Warbird Information Exchange

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Wish they could some room inside for her.

Hi.
Any relation to the TT-1 Pinto,or was it a totally different project ?
Grazie.

The TT-1 was a Temco project conpeting for the jet trainer contract with the Air Force, eventually won by the Cessna T-37. The Beech N-73 Jet Mentor was another entry into this competition.

Walt

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If God had intended airplane engines to have horizontally-opposed cylinders, Pratt & Whitney would have built them that way.

Nope, this is the Beechcraft Model 73 Jet Mentor that was in the running against the Cessna T-37 trainer in the mid. 50s.

Advantages of T-37 over TT-1 and N-73 were side by side seating for student and instructor, two engines over singles, and as the TWEET showed, it had excellent growth and mod properties growing into the A-37 and living a long life in the USAF as a trainer, navigator trainer, and proficiency/squadron hack. The ARMY actually evaluated three T-37's and a couple of A-4's before the air force clipped the armys fixed wings regarding the ground attack role.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I hate to disagree, but the Pinto was developed as a private venture. It may have been designed for the USAF contract, but it did not compete in a fly-off with the Cessna.
The Navy eventually bought 14 Pintos to study the feasability of a jet primary trainer.
I don't see that happening it it was built for an Air Force requirement.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

As to the fact of it being an advantage having side by side seating in a trainer,the British (Balliol,Provost,Jet Provost,Vampire T 55,Hunter T 7) now (well,it's been years) have Tucanos and Hawks,they also had Gnat T.Mk.1s,Juaguar Ts,Harrier Ts.
In Italy we had Piaggio P.148,side by side,T 6,you know,and all the rest.
It seems to me that,maybe,the side by side offers some advantage in the initial training.
Ciao.

Yeah, TT-1 being the Navy designation. Trainer, Temco, -1st version.

From Wikipedia:

The Temco TT Pinto was a jet-powered, tandem two-place primary trainer aircraft built for the United States Navy by Temco Aircraft of Dallas, Texas. The Temco Model 51 had been initially proposed to the US Air Force in response to an Air Force competition for a jet-powered primary trainer, which was won by the Cessna T-37 Tweet. The concept behind the Model 51 was an attempt to provide primary training in a jet-powered aircraft. The official name for the Model 51 was the Pinto.

The Pinto was a mid-wing, tricycle landing gear trainer with an enclosed cockpit powered by a single Continental Motors J69-T-9 (license-built Turbomeca Marboré) jet engine. The aircraft carried no armament.

The TT-1s were equipped with many of the same features found in operational jets, including ejection seats, liquid oxygen equipment, speed brakes, along with typical flight controls and instrument panels. Although the flight characteristics were considered good, the "wave off" capability was rated marginal due to being slightly underpowered.

After its first flight in 1956, the prototype was sent to the Naval Air Test Center (NATC) Patuxent River to be evaluated alongside the Beech Model 73 Jet Mentor. Fourteen of the aircraft, designated TT-1, were produced between 1955 and 1957.

In 1959, these aircraft served in the Air Training Command at Pensacola, Florida and used in a training program demonstration testing the feasibility of using a jet-powered trainer for primary flight training.

In March 1959, Aviation Cadet E. R. Clark soloed in a TT-1, the first student in Naval Aviation history to solo a jet without previous experience in propeller aircraft.

By the end of 1960, TT-1s were phased out of operations in the naval training command and sold as surplus.

(end)

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida