- I never cared for the *F-80 Shooting Star* back in the day. But in 2000, when I saw its 2 seat trainer derivative the *T-33 private jet* take off from our small local airport runway & blast at low level across the road near by, banking toward our car, as it shot out of sight over a tree line. It was a startaling sight I'll never forget. An unexpected thrill of a life time! - Being painted a *bright red* was the clincher. And I've been to a dozens Oshkosh, Wisconsin Air Shows. Don't underestimate this plane.
An old man in Habana gave me as a kid a 1/48 T-33A with the old Cuban Air Force markings from before Castro, he told me he built it as a kid in the 50's, I still keep it as my treasure
My father was a flight instructor in T-33s from the mid 50s to early 60s. I fondly remember the sound of all those T-33s warming up early each morning from our base housing. My mother wasn't so thrilled.
@@ritchiesokol1061 At my base we occasionally had groups of T-37 Tweets come through. Sometimes I was on the flightline, when they'd come taxiing by. Even with my Mickey Mouse Ears on, they were LOUD! I lost a bit of my high frequency hearing due to them. Still bothers me fortyodd years later.
My grandfather flew F80s in combat in Korea and loved them. We have gun cam footage of him doing gun runs on a fuel depot and getting a kill on a supply truck that was driving away. He also went on to fly the F100 F86 and T33s later in his flying career and flew T6 and P51s in training. The F80 he flew in Korea had my grandmothers name painted on the side of it.
I wouldn't call the T-33A T-bird "futuristic looking". I was an avionics tech at Tyndall AFB, Fl. in late 1970s. We worked the T-33A, F-101B/F and F-106A/B. Eventually the maintenance squadron split up, a group dedicated to each plane type. I went to Hanger 3 to work solely on the T-33A. Like being a mechanic trained on Corvettes being sent to the VW Bug. But the T-bird was a good reliable aircraft. Besides providing flight training, they also carried radar pods to make them look like bombers, to give the F-106 pilots intercept practice. They also carried ECM pods and chaff dispensers. Tyndall AFB was the home of the ADWC, or Air Defense Weapon Center at the time. They traded their T-33s in for T-38s in the late 1980s.
I was in the 33rd TFW at Eglin in the late 70s. I worked munitions line delivery so I was on the flight line all the time. At the time we were transitioning from the F4 to the F15. One day I saw this odd plane on the flight-line. It was so low to the ground and had the cans on the wingtips. I have never identified it but it looked like this plane.
Well what he was talking about was when it was new. You know about the time you were born. By the 70s it was old. Compared to the Texan or the Mustang or the Coursair of the day. The p80 and 33 would have been the stuff of legend and comic books for decades.
@@tireballastserviceofflorid7771 Yep, born in 1957, I grew up seeing those T-33s flying overhead, as my city is only 100 miles from Tyndall AFB. Interesting that years later, I join the Airforce and wind up working on them. Small world. 😄
I grew up in Valdosta, Ga., the Home of Moody Air Force base, in the '60' and '70's. On the same block as the Pines Memorial Hospital where I was born, there was a T-33 on static display. It has been removed now, but I still remember watching T-33's do touch and go's at Moody, and at South Ga. Airport across the highway from where we lived. I remember the Tweets, and later the Super Tweets doing it too, all through the '70's. We still live in the area, and enjoy the A-10's now!
Canada used a variant of the T-33A (Canadair CT-133 Silver Star) as our primary jet trainers well into the 90s. I remember seeing them fly around here as a youngster. They made a very distinct noise, as they used the Nene engine (same design as the Mig 15's!), and I always turned my head to see them as they flew around here on training missions. A favorite aircraft of mine for sure! Loved those wingtip fuel tanks and brushed aluminum skins!
Mike TeeVeeDub cool story. Here's another: around 4.5 years ago I was rebuilding the roof of our house in London ON. (Early October). Heard the sound of a jet engine. Knew immediately it was NOT an airliner, more likely a fighter/interceptor. Looked skyward. What did my weary old eyes behold? Nothing other than an F104 sauntering by at around 3000 feet at a leisurely 300-odd knots. My jaw dropped. I was LITERALLY in a state of awe. F104 has a profile unlike any other jet. I had seen pictures, but never an actual specimen. You could hear it's pure muscle. Like a GSXR accelerating onto the highway. I was speechless. Watched as it crossed the sky then gently banked east. I'll never forget it. Private owner? Testing a restored plane? I'll never know. Peace.
@@californiadreaming9216 - Starfighters are awesome! Remember seeing one do an airshow exhibition flight back in the early 80s when we were still flying them. NOTHING makes a sound like a Starfighter on full-afterburner. I imagine the one you saw has to be a private owner/business. Hate to imagine his gas and maintenance bills! :)
@@californiadreaming9216 The Jet Museum operates out of the London Airport. They have CT-133 and I heard they were restoring a CF-104 as well. Sounds like they did.
@@TurboMountTVAlways wonder about that. Why the heck would you give your latest tech to the Rooshins? Only explanation to me is that Clement Attlee was a ‘Labourite’, and was trying to curry favour (read ‘kiss ass’) from Uncle Joe (Stalin,not Biden). Churchill wouldn’t have made that mistake.
My grandfather flew these out of Cold Lake Alberta back in the 50s or maybe 60s. Canada still flew these up until like a decade ago or so. I always thought they looked cool.
At my Airforce base, we sometimes had Canadian T-33s fly in as Transients, comparing them to our T-birds. The Canadian birds were shinier, and their British built jet engines (very similar to ours) were a bit more powerful. Gave them a little more zip! 😄
@@lancerevell5979 he always compared it to a jaguar he had at the time. He said it wasn't actually that fast compared to new high tech (at the time) fighters but it was small and handled good enough that it felt faster than it was.
I am old enough to remember the T-33 from the mid fifties. I was a young boy then but this plane caught my imagination when I was in high school. I am still impressed with the style.
The B-26 in the Bay of Pigs were B/A-26 invaders not B-26 Marauders. Honestly, you could do a great video on the B/A-26 invader. They have a fascinating history through WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
My first model plane (and model period) was a T-33. I was about 7 and it was a birthday gift. Many models have followed. It is still the one I remember the most but sadly no longer have. Building it taught me many things that helped me with future models I am sure. I miss it dearly. I also respect greatly its contribution to aviation's history. My admiration extends, of course, to those who created and served in it. From the comments below me I am impressed by those who have even greater reason to respect this aircraft and its creators. Thank you for this well researched and informative effort (as always).
As a kid, I grew up on Canadian Air Forces bases across Canada. I loved the T33s and I will never forgot that wonderful sound they made as they flew over. Great memories.
I flew the T-2C "Rockwell Safety Jet" Buckeye in intermediate jets flight school and the wonderful Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk in Advanced. I really miss the Skyhawk. Though I did indeed _love_ my time in the A-6E Intruder, the "Scooter" was still the most fun aircraft I have ever flown.
Also, a B-26 Marauder shown instead of the A-26 Invader, who were relabeled B-26 then, before being re-re-labeled A-26 for Vietnam. Understandable mistake.
I have about 60 hours in the AT-33, which was either an F-80 with two seats or a T-33 with weapons systems - take your pick. This was in 1970 at Cannon AFB NM in Ground Attack School for future Forward Air Controllers. The story was that they had been created to upgrade piston pilots in-country during the Korean War. One thing I remember was that no two of the 24 planes there had the same cockpit layout - it took several minutes before each flight to find things!
I believe that the first jet fighter to be delivered to squadrons was the Gloster Meteor, not the ME 262, which was issued a few days later. However the Meteor didnt't see combat, because it was such an experimental aircraft, and the Allies didn't need it to try and change the course of the war.
The Gloster Meteor entered service very shortly after the ME262 in 1944. It was used mainly for shooting down German V1 cruise missiles and was used in Europe in a limited role. The P80 was used in a very limited way in Italy as a reconnaissance aircraft. I think I am right in saying the P80 used the same Rolls Royce jet engine as the meteor.
@@norfilmshetland the meteor was in service months before the 262, first production aircraft flying with a squadron on 12th Jan 1944 compared to the 262 on the 25th may 1944. The meteor was before it
@@okobongdinko4606 it was the 12th July 1944, not January... but even then it wasn't "operational" by today's standards. It never engaged anything but V1s over British territory.
@@stscc01 never operational. except it shot down rockets rather successfully which I would consider operational as it was flying and successfully shooting down its intended targets. I think most would consider it operational by today's standards as it achieved its purpose and was in full use. By what standards was it not operational a squadron was outfitted with them and using them successfully for its intended purpose a purpose which no other allied plane could really do as the spitfire was too slow. Also what's your source for the date it was introduced? I just want to know for comparison with mine. Thank you
@Okobong Dinko well, the RAF didn't dare to send the Meteor to the continent because it also had it's issues... it was never meant to only shoot down V1s. The data is taken from Kenneth Munson's book WWII Aircraft, and it is also the date that the Wikipedia article on the Meteor mention. But the date isn't important at all. The Me-262 saw fill combat against P-51s, Spits, Tempests, P-47s and all the allied bombers. And it shot down more than 500 allied aircraft of all types. The Meteor didn't kill a single aircraft flown by a Luftwaffe pilot. Shooting down a drone that is flying level in a straight line doesn't count in my opinion, even if it is going quite fast...
We had a small collection of t-33's still active as target tows in the Philippines as late as 88-89. I was active duty there and marveled even then how a jet that age was still in service. My first exposure to an airplane was a decrepit old p-80 that had been left as a monument in a park in my hometown and just abandoned there. It was pretty much just a destroyed husk by the time I saw it for the first time.
When I did base security in Germany with the Canadian Army, we had to cover the CAF area as well. There were three T33”s ( a 4th one had been lost to accident just before I got to Germany), unlike the F18s you could walk up to & climb into them. I was told that they were used to orientate pilots new to Germany. The 50cal.s had been permanently removed & given to the Infantry unit.
I worked on our T-33's in Baden in the early 1980's when we still had Starfighters. The unit was Group Transient & Training Flight or GTTF. Pilot orientation was only one of many missions carried out by the aircraft. One of the primary missions was Instrument Flying proficiency. Being a 2 seater with a blind flying hood in the back seat, pilots could keep instrument flying skills up to par. We only had a few dual seat CF-104's in Germany & they were much more expensive to operate & maintain vs the venerable whisper jet. Few of our T-33's had the 50 cal guns installed & that was very early in their operational life in Canada. The gun ports were faired over & lead weights added in the nose to maintain C of G.
@@MikeSiemens88 my family was in Baden in the 80s, my Dad speaks fondly of being an air force brat and the wonders of the 104s just before they were retired.
If you have a few thousand $$$$'s burning a hole in your pocket you can not only see one fly today but also get a ride in the back seat. Check out Waterloo Warbirds & their Mako Shark T-bird.
There's one of these in a public park in my hometown it's been there since before I was born. You can see through the jats exhaust outlets all the way to the gage cluster. It's completely stripped out..
I was going to comment on this. I thought however that I would just have a check check of the comment section to see if anyone (really like this channel and its affiliates, but there are often inaccuracies) mentioned this...and you sir had. Yes by at least a couple of months it entered service and I know of its history with 'Doodlebugs' but not so much as a fighter. I shall need to do some research again. The Me-262 was a beast of its time it must said with not only incredible speed, but armanent too! Too late & too few to make any serious contribution.
@@iaindouglasmcwilliam8684 The 262 was a total lemon in the real world, they generally self destructed after only 12-16 hours of use and by 1945 were no faster than the Meteor nor anywhere near as durable. The 262 certainly looked the part but that was all it brought to the party.
@george barnes Thanks George. It may have been a lemon, but one that threw a spanner in the works! I hear what you are saying, and again it wasn't perfected, it was late and rushed. You cannot tell me though if one was on your six your heart wouldn't have sank? Or even a bomber stream (which can be akin to suicide going in to attack) with its punch and turn of pace. Too late and too raw a product. I personally think whatwith all you have said that if you were a pilot in those times and you clocked the bandits and realised it was them you'd have a real adrenaline boost. I do honestly thank you for your feedback...its appreciated George.
@@iaindouglasmcwilliam8684 it’s kind of a technicality tbh. The ME262 flew first in trials and prototypes before the meteor did. But the meteor entered operational service before the 262. The meteor also didn’t see much combat because the British were afraid of losing one over enemy territory and didn’t want the enemy to recover it. The 262 had far more combat sorties which is expected since Germany was fighting for it’s life at the point it entered service
I used to see these flying around my neighbourhood into the the 80's, in Canada. I live beside an airforce base. There are two of them on pedestals in the area, one on a major street that's been a landmark for 55 years.
For the most part, I have enjoyed the content of this channel (Dark Skies) BUT could someone please work on making sure that a larger percentage of military footage actually goes along with the story being narrated?? This is the third one I have watched (and learned some things) and the footage is from a different era.
There were US to South America T-33C programs where the T-33s in the late 1970 period were re-armed and sent south. I think the program was called Peace Manta and the best technical package was by then company called MidCoast.
The P-80 did not successfully shoot down that MiG-15 in the first jet-to-jet air battle. The MiG was able to fly home and the first kill went to a Navy F9F Panther the following day.
at 3:38 and 4:48 you are showing L-39 Albatros made in Czechoslovakia (at the time) 25 years after P-80 - why? at 6:38 and 6:59 you are showing Lockheed P-3 Orion - why?
You have to get used to this with Dark Skies' docs. Makes and models seldom match the narrative. And even then the narrative is often garbage. But I keep watching them for some reason.
Long time ago... There was a compagny in Montréal, Qc name Canadair ! the build and assembles 576 CT-133 also name T-Bird and was use by the RCAF for more then 50 years !
I got the privilege of sitting in one of these in either 96 or 97. I don't quite remember I did a lot of different summer courses with the Canadian Air Cadets in Greenwood Nova Scotia. All the staff just called them T-Birds. It was so stupid they bussed us out on the runway with our dress uniforms on, made us take anything loose plus our brass and put it in our wedges then leave that on the bus then I climbed into the plane with my dress boots on no. I think we paraded like an hour later and got marked down because of the state of our uniforms. I find it so funny looking back on all that stupid stuff!
The P-80/T-33 is also one of the more detailed and fun to fly planes in Flightgear. It's forgiving enough to get away with some seemingly stupid stuff. If anyone is into aircraft sim stuff.
Guatemala also had T33 which fought in the war here. Also FAG squadrons supported other Central American countries until it was retired whe A37 B’s arrived
@@user-xq6xu3fo8c they were fitted with machine guns and were assigned to ground based operations against indian convoys of trucks, troops and similar targets
Am I the only one who noticed several shots of the L-39 Albatros mixed in with all the footage of the T-33? Granted, it looks vaguely like the P-/F-90/T-33, but the second seat is positioned somewhat higher than the front seat, giving it a somewhat humpbacked profile compared to the Shooting Star.😉
When I was a kid I use to watch these planes fly out of MTN .Home AFB ID . over Baker Oregon. As I was a kid I was impressed !! I loved the wing tanks !!
Since we're talking about fathers... This was one of the aircraft types my Father flew, as the Navy TV-2, while training to be a Marine aviator. It may not be flashy but I've always thought it was a really cool looking airplane and have built the model numerous times. I even found a couple initial release HAWK TV-2 model kits where the aircraft pictured on the box had the same airframe number as one in Dad's log book.
@@fredtedstedman ...and I miss him so! Since he passed in 2009 I've accumulated many examples of every aircraft he ever flew 14 different military and 13 commercial.
Boeing used the Shooting Stars as photo chase planes. I used to be a lead in the Boeing Photo Lab for over 20 years. I often processed the photo shoot film. C-22 color neg and E-6 Ektachrome. We also processed and printed accident investigation photos.
You can see clearly the influence that the U.S. seizing and reverse engineering an ME-262, had on the P-80. Beautiful jet. Not just for it's own day but even now. And not many aircraft can say the same.
As usual for this channel, the Korean War part of this piece is filled with important inaccuracies. It's amazing how Dark Skies covers such interesting topics so poorly.
in late 70s the Indonesian air force manage to arm the T-33 with Il-28's gunsight and basically bringing it into a new designation of TF-33 and use it in the Operation Seroja in East Timor
Certainly a lot more to the T-33 story than is covered here. Many Air Forces operated the type much longer than the US. The Boeing chase planes were license built Canadair CT-133's with the Rolls Royce Nene 10 power plant. Many of the Canadian T-birds went to the Bolivian Air Force & were armed as fighters vs being used as trainers. I noticed you mention 6 x 50 cal machine guns but that's incorrect. there was only room for 2 of them in the nose. The F-86 Sabres had 6, 3 on each side. There are a good number of civilian registered Canadair built T-birds still flying today.
I've seen the 'captured'* Shooting Star on display at the Fortress Museum in Gjirokaster, Albania. It is not the subject of much in the way of preservation and will, I suspect, eventually rot away. Interesting though. *There are conflicting stories regarding how the 'spy 'plane' airframe was obtained.
Most don’t know that several P-80’s flew operational sorties in Italy prior to the end of the war in Europe. It would have been epic if there had been an ME262 vs P-80 encounter.
