Lockheed T-33

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Lockheed T-33 T-Bird
USAF's Lockheed T-33A
Lockheed T-33A of the USAF
Type: Training aircraft
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

Lockheed Corporation

First flight:

March 22, 1948

Commissioning:

1949

Production time:

1948 to 1959

Number of pieces:

6557

The Lockheed T-33 T-Bird is a single-engine training aircraft made by the US manufacturer Lockheed .

development

The T-33 was developed as a two-seat version of the Lockheed F-80C fighter-bomber . The F-80 first flew on 8 January 1944 (then under the name P-80) and was the first operational combat aircraft with jet engine of the US. The F-80 was powered by an enlarged Rolls-Royce Derwent engine, the Allison J33 . The F-80C, of ​​which 670 were built, was equipped with a J33-A-23 engine and had a larger gun load than the F-80B. With the delivery of the last F-80C in June 1950, production of the F-80 ended.

A 97.8 cm long section was inserted into the fuselage of the F-80C to create space in the cockpit for a second seat, the corresponding controls and instruments. Furthermore, the T-33 was equipped with two centrally mounted additional tanks at the wing ends (the first TF-80C had the tanks under the wing tips). The first flight of the T-33 took place on March 22, 1948. The machine was originally called the TP-80C. In June 1948, the designation for fighter aircraft was changed from “P” (for “pursuit”) to “F” (for “fighter”). The TP-80C became the TF-80C. On May 5, 1949, the TF-80C was renamed the T-33A.

Lockheed produced 5,691 T-33s from 1948 to 1957. Canadair manufactured 656 T-33s as CT-133 "Silver Star" under license, 210 machines were manufactured by Kawasaki , so that a total of 6557 T-33s were built. The T-33 was officially called the “Shooting Star” like the F-80, but its unofficial name “T-Bird” was better known.

Mostly for smaller air forces, T-33s were converted for special tasks. This is how the AT-33A light attack aircraft and the RT-33A reconnaissance aircraft were born.

In the 1980s, a modernized T-33 was offered as the " Boeing Skyfox". 70% of the parts of the T-33 were retained during the modernization. The most important difference was the replacement of the J33 engine with two TFE731-3A turbofan engines from Garrett-Honeywell. However, the project was discontinued due to a lack of customers.

commitment

T-33A in the "National Arms Museum" in Gjirokastra

About 30 states used the T-33, some of these machines still fly today. The United States Air Force used the T-33 as its standard trainer for about 20 years, but the last machine was not retired from the Air National Guard until 1994.

A USAF T-33A (serial number 51-4413) was forced to land in Albania on December 23, 1957. The remains of the aircraft can still be seen today in the "National Arms Museum" in Gjirokastra (as of 2019).

The Federal Air Force received 192 T-33A from 1956 to 1959. They received the tactical characteristics of their respective associations, such as B. "AB + 101" Aviation Training School (FFS) B in Fürstenfeldbruck . From 1968 the remaining machines got the registrations 94 + 01 to 95 + 26. The machines achieved almost 200,000 flight hours in the Luftwaffe until they were decommissioned in 1976, before some of them were passed on to Greece and Turkey . In Canada , the last T-33 was not retired until 2005.

US Navy T2V Seastar

US Navy TV-2 and T2V-1

The United States Navy took over 699 T-33Bs, which were designated TV-2 until 1962 . However, these were not suitable for the tough take-offs and landings on aircraft carriers . Lockheed then built a T-33 at its own risk, which was suitable for use on aircraft carriers. For this, the cockpit was raised for better visibility during landing. The landing gear was reinforced, the tail unit enlarged and the wings received slats and flaps that were blown to reduce landing speed. There was also the more powerful J33-A-24 engine, avionics from the US Navy and a catch hook. The aircraft had its maiden flight on December 16, 1953 and was first referred to as the "T2V-1 Seastar ", from 1962 as the T-1A . A total of 150 Seastar were built.

Civil use at the National Championship Air Races

T-33s have been used for years at the National Championship Air Races in Reno (Nevada) as “pace planes” for the “Unlimited” class. The machines enable the flying start of the field and assist racing aircraft in an emergency. Since 2007, the T-33 has also been used as a competitor in the jet class and has to compete against the Aero L-29 , L-39 and the Fouga Magister . In addition, a number of copies are used by civilian users, especially within the USA.

