Canadair CT-133 Silver Star

Canadair CT-133 Silver Star. . , The Canadair CT-133 Silver Star (company model number CL-30) was the Canadian license-built version of the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer aircraft, in service from the 1950s to 2005., The Canadair CT-133 was the result of a 1951 contract to build T-33 Shooting Star Trainers for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The powerplant is a Rolls-Royce Nene 10 turbojet instead of the Allison J33 used by Lockheed in the production of the original T-33. A project designation of CL-30 was given by Canadair and the name was changed to Silver Star. The appearance of the CT-133 is very distinctive due to the large fuel tanks usually carried on each wingtip., A total of 656 CT-133 aircraft were built by Canadiar., The CT-133 entered service in the RCAF as its primary training aircraft for fighter/interceptors. The designation of the Silver Star in the Canadian Forces was CT-133., The CT-133 was reliable and had forgiving flight properties. It's servce life in the RCAF (and later the Canadian Forces) was extremly long. One of the more unusual roles it played was as an aerobatic demonstration aircraft, the RCAF's Red Knight. Although the aircraft stopped being used as a trainer in 1976, there were still over 50 aircraft in Canadian Forces inventory in 1995. The youngest of these airframes was then 37 years old and had exceeded it's expected life by a factor of 2.5. During this period, the canadair T-33 was employed in communication, target towing and enemy simulation., The final Canadair Silver Star Mk. 3 was retired from the Aerospace Engineering Test Etablishment at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, where it was used as an ejection seat testbed after 46 years of service. CT-133 number 133648 was delivered to CFD Mountain View on 26 April 2005. Having been built in March 1959 as a CT-133 with original RAF serial number 21648, it had reached a total of 11394.6 flight hours at the time of it's retirement from military use. It has been sold on the civil market, along with fifteen other CT-133s. These aircraft will join the fifty others on the United States Civil Register and continue to fly as a part of the living legacy of the early jet age., CT-133 Specifications , Max Speed: 920km/h (500 kn, 570 mi/h) , Powerplant: Rolls-Royce Nene 10 Turbojet , Service Ceiling: 14,000 m (47,000ft) , Crew: One- Two , Length: 11.48m (37.8ft) , Wingspan: 12.93m (42ft 5in.) , Height: 3.55m (11ft 8in.) , Empty Weight: 3,830kg (8,440 lb) , Max. Takeoff Weight: 7,630kg (16,800 lb) ,