There were four, I believe, P-80s in Italy, and there have been rumors for years that one of their missions was to shoot down the Arado AR-234 bombers used as fast, high altitude (And all but untouchable )recon aircraft, and I have also heard the rumor that one was, in fact, intercepted and shot down, and that the kill has never been declassified. Doubt that the 'phantom kill' is actually true, but if it is, it would be the first jet vs jet kill.
Some good story's and experience some of you have of the T33. I suppose you have to give credit were it's due, 150 day commission to make a prototype that became a novel aircraft. Unfortunately the bay of pigs was a disaster but we'll remembered.
I don’t know where you took your information from but I would try again, the XP-80 and the first production versions the P-80 shooting star only managed just over 500mph, it never saw combat in WWII and was only used in Italy for a short period as a propaganda tool, by the time of the Korean War it had been vastly improved and if it wasn’t for the Mig-15 might have been a decent aircraft in the fighter role, but it wasn’t, FULLSTOP. One of the reasons the Lockheed company was able to get a prototype aircraft built and into the air within the 150 days was because WE, Great Britain 🇬🇧 GAVE the USA 🇺🇸 the design and a physical example of the Whittle designed jet engine, without which the Shooting Star would not have been built within the timescale and wouldn’t have been able to do a propaganda/PR tour in Italy 🇮🇹, the P-80 was TECHNICALLY operational but definitely did not see combat. The combat that the Shooting Stars saw in the early part of the Korean War was against piston engined aircraft, that’s why it had the kill percentage it did, not because it was a marvel of American engineering, it was nothing like the super aircraft you are making it out to be, yes it served with distinction but not as a fighter aircraft. Please enlighten me, how do chase aircraft “ensure the safety” of other aircraft during flight testing?, answer……..they can’t, they can monitor the test aircraft for things like leaks or abnormal flight characteristics, they can advise pilots when things like flaps and undercarriage are being tested that they are “down and appear locked” or flaps appear “fully extended” thus AIDING test pilots, but definitely NOT “ensuring safety”, that is down to the designers and engineers. Sorry to say that this video gets the thumbs down, inaccurate and misleading information and definitely biased.👎
Tiward the end, you referred to the B-26 as being used in Cuba, giving the false impression it was the B-26 Marauder. The reality is that the aircraft used was the A-26 Invader.
The A-26 Invader was redesignated as the B-26 by USAF in 1948. Edit: Marauders are shown for illustration instead of Invaders around 9:40 in the video.
- I never cared for the *F-80 Shooting Star* back in the day. But in 2000, when I saw its 2 seat trainer derivative the *T-33 private jet* take off from our small local airport runway & blast at low level across the road near by, banking toward our car, as it shot out of sight over a tree line. It was a startaling sight I'll never forget. An unexpected thrill of a life time!
- Being painted a *bright red* was the clincher. And I've been to a dozens Oshkosh, Wisconsin Air Shows. Don't underestimate this plane.
An old man in Habana gave me as a kid a 1/48 T-33A with the old Cuban Air Force markings from before Castro, he told me he built it as a kid in the 50's, I still keep it as my treasure
Thats rlly cool actually.
@@Baneful_Ben it was done obviously, he made it when he was young
yo tuve uno de jugete
That’s beautiful.
My father was a flight instructor in T-33s from the mid 50s to early 60s. I fondly remember the sound of all those T-33s warming up early each morning from our base housing. My mother wasn't so thrilled.
@@ritchiesokol1061 At my base we occasionally had groups of T-37 Tweets come through. Sometimes I was on the flightline, when they'd come taxiing by. Even with my Mickey Mouse Ears on, they were LOUD! I lost a bit of my high frequency hearing due to them. Still bothers me fortyodd years later.
My grandfather flew F80s in combat in Korea and loved them. We have gun cam footage of him doing gun runs on a fuel depot and getting a kill on a supply truck that was driving away. He also went on to fly the F100 F86 and T33s later in his flying career and flew T6 and P51s in training. The F80 he flew in Korea had my grandmothers name painted on the side of it.
You're a Good Man to keep his and his Generation's Memory Alive ! 🤝😔 Thank You.
How interesting!
Wholesome af! Love and respect to the guys who fought the damn communists.
😊
Please upload that footage, it would be great to see
I wouldn't call the T-33A T-bird "futuristic looking". I was an avionics tech at Tyndall AFB, Fl. in late 1970s. We worked the T-33A, F-101B/F and F-106A/B. Eventually the maintenance squadron split up, a group dedicated to each plane type. I went to Hanger 3 to work solely on the T-33A. Like being a mechanic trained on Corvettes being sent to the VW Bug. But the T-bird was a good reliable aircraft. Besides providing flight training, they also carried radar pods to make them look like bombers, to give the F-106 pilots intercept practice. They also carried ECM pods and chaff dispensers. Tyndall AFB was the home of the ADWC, or Air Defense Weapon Center at the time. They traded their T-33s in for T-38s in the late 1980s.
the original P-80 would be considered futuristic
I was in the 33rd TFW at Eglin in the late 70s. I worked munitions line delivery so I was on the flight line all the time. At the time we were transitioning from the F4 to the F15. One day I saw this odd plane on the flight-line. It was so low to the ground and had the cans on the wingtips. I have never identified it but it looked like this plane.
A 30-year-old design wasn't futuristic...30 years in the future. Shocking!
Well what he was talking about was when it was new. You know about the time you were born. By the 70s it was old. Compared to the Texan or the Mustang or the Coursair of the day. The p80 and 33 would have been the stuff of legend and comic books for decades.
@@tireballastserviceofflorid7771 Yep, born in 1957, I grew up seeing those T-33s flying overhead, as my city is only 100 miles from Tyndall AFB. Interesting that years later, I join the Airforce and wind up working on them. Small world. 😄
I grew up in Valdosta, Ga., the Home of Moody Air Force base, in the '60' and '70's.
On the same block as the Pines Memorial Hospital where I was born, there was a T-33 on static display.
