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T38

Jackie Cochran, the first woman to breach the sound barrier, (with Chuck Yeager flying the Chase Plane)

by Till Daisd August 24, 2023

Jackie Cochran broke the sound barrier on May 18, 1953, and she set a record for women’s absolute speed of 652.337 mph

A jet sped through the desert close to Edwards Air Force Base on August 24, 1961. Fast aircraft were commonplace over Southern California, but female pilots were unique. Jacqueline Cochran was sitting in the T-38 Talon, Northrop’s new two-seat, twin-engine supersonic trainer. The 55-year-old pilot, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, was on a mission to restore her title as the fastest woman alive.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran was a US aviator from 1906 to 1980. In 1932, she took up flying in part to advance her cosmetics company. She had started after growing up as an orphan and living in poverty. In 1938, she broke the previous speed record for female pilots traveling across North America. During World War Two, she taught female transport pilots in the British and then the US Air Force auxiliary.

During World War II, Cochran served as the first commander of the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, and she was instrumental in the advancement of female positions throughout the Army Air Forces. She set the male and female combined jet speed records in 1953.

She broke the sound barrier for the first time on May 18, 1953, and set a women’s absolute speed record of 652.337 mph in the same Canadian F-86 with Maj. Chuck Yeager piloting the chase plane, according to a post posted on Edwards Air Force Base’s Facebook page. But, Jacqueline Auriol, a French test pilot, quickly surpassed her record by 63 miles per hour.

Could the T-38 help the seasoned racer get it back?

The T-38, created to train a new generation of pilots, was brand-new when Cochran persuaded Northrop to lend her one. Yeager had been her wingman that day in August 1961 when she averaged 844.20 miles per hour over a straightaway, breaking Auriol’s record by 129 miles per hour. Yeager had been training her on it for several weeks before to her record attempts. Over the following seven weeks, Cochran broke seven additional records in the Talon, including two for speed over 100-kilometer closed courses and absolute altitude at 56,071 feet. Yeager subsequently said of that accomplishment, “She flew one of the most perfect runs that has ever been flown.”

She continued to break numerous female flying records, many of them at Edwards AFB, where she was given the women’s Harmon Trophy in 1953.

Jacqueline Cochran achieved Mach 2.16 on May 11, 1964, at Edwards AFB in California while piloting a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, 62-12222, over a straight 15 to 25-kilometer track. She established a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record and was the first woman to fly faster than Mach 2.

In her autobiography, Jackie Cochran recalled flying the 15/25-kilometer straight course as follows:

“Picture in your mind a rectangular tunnel, 300 feet high, a quarter of a mile wide, and extending 20 miles long through the air at an altitude of 35,000 feet. I had to fly through that tunnel at top speed without touching a side. There were no walls to see but radar and ground instruments let me know my mistakes immediately. Up there at 35,000 feet, the temperature would be about 45 degrees below zero. Not pleasant but perfect for what I was doing”.

“Inside the plane, you are hot because of the friction of speeding through the air like that. The cockpit was air-conditioned, but when you descend, things happen so fast the plane’s air-cooling system can’t keep up with it. I was always hot and perspiring back on the ground”.

Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography, by Jacqueline Cochran and Maryann Bucknum Brinley, Bantam Books, New York 1987, Page 314.

In May and June 1964, Cochran used this F-104G to achieve three-speed records. According to This Day in Aviation, the US Air Force handed it to the Republic of China Air Force under the Military Assistance Program, where it was given the number 4322. On July 17, 1981, it crashed.

She had more speed, altitude, and distance records at the time of her passing than any other pilot, male or female.

H/T Earl Belz

Photo by: U.S. Air Force

August 24, 2023 0 comment

Military

The importance of a T-38 Talon trainer for ISR mission

by Till Daisd April 11, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Due to the limited size of the U-2 fleet, instrument and general flying training on the T-38 keeps pilots up to date and skilled

Above Beale Air Force Base (AFB), the T-38 Talon may be seen in the sky together with the U-2 Dragon Lady and the RQ-4 Global Hawk. The T-38 is an essential tool that U-2 pilots employ to carry out their mission and help the U.S. Air Force (USAF) as a whole, even though it may not directly provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

“The T-38s are a part of the Companion Trainer Program for the U-2 pilots at Beale,” said Lt. Col. Paul Wurster, 1st Reconnaissance Squadron commander. “The U-2 fleet is small so our pilots only get three or four flights per month on average. The T-38 is used to provide instrument and general flight training which keeps our pilots current and proficient.”

Even though many people assist in T-38 flight operations, a group of mechanics plays a crucial part. These non-military contractors maintain the aircraft so that it is always ready to take off.

“We get all of the aircraft prepared for the daily flying schedule,” said Sam Holmes, 9th Maintenance Group (MXG) T-38 aircraft mechanic. “After each flight, we recover the aircraft, we refuel them, inspect them, and send them back up.”

The T-38 has a shorter turnaround time between flights than the U-2 because of its bigger fleet on Beale and less frequent maintenance needs. This gives the pilots the opportunity to complete more sorties.

“We fly almost every day and fly upwards of 30 pilots in that time,” said Matt Miller, 9th MXG T-38 aircraft mechanic. “We can fly between 12 and 15 sorties no problem.”

The level of knowledge of the mechanics is what makes the aforementioned flying schedule possible. Nearly all T-38 maintenance is carried out internally, much of it preventative maintenance.

“The preventative maintenance is to ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft,” said Miller. “A lot of small problems can be stopped from becoming big problems, but things do break. As the issues arise, we work to get the aircraft back in the air as quickly as possible.”

The thorough inspections carried out by the mechanics guarantee the safety of the pilots by identifying the bigger problems early.

“We do both preflight and post-flight inspections and inspections every 25 and 225 flight hours,” said Holmes. “We have an oil sampling program we do every 20 flight hours.”

It takes a lot of time inside a T-38 to maintain a pilot’s proficiency. Equally significant is the time the mechanics spend maintaining the aircraft.

“The mechanics make it possible to fly multiple flights a day,” said Wurster. “Their work keeps our flight operations safe and efficient.”

Story by Airman Tristan D. Viglianco, 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs; Photo by Airman Tristan D. Viglianco, Staff Sgt. Robert M. Trujillo amd / U.S. Air Force

April 11, 2023 0 comment

History

Honoring the heritage of POW fighter pilots with a USAF T-38 painted in the F-4 Vietnam War scheme

by Till Daisd September 13, 2021

written by Till Daisd

The painters made an approximation of the F-4’s camouflage scheme using a schematic from an outdated technical order

The 45th annual Freedom Flyer Reunion of the 560th Flying Training Squadron took place on March 22–23, and a T-38 Talon with a color scheme familiar to U.S. Air Force (USAF) pilots who flew missions during the Vietnam War will play a significant role.

At Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, it will continue to be a sight to behold.

One of the T-38Cs belonging to the 560th FTS has been repainted to resemble the F-4 Phantom II from the Vietnam War, which many USAF pilots were flying when they were shot down over North Vietnam and taken to prisoner-of-war camps. The F-4 Phantom II’s original colors were gray, green, and tan.

“The T-38 was specifically painted for this year’s reunion,” said Maj. Wil Harris, 45th Freedom Flyer Reunion director. “It will be a central piece in the freedom flights of three ex-POWs on March 22. It will also be on display at the reunion’s wreath-laying ceremony at Washington Circle the next day.”

According to Harris, 560th FTS director of standards and evaluations, the idea to paint one of the T-38s like the F-4 originated from a squadron discussion about the Freedom Flyers and Vietnam, as stated by Robert Goetz, 502nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs, in the article T-38C dons F-4’s colors for the role during Freedom Flyer Reunion.

“We have numerous pictures of Vietnam-era aircraft in our squadron as part of our Freedom Hall, and as we discussed the aircraft of the era, we started talking about how cool the paint scheme looked and mentioned how awesome it would look on a T-38,” he pointed out.

Harris gave the 560th FTS instructor pilot Lt. Col. Dennis Hargis credit for realizing the vision. The procedure was started when Hargis sent the plan to Lt. Col. Jonathan Elza, commander of the 560th FTS.

“Lt. Col. Elza was completely supportive, and the email was sent up, so from inception to execution was literally two days,” Harris said. “The paperwork came back approved within a few weeks, so at every level, folks were supportive of the plan and really helped move this idea along.”

The corrosion control team of the 12th Maintenance Group was tasked with changing the T-38’s colors, and they concluded the job on March 3 after receiving the aircraft on February 23.

According to Don Collier, a member of the 12th MXG corrosion control team, the process involved masking the aircraft, sanding it, painting the landing gear, masking the landing gear, priming and painting the aircraft in the new colors, and stenciling it.

“It took six hours to paint the aircraft,” he said. “A normal paint job on a T-38 takes about two hours.”

According to Collier, the painters attempted to replicate the F-4’s camouflage pattern using a schematic from an outdated technical order.

“The T-38’s a lot smaller, so we had to adjust the schematic to suite the aircraft,” he said. “It was all through trial.”

The project’s corrosion control team also included Mario Tarin, Neil Orlowski, John Esquivel, and Martin Herrera in addition to Collier.

As a continuous member of the T-38 fleet, the aircraft will continue to fly in the F-4’s colors long into the following ten years, he claimed.

“I will say it looks even better than what we imagined,” Harris said. “The 12th Maintenance Group really did an amazing job; the work that they put into the aircraft really makes it a fitting tribute to the men and women of the Vietnam era who sacrificed so much for this nation.”

The reimagined T-38, according to Harris, was the “perfect centerpiece” for the reunion.

USAF T-38 with F-4 Vietnam War-paint scheme honors legacy of POW fighter pilots

“It will let the Freedom Flyers and POWs know that we as a nation are still indebted to them for their sacrifice and humbled by their return with honor in the face of such harsh circumstances.”

Photo by U.S. Air Force

September 13, 2021 0 comment