Aircraft Background

The T-38A Talon came to our museum as a permanent loan at the direction of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH in 1993. The last duty station, though, was at Chanute Technical Center (Air Training Command), at Chanute AFB, Rantoul, IL. It was moved from Chanute AFB to the our museum in 1993.

History

The T-38 was designed in the mid 1950s as the trainer variant of a lightweight fighter project by the Northrop Corporation (today part of Northrop Grumman). Although the United States Air Force had no need for a small fighter at the time, it became interested in the trainer as a replacement for the Lockheed T-33s it was then using in this role. The first of three prototypes (designated YT-38) flew on March 10 1959. The type was quickly adopted and the first production examples were delivered in 1961, officially entering service on March 17 that year. When production ended in 1972, 1,187 T-38s had been built. Since its introduction, it is estimated that some 50,000 military pilots have trained on this aircraft.

The instructor and student sit in tandem on rocket-powered ejection seats in a pressurized, air-conditioned cockpit. Critical components are waist high and can be easily reached by maintenance crews.

The T-38A needs as little as 2,300 feet of runway to take off and can climb from sea level to nearly 30,000 feet in one minute. Its nimble performance has earned it the nickname white rocket – in 1962, T-38s set four climb records

The T-38A needs as little as 2,300 feet of runway to take off and can climb from sea level to nearly 30,000 feet in one minute. Its nimble performance has earned it the nickname white rocket – in 1962, T-38s set four climb records

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) uses T-38A aircraft as trainers for astronauts and as observers and chase planes on programs such as the space shuttle.