Northrop T-38 Talon
The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twin-jet supersonic trainer that first flew in 1959 and entered U.S. Air Force service in 1961. Developed from Northrop's N-156 lightweight fighter project, it was the first trainer built for supersonic flight; 1,187 were produced between 1961 and 1972. Most surviving Air Force aircraft have been modernized as T-38Cs with glass cockpits, and the type still flies the advanced pilot-training syllabus, while NASA flies its own Talons to keep astronauts proficient. Structural renewal programs are intended to keep the fleet working until the T-7A replacement begins taking over in 2033.
Why It Mattered
The T-38 was the first trainer built for the supersonic age: Air & Space Forces Magazine identifies it as the first supersonic trainer aircraft. It answered an Air Force requirement for a supersonic trainer to replace the straight-wing T-33 and prepare pilots for the faster, heavier fighters of the Century Series. Northrop won the contest with an argument about whole-life cost, promising a trainer that would use far less fuel and need less maintenance than the adapted fighter it beat. The Talon entered Air Force service in March 1961, and Wikipedia's estimate credits it with training some 50,000 military pilots since. NASA took the type on as well, flying it to keep astronauts ready for spaceflight.
Design Notes
The Talon began life in 1954 as the N-156, Northrop's 156th design project, first drawn as a small supersonic fighter for the Navy's escort carriers. When the Navy dropped the idea, Northrop recast the design as a lightweight export fighter, the N-156F, and then adapted it into the N-156T trainer. The aircraft was built around two General Electric J85 engines, each 22 inches in diameter and under 600 pounds in weight, yet producing 3,850 pounds of thrust in T-38 form. Chief engineer Welko Gasich insisted the engines sit inside the fuselage, which was pinched at the waist in line with Richard Whitcomb's transonic area rule. Weight was watched throughout: no fuel was carried in the wings, no external stores were provided for, and navigation and communication systems stayed basic. The result was a slender tandem two-seater whose small, low-mounted wing spans just 25.3 feet. The same N-156 design also yielded the F-5 fighter family, the Talon's better-armed sibling.
Operational History
Test pilot Lew Nelson took the prototype on its first flight on April 10, 1959, and the Talon was introduced to Air Force service on March 17, 1961, alongside the Cessna T-37 Tweet used for primary training. Students learned supersonic techniques, aerobatics, formation, night and instrument flying, and cross-country navigation, in what remains the advanced stage of Air Force pilot training. In 1962 the type claimed the absolute time-to-climb records at four altitudes: 3,000, 6,000, 9,000 and 12,000 meters. Some aircraft were converted as AT-38B weapons trainers, fitted with a gunsight and a centerline station for practice stores. The Air Force demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, flew the Talon from 1974 to 1982. The U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River became the Navy's main T-38 operator, and pilots of other NATO nations commonly trained on the type in joint programs with American students. Production ended in 1972, by which time 1,187 T-38s had been built.
Afterlife
More than sixty years after it entered service, the Talon is still the Air Force's advanced trainer: Air & Space Forces Magazine's current inventory lists 443 T-38Cs, alongside 53 T-38As and six AT-38Bs. Most of the fleet reached its present form through an avionics modernization that added a glass cockpit and head-up display, the aircraft being redesignated T-38C. The airframes were designed for 7,000 flying hours, but many have passed 20,000 hours, so a third structural renewal program, Pacer Classic III, is replacing longerons, bulkheads, intakes and structural floors on 180 high-risk T-38Cs. NASA continues to fly its own Talons, which its fact sheet describes as flight-readiness trainers: pilot astronauts fly 15 hours a month in them to maintain proficiency. Replacement is at last on the calendar, with Air Education and Training Command planning to begin retiring its Talons in favor of the T-7A at Laughlin starting in 2033.