Canadair achieved several aviation firsts;

4200-451: The late 1950s to 1970s T2V-1/T-1A SeaStar . The two TF-80C prototypes were modified as prototypes for an all-weather two-seater fighter variant, which became the F-94 Starfire . A total of 6,557 T-33s were produced: 5,691 of them by Lockheed, 210 by Kawasaki, and 656 by Canadair. The two-place T-33 proved suitable as an advanced trainer, and it has been used for such tasks as drone director and target towing. A reconnaissance version known as

4275-402: The newly formed United States Air Force redesignated the type as F-80C . The USAF Strategic Air Command had F-80 Shooting Stars in service from 1946 through 1948 with the 1st and 56th Fighter Groups. The first P-80s to serve in Europe joined the 55th Fighter Group (later redesignated the 31st FG) at Giebelstadt , Germany, in 1946, remaining 18 months. When the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin ,

4350-439: The problems with the design were soon addressed and corrected in the test program. Initial opinions of the XP-80A were not positive, with Lockheed Chief Engineering Test Pilot Milo Burcham commenting that an aircraft he very much enjoyed (powered by the Halford engine) had now become a "dog." The XP-80As were primarily testbeds for larger, more powerful engines and air intake design, and consequently were larger and 25% heavier than

4425-406: The rear cockpit. T-33s continued to fly as currency trainers, drone towing, combat and tactical simulation training, "hack" aircraft, electronic countermeasures, and warfare training and test platforms right into the 1980s. In the 1980s, an attempt was made to modify and modernize the T-33 as the Boeing Skyfox , but a lack of orders led to the project's cancellation. About 70% of the T-33's airframe

4500-419: The temporary advantage the Germans had gained from years of preliminary development on jet planes." The donated British jet engine and program data had no doubt proved invaluable. In test flights, the XP-80 eventually reached a top speed of 502 mph (808 km/h; 436 kn) at 20,480 ft (6,240 m), making it the first turbojet-powered USAAF aircraft to exceed 500 mph in level flight, following

4575-413: The type was officially retired on 31 July 2017. On 21 June 1996, 1 T-33A-5-LO (trainer TR-602) from the Hellenic Air Force piloted by Squadron Leader Ioannis Kouratzoglou successfully intercepted a Turkish F-16C violating Athens FIR by engaging in low-altitude high-G maneuvers. A limited number of T-33s have been owned privately, with two used by Boeing as chase aircraft. In 2010, one T-33 owned by Boeing

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4650-400: The water bomber mission. The definitive design was publicly revealed at the 1965 Paris Air Show . While the CL-215A served as the standard water bomber configuration, another model, designated as the CL-215C , had been envisioned to dispense with compromises meant to enhance its performance at the water bomber role, allowing it be furnished with larger doors on the sides of the fuselage and

4725-418: Was a Canadian civil and military aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1944 to 1986. In 1986, its assets were acquired by Bombardier Aerospace , the aviation division of Canadian transport conglomerate Bombardier Inc. Canadair's origins lie in the establishment of a factory for Canadian Vickers in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, at Cartierville Airport . It was created as a separate entity by

4800-433: Was causing retention problems among pilots, particularly those of the Marines who were still flying Vought F4U Corsairs . To increase land-based jet-transition training in the late 1940s, 50 F-80Cs were transferred to the U.S. Navy from the U.S. Air Force in 1949 as jet trainers. Designated TO-1 by the Navy (changed to TV-1 in 1950), 25 were based at Naval Air Station North Island , California, with VF-52 , and 16 assigned to

4875-410: Was designed for the larger General Electric I-40 engine (an improved J31, later produced by Allison as the J33). Two aircraft (44-83021 and 44-83022) were built. 44-83021 was nicknamed the Gray Ghost after its "pearl gray" paint scheme, while 83022, left unpainted for comparison of flight characteristics, became known as the Silver Ghost . The XP-80A's first test flight was unimpressive, but most of

