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 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. 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. Similar replacement also occurred in the U.S. ![]() The final T-33 used in advanced training was replaced 8 February 1967 at Craig AFB, Alabama. The T-37 replaced the T-33 for Academy training in 1975. 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 USAF began phasing 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. This lasted until the aircraft were replaced by the more capable McDonnell RF-101 Voodoo in this role. 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. Although primarily intended for export, the U.S. A reconnaissance version known as the RT-33A with a camera installed in the nose and additional equipment in the rear cockpit was also produced. 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 total of 6,557 T-33s were produced: 5,691 of them by Lockheed, 210 by Kawasaki, and 656 by Canadair. The two TF-80C prototypes were modified as prototypes for an all-weather two-seater fighter variant, which became the F-94 Starfire. A carrier-capable version of the P-80/T-33 family was subsequently developed by Lockheed, eventually leading to the late 1950s to 1970s T2V-1/T-1A SeaStar. The Navy operated some ex-USAF P-80Cs as the TO-1, changed to the TV-1 about a year later. It was designated the TV-2, but was redesignated the T-33B in 1962. The US Navy used the T-33 as a land-based trainer starting in 1949. Production at Lockheed ran from 1948 to 1959. ![]() Originally designated the TF-80C, the T-33 made its first flight on 22 March 1948 with Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier at the controls. The two-place T-33 jet was designed for training pilots already qualified to fly propeller-driven aircraft. As more advanced jets entered service, the F-80 took on another role-training jet pilots. Following on the Bell P-59, the P-80 became the first jet fighter to enter full squadron service in the United States Army Air Forces. ![]() ĭesign work on the Lockheed P-80 began in 1943, with the first flight on 8 January 1944. It was initially designated as a variant of the P-80/F-80, the TP-80C/ TF-80C. 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. The last operator of the T-33, the Bolivian Air Force, retired the type in July 2017, after 44 years of service. Navy initially as TO-2, then TV-2, and after 1962, T-33B. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer.
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