Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star

Not long after the end of hostilities in World War II, the United States retooled its military aviation programs as the jet age began and propeller-driven fighters quickly became obsolete. Lockheed's P-80 Shooting Star, designed in 1943 and the basis of the T-33 jet trainer, became the first operational jet fighter in the United States in 1945. The production F-80 saw extensive use in the Korean War and won the first all-jet combat when Lt. Russell Brown destroyed a Russian MiG-15 in November 1950. Because the P-80 was recognized as a hot jet in its single-seat configuration and suffered an alarming number of accidents, many caused by its speed and handling improvements over propeller-driven fighters, Lockheed redesigned the airframe to add a second seat for the T-33 trainer configuration. The T-33A served as the only jet trainer in the United States Air Force from 1948 to 1957 and trained an entire generation of fighter pilots. It also served with the United States Navy and Marine Corps and in Canada, France, Portugal, Bolivia, Greece, and Japan, where Kawasaki built its own version. The T-33 remains in military service around the world nearly sixty years after its introduction, and nearly fifty are flying as warbirds in civilian hands. This T-33A, original serial number 52-9446, was delivered in 1953, served with the Missouri Air National Guard and as a civilian craft, was exhibited for many years at the former Union Electric Employees' Park in Valley Park, Missouri, and is now painted in the scheme of the 438th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, originally based at Kinross/Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan and later at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York.

Missouri · United States