4950-427: Was involved in curtain wall design and manufacture for a number of buildings. They also produce the cabins for many air traffic control towers operated by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States. Both tracked and air-cushioned vehicles were designed and underwent testing; however none proceeded into commercial production. In the late 1950s, the United States Army contracted Canadair to develop

5025-419: Was killed. A 13th YP-80A was modified to the sole F-14 photo reconnaissance model and lost in a December crash. Four were sent to Europe for operational testing (demonstration, familiarization, and possible interception roles), two to England and two to the 1st Fighter Group at Lesina Airfield , Italy, but when test pilot Major Frederic Borsodi was killed in a crash caused by an engine fire while demonstrating

5100-425: Was nicknamed Lulu-Belle (also known as "the Green Hornet" because of its paint scheme). Powered by the replacement Halford H1 taken from the prototype de Havilland Vampire jet fighter, it first flew on 8 January 1944, with Lockheed test pilot Milo Burcham at the controls. Following this flight, Johnson said, "It was a magnificent demonstration, our plane was a success – such a complete success that it had overcome

5175-438: Was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while flying an F-80 with the 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing on 22 November 1952. 1714 production aircraft were delivered to the Air Force prior to any conversions or redesignations, with their original block numbers. Lockheed also produced a two-seat trainer variant with a longer fuselage, the T-33 , which remained in production until 1959 and

5250-608: Was produced under license in Japan and Canada. The trainer was used by more than 20 countries. A total of 6,557 T-33s were built and some are still flying. Two TF-80Cs were modified as prototypes for the F-94 Starfire , an all-weather fighter produced in three variants. XP-80. On display at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska . Data from Quest for Performance, Lockheed Aircraft since 1913 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Canadair Canadair Ltd.

5325-409: Was replaced 8 February 1967 at Craig AFB , Alabama. Similar replacement also occurred in the U.S. Navy with the TV-1 (also renamed T-33 in 1962), as more advanced aircraft such as the North American T-2 Buckeye and Douglas TA-4 Skyhawk II came on line. USAF and USN versions of the T-33 soldiered on into the 1970s and 1980s with USAF and USN as utility aircraft and proficiency trainers, with some of

5400-545: Was retained in the Skyfox, but it was powered by two Garrett AiResearch TFE731-3A turbofan engines. In the late 1990s, 18 T-33 Mk-III and T-33 SF-SC from the Bolivian Air Force went to Canada to be modernized at Kelowna Flightcraft. New avionics were installed, and detailed inspection and renewal of the fuselage and wings were performed. Most of the aircraft returned in early 2001 and remained operational until

5475-475: Was so secret that only five of the more than 130 people working on it knew that they were developing a jet aircraft, and the British engineer who delivered the Halford H1 engine was detained by the police because Lockheed officials could not vouch for him. After the engine had been mated to the airframe, foreign object damage during the first run-up destroyed the engine. The British engineer who had delivered

5550-417: Was the first operational jet fighter to have its engine buried in the fuselage, a format previously used in the pioneering German Heinkel He 178 V1 of 1939, and the later British Gloster E.28/39 demonstrator of 1941. Other early jets generally had two engines because of their limited power, these being mounted in external nacelles for easier maintenance. With the advent of more powerful British jet engines,

5625-694: Was used as a chase aircraft during the maiden flight of the Boeing 787 . The maiden flight of the Boeing 737 MAX-7 on 16 March 2018 also featured a T-33 chase plane. The maiden flight of the Boeing 777-9 on January 25, 2020, also featured a T-33 chase plane, taking off from KBFI and meeting the 777-9 at KPAE , it stopped at KMWH and it took off again to chase the 777-9 on its way back to KBFI, flying around Mount Rainier before their landing. On December 4, 2020, Boeing retired their T-33 Chase Planes after 66 years of service. Both T-33s operated by Boeing were replaced by

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