It has been removed now, but I still remember watching T-33's do touch and go's at Moody, and at South Ga. Airport across the highway from where we lived.
I remember the Tweets, and later the Super Tweets doing it too, all through the '70's.
We still live in the area, and enjoy the A-10's now!
Then the CIA took their comedy show to Vietnam.
After they Wacked JFK.
Either you're a troll or stupid?
@@theobolt250 Though I'm not certain why I received a reply from a video I never watched, I assure you, I'm neither.
Johnson and mcnamara are the comedy show.
@@briancooper2112 Don't get me started on Mcnamara
Canada used a variant of the T-33A (Canadair CT-133 Silver Star) as our primary jet trainers well into the 90s. I remember seeing them fly around here as a youngster. They made a very distinct noise, as they used the Nene engine (same design as the Mig 15's!), and I always turned my head to see them as they flew around here on training missions. A favorite aircraft of mine for sure! Loved those wingtip fuel tanks and brushed aluminum skins!
Mike TeeVeeDub cool story. Here's another: around 4.5 years ago I was rebuilding the roof of our house in London ON. (Early October). Heard the sound of a jet engine. Knew immediately it was NOT an airliner, more likely a fighter/interceptor. Looked skyward.
What did my weary old eyes behold?
Nothing other than an F104 sauntering by at around 3000 feet at a leisurely 300-odd knots. My jaw dropped. I was LITERALLY in a state of awe. F104 has a profile unlike any other jet. I had seen pictures, but never an actual specimen.
You could hear it's pure muscle. Like a GSXR accelerating onto the highway. I was speechless. Watched as it crossed the sky then gently banked east. I'll never forget it.
Private owner?
Testing a restored plane?
I'll never know.
Peace.
@@californiadreaming9216 - Starfighters are awesome! Remember seeing one do an airshow exhibition flight back in the early 80s when we were still flying them. NOTHING makes a sound like a Starfighter on full-afterburner. I imagine the one you saw has to be a private owner/business. Hate to imagine his gas and maintenance bills! :)
@@californiadreaming9216 The Jet Museum operates out of the London Airport. They have CT-133 and I heard they were restoring a CF-104 as well. Sounds like they did.
And the Mig 15s got that engine from the brits.
Thanks Limeys.
@@TurboMountTVAlways wonder about that. Why the heck would you give your latest tech to the Rooshins? Only explanation to me is that Clement Attlee was a ‘Labourite’, and was trying to curry favour (read ‘kiss ass’) from Uncle Joe (Stalin,not Biden).
Churchill wouldn’t have made that mistake.
My grandfather flew these out of Cold Lake Alberta back in the 50s or maybe 60s. Canada still flew these up until like a decade ago or so. I always thought they looked cool.
The reason i clicked was i remember living by yungs town Ohio as i boy i seen these jets with the things on the wing tips all the time flying
At my Airforce base, we sometimes had Canadian T-33s fly in as Transients, comparing them to our T-birds. The Canadian birds were shinier, and their British built jet engines (very similar to ours) were a bit more powerful. Gave them a little more zip! 😄
@@lancerevell5979 he always compared it to a jaguar he had at the time. He said it wasn't actually that fast compared to new high tech (at the time) fighters but it was small and handled good enough that it felt faster than it was.
They did NOT have these in service 10yrs ago.
I am old enough to remember the T-33 from the mid fifties. I was a young boy then but this plane caught my imagination when I was in high school. I am still impressed with the style.
The B-26 in the Bay of Pigs were B/A-26 invaders not B-26 Marauders. Honestly, you could do a great video on the B/A-26 invader. They have a fascinating history through WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
My first model plane (and model period) was a T-33. I was about 7 and it was a birthday gift. Many models have followed. It is still the one I remember the most but sadly no longer have. Building it taught me many things that helped me with future models I am sure. I miss it dearly. I also respect greatly its contribution to aviation's history. My admiration extends, of course, to those who created and served in it. From the comments below me I am impressed by those who have even greater reason to respect this aircraft and its creators. Thank you for this well researched and informative effort (as always).
As a kid, I grew up on Canadian Air Forces bases across Canada. I loved the T33s and I will never forgot that wonderful sound they made as they flew over. Great memories.
I flew the T-2C "Rockwell Safety Jet" Buckeye in intermediate jets flight school and the wonderful Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk in Advanced. I really miss the Skyhawk. Though I did indeed _love_ my time in the A-6E Intruder, the "Scooter" was still the most fun aircraft I have ever flown.
I was a T-33 A Crew Chief in the 1980's and had the good fortune to fly in these aircraft on a regular basis in a support role..Lot's of fun! LOTS!
6:58; "They also captured thousands of photos and videos of flying Boeing aircraft."
*shows footage of Lockheed P-3 Orion*
Also, a B-26 Marauder shown instead of the A-26 Invader, who were relabeled B-26 then, before being re-re-labeled A-26 for Vietnam. Understandable mistake.
Not only that, it's the Australian variant on both occasions
Dark Skies is the George Santos of aviation history ie mostly bullshit
I have about 60 hours in the AT-33, which was either an F-80 with two seats or a T-33 with weapons systems - take your pick. This was in 1970 at Cannon AFB NM in Ground Attack School for future Forward Air Controllers. The story was that they had been created to upgrade piston pilots in-country during the Korean War. One thing I remember was that no two of the 24 planes there had the same cockpit layout - it took several minutes before each flight to find things!
A beautiful, simple-looking design. One of the first Airfix plastic kits I built as a teenager. Memories.
I believe that the first jet fighter to be delivered to squadrons was the Gloster Meteor, not the ME 262, which was issued a few days later. However the Meteor didnt't see combat, because it was such an experimental aircraft, and the Allies didn't need it to try and change the course of the war.
