Lockheed T-33 A Shooting Star

Lockheed T-33 A Shooting Star. The workhorse jet trainer of the Cold War era. Not long after the end of hostilities in World War II, the United States found itself once again in the position of retooling its military aviation programs, this time as a result of the dawn of the jet age. The propeller-driven fighters that had helped win World War II became obsolete almost overnight as jet engine technology revolutionized military and eventually commercial aviation.., Lockhee's P-80 Shooting Star, designed in 1943 and the basis of the T-33 jet trainer, became the first operational jet fighter in the United States in 1945., Korean War's high strung Thoroughbred , The production F-80 saw extensive use in the Korean War and became the winner of the first all-jet combat when Lt. Russell Brown destroyed a Russian MiG-15 in November 1950., Recognized as a "hot jet" in its single-seat configuration, the P-80 suffered an alarming number of accidents in the single-seat fighter configuration, many due to the speed and handling improvements over the propeller-driven fighters familiar to most pilots of the era. Lockheed undertook a redesign of the airframe to add a second seat for the T-33 trainer configuration., Stabled Worldwide , The T-33A jet trainer served as the only jet trainer in the United States Air Force from 1948 to 1957 and trained an entire generation of fighter pilots. The T-33A also saw service with the United States Navy and Marine Corps as well as in the countries of Canada, France, Portugal, Bolivia, and Greece. Kawasaki built its own version of the T-33 for Japan., The T-33 remains in military service all over the world today, nearly sixty years after its introduction. Nearly fifty are flying as warbirds in civilian hands. This T-33A, original serial number 52-9446, was delivered in 1953 and saw service with the Missouri Air National Guard and as a civilian craft. It was exhibited for many years at the former Union Electric Employees' Park in Valley Park, Missouri, and is now painted in the scheme of the 438th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, originally based at Kinross/Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan and later at Griffiss Air Force Base in New YOrk.