variants

  • T-33A : Two-seat trainer, originally TF-80C
  • AT-33A : armed T-33A
  • DT-33A : T-33A converted to drone control aircraft
  • JT-33 : T-33A equipped with ATRAN radar (Mace-A cruise missile)
  • NT-33A : test aircraft
  • QT-33A : T-33A converted as target aircraft
  • RT-33A : Reconnaissance aircraft in which the second seat was removed and replaced by reconnaissance equipment
  • T-33B : US Navy T-33A, originally TO-2 / TV-2, 699 built
  • DT-33B : T-33B converted to drone control aircraft, originally referred to as "TV-2KD"
  • Canadair T-33
  • T-33A Silver Star Mk 1:30 Lockheed built T-33A
  • T-33ANX Silver Star Mk 2 : a Canadair prototype with a Rolls-Royce Nene 10 engine
  • CT-133 Silver Star Mk 3 : Production version
  • CT-133 Silver Star Mk 3PT : unarmed version
  • CT-133 Silver Star Mk 3AT : armed version
  • CT-133 Silver Star Mk 3PR : reconnaissance aircraft
  • CE-133 : Training aircraft with EloKa equipment
  • CX-133 : Test aircraft for ejection seats
  • ET-133 : enemy display aircraft
  • TE-133 : enemy representation aircraft for the Navy
  • T-1 Seastar
  • T-1A : heavily modified T-33 for use on aircraft carriers, 150 built, originally referred to as "T2V-1"

US production

Acceptance of the T-33 by the USAF:

version 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 TOTAL
TF-80C 20th 27                     47
T-33A   58 112 163 817 961 745 319 241 253 256 165 4090
TV-2 Navy     26th 41 105 124 150 209 8th 36     699
T-33A MDAP       54 62 180 131 258 65       750
T-33A RCAF       14th                 14th
RT-33A             18th 67         85
TOTAL 20th 85 138 272 984 1265 1044 853 314 289 256 165 5685

Users

The T-33 was used by the following air forces:

Former Air Force T-33A in the Air Force Museum Berlin-Gatow
Greek T-33A, 2005
Royal Canadian Navy's CT-133, 1957
EthiopiaEthiopia Ethiopia
BangladeshBangladesh Bangladesh
BelgiumBelgium Belgium
38 × T-33A, 1 × RT-33A since 1952
BoliviaBolivia Bolivia
Canadair CT-133 (until July 31, 2017)
BrazilBrazil Brazil
ChileChile Chile
DenmarkDenmark Denmark
GermanyGermany Germany
the Air Force of the Armed Forces received 1,956 to 59,192 T-33A
Dominican RepublicDominican Republic Dominican Republic
EcuadorEcuador Ecuador
El SalvadorEl Salvador El Salvador
FranceFrance France
also Canadair CT-133
GreeceGreece Greece
also Canadair CT-133
GuatemalaGuatemala Guatemala
HondurasHonduras Honduras
IndonesiaIndonesia Indonesia
IranIran Iran
ItalyItaly Italy
JapanJapan Japan
Yugoslavia Socialist Federal RepublicYugoslavia Yugoslavia
CanadaCanada Canada
Canadair CT-133
ColombiaColombia Colombia
CubaCuba Cuba
LaosLaos Laos
LibyaLibya Libya
MexicoMexico Mexico
MyanmarMyanmar Myanmar
NicaraguaNicaragua Nicaragua
NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands
NorwayNorway Norway
OmanOman Oman
PakistanPakistan Pakistan
ParaguayParaguay Paraguay
PeruPeru Peru
PhilippinesPhilippines Philippines
PortugalPortugal Portugal
also Canadair CT-133
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
SingaporeSingapore Singapore
Republic of Singapore Air Force
SpainSpain Spain
Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea
TaiwanRepublic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan
Air Force of the Republic of China
ThailandThailand Thailand
TurkeyTurkey Turkey
also Canadair CT-133
United StatesUnited States United States
US Air Force
US Navy T2V-1 / T-1 / T-1A "Sea Star"
UruguayUruguay Uruguay
VenezuelaVenezuela Venezuela

Technical specifications

T-33-view.jpg
Parameter T-33A T-1A
crew Flight instructor and student pilot
length 11.51 m 11.75 m
span 11.85 m 13.05 m
height 3.56 m 4.06 m
Wing area 21.81 m² k. A.
Empty mass 3,667 kg 5,438 kg
Takeoff mass 6,551 kg 7,636 kg
drive Allison J33-A-35 with 24.1 kN thrust Allison J33-A-24 / 24A with 27.7 kN thrust
Top speed 879 km / h 973 km / h
Service ceiling 14,630 m 12,200 m
Largest range 700 km 1,448 km
Armament 2 × 12.7 mm MG possible no

See also

Web links

Commons : Lockheed T-33  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Airventure page about Reno
  2. Statistical Digest of the USAF 1948, p. 16; 1949, p. 164 f .; 1951, p. 158; 1952, p. 158; 1953, p. 185 f .; 1954, pp. 70 f .; 1955, p. 80 f .; 1956, p. 91 f .; 1957, p. 97 f .; 1958, p. 72 f .; 1959, p. 68 f.
  3. User ( Memento from July 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )