Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

The final T-37 student training sortie was flown at Sheppard AFB on 17 Jun. The official retirement of the Tweet will be 31 Jul.

This is a big part of history for the AF. The T-37 had been in service since 1959, and over 78,000 student pilots flew in it.

Farewell to the Tweet.

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My ears are still ringing from those things!

Hard to believe somethin' that small could make so much freakin' noise.

Wonder if we'll ever see any of those in private ownership? (properly hush-kitted, natch Wink

) Put some quieter motors in there, some up2date avionics, it could be a fun little commuter if ya do it right. Cool

Oh yeah, the noise! It wasn't the "6,000 lb. Dog Whistle" for nothing.

Now that T-37s won't be making anymore cross-countries to random FBOs, watch how many of those same FBOs won't allow a civilian to park his privately owned Tweet at their ramp.

They always love it when the military shows up and buys their gas and de-icing fluid, and pays the "tie down" fee, but if Joe Six Pack were to own a T-37, I'd imagine that they'd have something to say about "noise ordinances", etc.

BTW, the last time I saw an A-37 fly, it was already in the air. How was it noise-wise compared to the Tweet?

slaute

no comparison, tc

dragonfly sounded like a giant vacuum cleaner. something to due with inlet guide vanes and a re-designed intake. ask that engine guy.

it was maybe as loud as a hun, maybe less

gums sends ....

Those A-37s were kick-a$$ cool with tip tanks and all the weapons stations and camo.

Last edited by outlaw162 on Jun 21, 2009 - 09:44 PM; edited 1 time in total

The T-37 may have been noisy, but at least it was slow.

You couldn’t go more than 400 miles on a tank of gas, 450 if you pulled the tail down and packed in a few more pounds. Long distance romance was out.

No g-suit so you got used to “graying out” during a loop, Cuban eight or a split “S”.

No pressurization so you couldn’t go above 25,000. But since initially you had no transponder you couldn’t go above 24,000 anyway (and eventually 18,000). But the only way you could cool the thing down most of the year was with outside air at higher altitudes, so no pressurization was a wash. 2 & 3 flights a day meant multiple salt rings on cotton flight suits.

Fortunately you had no weather radar to scare yourself either; somehow you just made it thru. Finally got a transponder to go along with the VOR only. Now they could see you on a GCA/PAR pickup with the gear up.

If you had a mind, you were able to experience one of the most uncomfortable maneuvers possible in the air, the inverted spin. Fortunately, they were also easy to get out of. Upright spins actually became a diversion from the rest of the training monotony. Manifestation of fear on a student's face took many forms.

Had little “gizmos” on the side of tailpipes called “thrust attenuators”. With the little Continental APU engines, what was there to “attenuate”?

Had a red “passing” light in the nose. Was I supposed to signal? Who the heck was I going to “pass” at those speeds?

Thud guys couldn't wait to get back to ATC in T-37's.

Averaged 50+ instructor hours a month for 4 years in a row in the little guy, wishing some day I could fly a real jet. I get choked up a little thinking about it. Was it satisfying, rewarding and fulfilling?

Not even close.

OL

Tweets had J-69's while the Dragonfly had J-85's ... thats the noise difference.

Bring back memories OL?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4pUvIg_xwA

Salute!

Hey, OL-breath!!! Don't confuse a "real" jet with a "trainer". heh heh.

The empty "Thundersqeak"/ aka Dragonfly weighed same as a fully loaded T-37. Something to do with beefed up spars, hard-mounted tip-tanks ( another 1000 pounds of "internal' gas), etc.

That being said, our empty weight was 6,000 +/-, but our take-off gross was 14,000 friggin' pounds!!! the B-model had a lower gross, but still impressive.

With two wing tanks we could actually fly 1,000 miles and I did it two times from Colorado to Alex. Get to 25K and shut down a motor. Alternate every now and then to keep oil seals lubricated. TAS about 300, and if wind was good no big deal.

Combat radius was about 200 miles carrying 2 x 750's, 2 x 500 and 2 x 250's and two drops. We would continue to about 21,000 feet or so and shut down a motor. Meanwhile, the Huns from Bien Hoa had to use burner to get above 15,000 feet and they only carried 4 x 500 pounders.

The J-85's we had didn't have burners. But they put out more than the T-38 motors. How about 2800 lbs per engine. So just one of ours put out 50% more than both of them in the Tweet. Talk about short takeoffs on an FCF! Heh heh. We could have flown off of carriers except for no tail hook. The thrust attenuators were bigger and they really helped.

A great little fighter. Prolly the best jet in South Vietnam for close air support.

Gums sends...

VarkVet wrote:

Bring back memories OL?

VV:

We didn't have music. I like that. Now where's my barf bag?

Very Happy

OL

outlaw162 wrote:

Thud guys couldn't wait to get back to ATC in T-37's.

Hmm...Let's see...A big, fast, single-hole fighter, and flying for TAC where there was action, good assignments, and generally good welfare?

Or, a small, slow, grocery getter, flying with a nugget in "Allergic To Combat"; the home of the worst assignments in the AF, stupid rules, and a MAJCOM full of people who generally hate life?

Yeah, I'll stick with the Thud.

outlaw162 wrote:

Was it satisfying, rewarding and fulfilling?

Not even close.

That's what I thought. Were you stationed at Reese? Laughing

TC: Del Rio. Reese would have been a step up, at least socially. At least there was a coed college there.

Gums: You couldn't do much of anything in the F-100 without the AB. Heck, it normally wouldn't get airborne without the AB.

Very Happy

OL

Agree Outlaw. Have stopped at Laughlin before. I thought we had actually fallen off of the side of the earth. Much like Altus AFB: "It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here!"

BTW, were you at Del Rio when the U-2s were still there?

U-2’s were gone.

I did watch a Thunderbird pull the wings off his jet during the bomb burst there one day. ("Someday I'm going to fly that airplane. Well actually not that one.")

The neatly severed nose intake section with the red, white & black markings ended up in reasonably good shape. With a little metal work and the addition of a nice wood, glass or marble panel top in the intake entrance, I thought it would have made a nice standup patio bar or table.

OL

That was actually Merrill McPeak who was flying that Hun when it broke apart.