The Gloster Meteor entered service very shortly after the ME262 in 1944. It was used mainly for shooting down German V1 cruise missiles and was used in Europe in a limited role. The P80 was used in a very limited way in Italy as a reconnaissance aircraft. I think I am right in saying the P80 used the same Rolls Royce jet engine as the meteor.
@@norfilmshetland the meteor was in service months before the 262, first production aircraft flying with a squadron on 12th Jan 1944 compared to the 262 on the 25th may 1944. The meteor was before it
@@okobongdinko4606 it was the 12th July 1944, not January... but even then it wasn't "operational" by today's standards. It never engaged anything but V1s over British territory.
@@stscc01 never operational. except it shot down rockets rather successfully which I would consider operational as it was flying and successfully shooting down its intended targets. I think most would consider it operational by today's standards as it achieved its purpose and was in full use. By what standards was it not operational a squadron was outfitted with them and using them successfully for its intended purpose a purpose which no other allied plane could really do as the spitfire was too slow. Also what's your source for the date it was introduced? I just want to know for comparison with mine. Thank you
@Okobong Dinko well, the RAF didn't dare to send the Meteor to the continent because it also had it's issues... it was never meant to only shoot down V1s. The data is taken from Kenneth Munson's book WWII Aircraft, and it is also the date that the Wikipedia article on the Meteor mention. But the date isn't important at all. The Me-262 saw fill combat against P-51s, Spits, Tempests, P-47s and all the allied bombers. And it shot down more than 500 allied aircraft of all types. The Meteor didn't kill a single aircraft flown by a Luftwaffe pilot. Shooting down a drone that is flying level in a straight line doesn't count in my opinion, even if it is going quite fast...
We had a small collection of t-33's still active as target tows in the Philippines as late as 88-89. I was active duty there and marveled even then how a jet that age was still in service. My first exposure to an airplane was a decrepit old p-80 that had been left as a monument in a park in my hometown and just abandoned there. It was pretty much just a destroyed husk by the time I saw it for the first time.
When I first saw one in the 70’s, I thought it was futuristic.
Bay of Pigs occurred in April of 1961.
I recall seeing these in 1985 at Clark Air Force base in the Philippines. They were used by their Air Force.
When I did base security in Germany with the Canadian Army, we had to cover the CAF area as well. There were three T33”s ( a 4th one had been lost to accident just before I got to Germany), unlike the F18s you could walk up to & climb into them. I was told that they were used to orientate pilots new to Germany. The 50cal.s had been permanently removed & given to the Infantry unit.
I worked on our T-33's in Baden in the early 1980's when we still had Starfighters. The unit was Group Transient & Training Flight or GTTF. Pilot orientation was only one of many missions carried out by the aircraft. One of the primary missions was Instrument Flying proficiency. Being a 2 seater with a blind flying hood in the back seat, pilots could keep instrument flying skills up to par. We only had a few dual seat CF-104's in Germany & they were much more expensive to operate & maintain vs the venerable whisper jet. Few of our T-33's had the 50 cal guns installed & that was very early in their operational life in Canada. The gun ports were faired over & lead weights added in the nose to maintain C of G.
@@MikeSiemens88 my family was in Baden in the 80s, my Dad speaks fondly of being an air force brat and the wonders of the 104s just before they were retired.
Growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan I always loved seeing the T-33 Shooting Star- Red Knight on display on Avenue C. 💪❤️👍
For Pete's sake, the Shooting Star saw NO COMBAT AT ALL in WW2!
That actually surpised me, I was thinking they didn't have action in WW2 ...
it was used in active service delivered to Europe though
So they weren’t in Italy being used for reconnaissance?
@@BionicRusty That might have been the British Gloster Meteors.
Two P80s that were rushed over to Italy at the end of the war, no combat but can see where the confusion occurred.
I read the memoirs of Cuban pilots who fought at Pigs Bay. One flew a T-33, very interesting!
I never heard this part of the story before. Really curious to know how Castro got 3 of these....
@@TheCGMM1776 The U.S. gave Cuba the planes under President Batista who was leader of Cuba prior to Castro's takeover.
One these on display at 15 wing cfb Moose Jaw, always bums me out that I never got to see it fly - thank you for making this video!
If you have a few thousand $$$$'s burning a hole in your pocket you can not only see one fly today but also get a ride in the back seat. Check out Waterloo Warbirds & their Mako Shark T-bird.
The last Military T33s were retired from the Bolivian Air Force in 2017.
My mother's first husband (and my stepsisters dad), trained on the T33 at Webb AFB, TX in 1955.
Thanks for a great video on a great aircraft.
My dad flew back seat in an F-94 in 1950. You had to have courage to fly in a jet fighter back then.
Love your channel! filling historic hole in my up bringing!
There's one of these in a public park in my hometown it's been there since before I was born. You can see through the jats exhaust outlets all the way to the gage cluster. It's completely stripped out..
Fun fact. The British Gloster Meteor was the first operational jet fighter to enter service. Not the ME-262.
True, the Meteors were active before the 262 in the hands of RAF 616 squadron on the 27th July 1944
I was going to comment on this. I thought however that I would just have a check check of the comment section to see if anyone (really like this channel and its affiliates, but there are often inaccuracies) mentioned this...and you sir had. Yes by at least a couple of months it entered service and I know of its history with 'Doodlebugs' but not so much as a fighter. I shall need to do some research again. The Me-262 was a beast of its time it must said with not only incredible speed, but armanent too!
Too late & too few to make any serious contribution.
@@iaindouglasmcwilliam8684 The 262 was a total lemon in the real world, they generally self destructed after only 12-16 hours of use and by 1945 were no faster than the Meteor nor anywhere near as durable. The 262 certainly looked the part but that was all it brought to the party.
@george barnes Thanks George. It may have been a lemon, but one that threw a spanner in the works! I hear what you are saying, and again it wasn't perfected, it was late and rushed. You cannot tell me though if one was on your six your heart wouldn't have sank? Or even a bomber stream (which can be akin to suicide going in to attack) with its punch and turn of pace. Too late and too raw a product. I personally think whatwith all you have said that if you were a pilot in those times and you clocked the bandits and realised it was them you'd have a real adrenaline boost. I do honestly thank you for your feedback...its appreciated George.
@@iaindouglasmcwilliam8684 it’s kind of a technicality tbh. The ME262 flew first in trials and prototypes before the meteor did. But the meteor entered operational service before the 262. The meteor also didn’t see much combat because the British were afraid of losing one over enemy territory and didn’t want the enemy to recover it. The 262 had far more combat sorties which is expected since Germany was fighting for it’s life at the point it entered service
I used to see these flying around my neighbourhood into the the 80's, in Canada. I live beside an airforce base. There are two of them on pedestals in the area, one on a major street that's been a landmark for 55 years.
For the most part, I have enjoyed the content of this channel (Dark Skies) BUT could someone please work on making sure that a larger percentage of military footage actually goes along with the story being narrated?? This is the third one I have watched (and learned some things) and the footage is from a different era.
Thanks for the history about the Bay of Pigs incident. It explains a lot.
Delightful airplane - 10 years off and on, whatever else I flew, it was there, sweet old bird, thank you, romain
6 .50 cals always does something
There were US to South America T-33C programs where the T-33s in the late 1970 period were re-armed and sent south. I think the program was called Peace Manta and the best technical package was by then company called MidCoast.
The P-80 did not successfully shoot down that MiG-15 in the first jet-to-jet air battle. The MiG was able to fly home and the first kill went to a Navy F9F Panther the following day.
@jakeclaeys5879 I was about to point that out!!👍
My dad was a the 43 rd flight line t33 mechanic at Laredo afb 1958_1962 the greatest trainer aircraft ever👍
at 3:38 and 4:48 you are showing L-39 Albatros made in Czechoslovakia (at the time) 25 years after P-80 - why?
at 6:38 and 6:59 you are showing Lockheed P-3 Orion - why?
I was going to ask the same thing about the L-39 Albatros.
lol, why not . . . didn't ya see snoopy fly by.
Dark Skies to pravidelně dává "na Babicu" - nemáte záběr letadla X? Dejte tam záběr letadla Y!
You have to get used to this with Dark Skies' docs. Makes and models seldom match the narrative. And even then the narrative is often garbage. But I keep watching them for some reason.
Long time ago... There was a compagny in Montréal, Qc name Canadair ! the build and assembles 576 CT-133 also name T-Bird and was use by the RCAF for more then 50 years !
I got the privilege of sitting in one of these in either 96 or 97. I don't quite remember I did a lot of different summer courses with the Canadian Air Cadets in Greenwood Nova Scotia. All the staff just called them T-Birds. It was so stupid they bussed us out on the runway with our dress uniforms on, made us take anything loose plus our brass and put it in our wedges then leave that on the bus then I climbed into the plane with my dress boots on no. I think we paraded like an hour later and got marked down because of the state of our uniforms. I find it so funny looking back on all that stupid stuff!
The P-80/T-33 is also one of the more detailed and fun to fly planes in Flightgear. It's forgiving enough to get away with some seemingly stupid stuff. If anyone is into aircraft sim stuff.
Outstanding video!
There's a veterans club by the airport (YXE) here in Saskatoon with a CT-133 Red Knight up on a concrete pedestal. She's in pretty good shape too.
Guatemala also had T33 which fought in the war here. Also FAG squadrons supported other Central American countries until it was retired whe A37 B’s arrived
I will always miss the t-bird she was a wonderful plane to watch
Great video content! Could do without the hip hop beat in the background music while watching vintage footage.
The same T-33 in Pakistan Air Force performed admirably in its '65 & '71 air war with India.
Really how ? Do you have details? Thanks
@@user-xq6xu3fo8c they were fitted with machine guns and were assigned to ground based operations against indian convoys of trucks, troops and similar targets
@@SajidKhan-mf8ts like nose mounted or gunpods under wings ?
l found the T-33 very easy to fly.....Thanks.....
Shoe🇺🇸
There's an antique store in my town in Canada that has a CT-133 (the Canadian licence built version) as a lawn ornament.
Am I the only one who noticed several shots of the L-39 Albatros mixed in with all the footage of the T-33? Granted, it looks vaguely like the P-/F-90/T-33, but the second seat is positioned somewhat higher than the front seat, giving it a somewhat humpbacked profile compared to the Shooting Star.😉
They were there. On multiple occasions
Really loving this content!
If you take requests for future episodes i would really like to see something about CAC Boomerang
I got to do a start up on the T-33 in Helena, Montana.
6:37 - I had no idea the Boeing 777-9 was a prop plane.
When I was a kid I use to watch these planes fly out of MTN .Home AFB ID . over Baker Oregon. As I was a kid I was impressed !! I loved the wing tanks !!
BTW the Bay of Pigs invasion was in 1961, not in 1963, appart from that, excellent video
Since we're talking about fathers... This was one of the aircraft types my Father flew, as the Navy TV-2, while training to be a Marine aviator. It may not be flashy but I've always thought it was a really cool looking airplane and have built the model numerous times. I even found a couple initial release HAWK TV-2 model kits where the aircraft pictured on the box had the same airframe number as one in Dad's log book.
good memories !
@@fredtedstedman ...and I miss him so! Since he passed in 2009 I've accumulated many examples of every aircraft he ever flew 14 different military and 13 commercial.
Boeing used the Shooting Stars as photo chase planes. I used to be a lead in the Boeing Photo Lab for over 20 years. I often processed the photo shoot film. C-22 color neg and E-6 Ektachrome.
We also processed and printed accident investigation photos.
1979, Sheppard Airforce Base, myself in training, polished a T 37 , F15s F111s , A7 corsair. But sadly no T33s.
That was Definitely an Embarrassing moment for the US. Castro walked with the biggest smile.
A great example of a lack of political will.
Sad that JFK, who fought a war, would be so weak against Communism in our own backyard.
You can see clearly the influence that the U.S. seizing and reverse engineering an ME-262, had on the P-80. Beautiful jet. Not just for it's own day but even now. And not many aircraft can say the same.
Beautiful plane
I watched 3 of these take off in formation leaving Hill AFB in Utah back in the mid 90's, really cool!
Great looking plane.
Oh it is so beautiful. Make a jet that looks like that again.
0:55 - that's a torpedo.
I'm a A&P back in the 90s trained on an Air force loaner
Love the video just one thing the first German jet aircraft was the heinkel he 178 not the me 262
@3:38 You've got an L-39
As usual for this channel, the Korean War part of this piece is filled with important inaccuracies. It's amazing how Dark Skies covers such interesting topics so poorly.
We have one of the trainers up on a pole at the gate of our local airport. Thanks for the history.
in late 70s the Indonesian air force manage to arm the T-33 with Il-28's gunsight and basically bringing it into a new designation of TF-33 and use it in the Operation Seroja in East Timor
Such a good looking bird. Just a smooth operator
The T33 was also the first jet the Thunderbirds flew. I liked it because it was very easy to fly.
The Thunderbirds first flew F-84s, the narrator flew a T-33.
There’s one of these at Deer Valley airport that’s painted as a USA flag. It’s extremely quiet, surprisingly
Certainly a lot more to the T-33 story than is covered here. Many Air Forces operated the type much longer than the US. The Boeing chase planes were license built Canadair CT-133's with the Rolls Royce Nene 10 power plant. Many of the Canadian T-birds went to the Bolivian Air Force & were armed as fighters vs being used as trainers. I noticed you mention 6 x 50 cal machine guns but that's incorrect. there was only room for 2 of them in the nose. The F-86 Sabres had 6, 3 on each side. There are a good number of civilian registered Canadair built T-birds still flying today.
I've seen the 'captured'* Shooting Star on display at the Fortress Museum in Gjirokaster, Albania. It is not the subject of much in the way of preservation and will, I suspect, eventually rot away. Interesting though.
*There are conflicting stories regarding how the 'spy 'plane' airframe was obtained.
See now I want a t33 model plane
Good aircraft. Didn't know it had a long service. Mark of a reliable vehicle. 👍😷
Reliable isn't good
What's so damn fun about what most people already know MATE! Great post CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!!!
United States betraying someone ? Nooo waaaaay ;D
Shocker.
Oh wait, only everyone they’ve ever dealt with. 😂
Most don’t know that several P-80’s flew operational sorties in Italy prior to the end of the war in Europe. It would have been epic if there had been an ME262 vs P-80 encounter.
There were four, I believe, P-80s in Italy, and there have been rumors for years that one of their missions was to shoot down the Arado AR-234 bombers used as fast, high altitude (And all but untouchable )recon aircraft, and I have also heard the rumor that one was, in fact, intercepted and shot down, and that the kill has never been declassified. Doubt that the 'phantom kill' is actually true, but if it is, it would be the first jet vs jet kill.
"a beach party"....as in a fiesta? Omg is that true? That's wild.
4.00 Tom Hanks is EVERYWHERE!
there a great air show performer along with the Smaller jet Era !
Bay of Pigs was 1961 not 1963.
Some good story's and experience some of you have of the T33. I suppose you have to give credit were it's due, 150 day commission to make a prototype that became a novel aircraft. Unfortunately the bay of pigs was a disaster but we'll remembered.
The 'Roadrash' soundtrack perked me up!
Insert Dicaprio snap pointing at 3:44....
7:34: "...a group of about 1,400 Cuban terrorists." Fixed that for you.
There's footage of the Aero Let L-39 at 3:37 and 4:47
The GOAT trainer
I don’t know where you took your information from but I would try again, the XP-80 and the first production versions the P-80 shooting star only managed just over 500mph, it never saw combat in WWII and was only used in Italy for a short period as a propaganda tool, by the time of the Korean War it had been vastly improved and if it wasn’t for the Mig-15 might have been a decent aircraft in the fighter role, but it wasn’t, FULLSTOP. One of the reasons the Lockheed company was able to get a prototype aircraft built and into the air within the 150 days was because WE, Great Britain 🇬🇧 GAVE the USA 🇺🇸 the design and a physical example of the Whittle designed jet engine, without which the Shooting Star would not have been built within the timescale and wouldn’t have been able to do a propaganda/PR tour in Italy 🇮🇹, the P-80 was TECHNICALLY operational but definitely did not see combat.
The combat that the Shooting Stars saw in the early part of the Korean War was against piston engined aircraft, that’s why it had the kill percentage it did, not because it was a marvel of American engineering, it was nothing like the super aircraft you are making it out to be, yes it served with distinction but not as a fighter aircraft.
Please enlighten me, how do chase aircraft “ensure the safety” of other aircraft during flight testing?, answer……..they can’t, they can monitor the test aircraft for things like leaks or abnormal flight characteristics, they can advise pilots when things like flaps and undercarriage are being tested that they are “down and appear locked” or flaps appear “fully extended” thus AIDING test pilots, but definitely NOT “ensuring safety”, that is down to the designers and engineers.
Sorry to say that this video gets the thumbs down, inaccurate and misleading information and definitely biased.👎
75 years of T-33.
Oops! 6:38 and 6:59 Lockheed P-3 Orion.
My favorite aircraft as a child. I built a model.
Me too
Tiward the end, you referred to the B-26 as being used in Cuba, giving the false impression it was the B-26 Marauder. The reality is that the aircraft used was the A-26 Invader.
The A-26 Invader was redesignated as the B-26 by USAF in 1948.
Edit: Marauders are shown for illustration instead of Invaders around 9:40 in the video.