Question to Warbird owners..........

[John Beyl]

Jim,

That's exactly what I was thinking--strip/paint it to match the T-33s in my dad's early to mid 1950s Air Defense Command squadron--arctic scheme that had bare polished aluminum base with red tip tanks and half-red wings and all red tail.

Paul - Perfect - that would be Outstanding! - I love those Bright Red USAF Arctic Red marking from the late 40s and 1950s era. A real tribute to your Dad and the Air Defense Command Cold War Veterans of the 1950s in their F-86Ds, F-89s, F-94s and other aircraft.

Jim C.

Didn't a very highly polished T-33 painted up in that scheme recently (Within the last three to four years) have a fatal crash? I remember seeing it at Offut and marveling at how striking it was...not to mention the pains the owner must have endured keeping it so flawless.

Polished airplanes = cool but are way too much work to maintain!!!

John

Yes, that was a friend of mine, Dan Lavigna who was tragically killed in the crash of his T-33 N99192 near Santa Clarita CA shortly after takeoff from Van Nuys in November of 2003. I suspect that's the one you're thinking of...very sad.

That's it Paul, I recognize the name! Thanks for the refresher and sorry to hear you lost a friend. Glad it didn't put you off from realizing your dream of owning a -33.

John

[T33driver]

Hey Paul,

I had an idea, what not have both paint schemes? Your present T-bird looks nice. WHy not check your dad's logbooks and get all the serial numbers of the actual T-33's he flew? One of them might still be out there. YOu could drag it home and polish it up and have it in the hangar next to the Canadian T-bird. How cool would that be?
An acquaintance, Maj.Gen Fred Womack, USAF ret. told me that when he became vice commander of ATC, about 10 years ago, they re-checked him out in the T-37 and T-38. To his surprise one of the aircraft was one he had first flown in 1967!!
One of yor dad's may still be out there!!

But then I'd have to build a bigger hangar...hey wait, maybe you're on to something there! Seriously, that just gave me an idea and that is I need to extract those T-33 serial numbers out of dad's USAF flight records and see where those airplanes ended up. Lockheed build well over 6000 T-Birds, but you never know...one might at least be a static display somewhere. A captain I flew with at my airline flew the polished T-33 that's on display at the Udvar-Hazy museum so it can be a small world in aviation. For that matter, I've met a couple former RCAF pilots at airshows who've flown my airplane--so cool to meet those guys!

[marine air]

I was thinking, From the 6000 plus built, subtract those written off before your dad entered service. those that flew only in the Marine Corps, Navy, and foreign militaries, then you have amuch smaller number. He only flew USAF T-33A's, right?
Then there would be the several he flew in flight training, and the dozen or so in each squadron he flew during his career, so how many potential candidates would that be? Another plus is that the USAF had 120 or so up until 1990 or so. Maybe one of the WIX mathematicians can calculate the odds that there are a few static and maybe even a flyer or two.
When Dennis Buehn restored his first HU-16 Albatross, it supposedly was the exact one he crewed in the 1960's!

[planeoldsteve]

Paul

Is this T-33 still around the airshows?



Steve

[T33driver]

Steve,

That's the ANG T-33 currently on display at the Udvar-Hazy museum.

[Bill Kistler]

This one,





Bill

[bdk]

Wo! That is sweeeeeeet!!!!!

[EDowning]

After operating the Yale and flying the T6 for several years I decided that I wanted to add a "big" warbird to my collection. I thought it over and decided that I needed something easy to maintain, easy to fly and above all else economical.....so I bought an AD5 Skyraider. All in all, I think that sums up the pretty typical, well thought out, warbird decisions that many of us are capable of.

[Beachy]

After operating the Yale and flying the T6 for several years I decided that I wanted to add a "big" warbird to my collection. I thought it over and decided that I needed something easy to maintain, easy to fly and above all else economical.....so I bought an AD5 Skyraider. All in all, I think that sums up the pretty typical, well thought out, warbird decisions that many of us are capable of.

That made me laugh so hard I nearly fell out of my chair!

[T33driver]

After operating the Yale and flying the T6 for several years I decided that I wanted to add a "big" warbird to my collection. I thought it over and decided that I needed something easy to maintain, easy to fly and above all else economical.....so I bought an AD5 Skyraider. All in all, I think that sums up the pretty typical, well thought out, warbird decisions that many of us are capable of.

Eric,

Good call! Using that sound rationale, I should accelerate the F-86 procurement program even more and avoid the pitfalls of letting emotion and infatuation cloud my judgement in the warbird purchase process. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom!

[Beachy]

Eric,

Good call! Using that sound rationale, I should accelerate the F-86 procurement program even more and avoid the pitfalls of letting emotion and infatuation cloud my judgement in the warbird purchase process. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom!

So when ya picking it up, Paul? Tomorrow?

[C170BDan]

After operating the Yale and flying the T6 for several years I decided that I wanted to add a "big" warbird to my collection. I thought it over and decided that I needed something easy to maintain, easy to fly and above all else economical.....so I bought an AD5 Skyraider. All in all, I think that sums up the pretty typical, well thought out, warbird decisions that many of us are capable of.

OH, man.... that is funny... there are SO MANY none aviation words in that statement! Like... easy... economical...

When people ask me how I can "afford" an airplane... I say that I cant! How much does it cost an hour to run? I dont want to know!

Thanks for the insights into Warbird ownership.

[Django]

Wow, that is shiny! Were they EVER really THAT shiny??

[T33driver]

Eric,

Good call! Using that sound rationale, I should accelerate the F-86 procurement program even more and avoid the pitfalls of letting emotion and infatuation cloud my judgement in the warbird purchase process. Thanks for that nugget of wisdom!

So when ya picking it up, Paul? Tomorrow?

I wish...

[EDowning]

Paul

Quick question...Can a T Bird really be operated safely on 4000ft? I always thought that the first generation jets took really long runways. I have never even considered one because of the runway length at my field (1H0 4300ft.)

Thanks