Flying Lockheed T-1A Seastar for 2011?

Does anyone have any information on the possibility of a flyable T-1A (T2V-1) Seastar vintage Navy jet trainer being available for air shows next year duirng the Centennial of Naval Aviation? The picture and caption in the link below is very tantalizing:

http://www.t33heritagefoundation.org/Sorties.php

This would be a terrific jet warbird to see at naval aviation themed air shows next year along with the FJ-4B Fury, A-4 and TA-4 Skyhawks, T-2 Buckeyes, etc.

[Holedigger]

Cool! Like the paint scheme.

[ChrisDNT]

Nice trend to see jet warbirds painted with interesting AND correct color schemes.

If only this could inspire the WWII warbirds owners.

Btw, very pretty aircraft, always liked the Seastar !

[C VEICH]

Is this the Seastar that was sitting out at Williams Gateway airport in Mesa, AZ per chance?

[C VEICH]

Is this the Seastar that was sitting out at Williams Gateway airport in Mesa, AZ per chance?

[skymstr02]

T-1A is not a Navy aircraft designation for this aircraft, plus, why does it have USAF markings on the right side?

[CAPFlyer]

Might make more sense from the front page, but the picture is unrelated to the T2V-1/T-1A they're talking about.

http://www.t33heritagefoundation.org/

Also, see below, but the aircraft is correctly identified as a T-1A

(from: http://www.designation-systems.net/usmi ... tions.html)

T-1

The Lockheed Seastar was a development of the T-33 and was unofficially designated as T-33B. The development was company funded and the first flight took place on 15 December 1953 with the prototype registered N125D. The US Navy placed orders for 150 T2V-1s from May 1954 and with serials 142261/142268, 142397/142399, 142533/142541, 144117/144216 and 144735/144764. Production of batches with serials 144765/144824 and 146058/146237 was cancelled. On 18 September 1962 those aircraft remaining in service were redesignated as T-1A.

In 1990 the designation T-1A was assigned to the Tanker Transport Trainer Aircraft, Beechcraft Jayhawk. The aircraft was based on the Beechjet 400, itself a derivative of the Mitsubishi Diamond 2. There is a requirement for 211 aircraft and production was undertaken by McDonnell Douglas after the dissolution of Beechcraft. Serials are 89-284, 90-398/413, 91-075/102, 92-330/363, 93-621/656, 94-114/148, 94-621/656, 95-004/071. The first flight took place on 5 July 1991. A number of aircraft were used as CT-1B transports.

[51fixer]

IIRC wasn't the old POF T-33 a TV-2?
Rich

The TV-2 was the pre-Sept. 1962 designation for Navy and Marine Corps T-33's. I believe after the 1962 designation change it was known as the T-33B.

The T-1A (T2V-1 pre-Sept. 1962) was a significantly modified aircraft and was designed for take-off and landing on aircraft carriers.

http://www.t33heritagefoundation.org/Sorties.php

I really hope we will see this beauty flying for the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

[T33driver]

Is this the Seastar that was sitting out at Williams Gateway airport in Mesa, AZ per chance?

Yep, the only flying Seastar is based in Phoenix.

Is this the Seastar that was sitting out at Williams Gateway airport in Mesa, AZ per chance?

Yep, the only flying Seastar is based in Phoenix.

Thanks for clearing that up, Paul. The background of the Seastar photo in the link looks like Arizona.

A truly unique flying warbird.

[Ryan Keough]

Is this the Seastar that was sitting out at Williams Gateway airport in Mesa, AZ per chance?

Yep, the only flying Seastar is based in Phoenix.

Thanks for clearing that up, Paul. The background of the Seastar photo in the link looks like Arizona.

A truly unique flying warbird.

I drive by it every weekend... it resides in the open-ended alert hangar to the South of the airline terminal. It's in there with CF-104D Starfighter (C/N 104633) and is owned by Mark Sherman in Phoenix. Sherman also owns the McDonnell 220 prototype that's sitting for sale down in El Paso.

Here's a shot of the Seastar in the hangar from AZ Aero Photo forum (great photo forum by the way)

See: http://azaerophoto.com/forum/index.php? ... 76#msg1176

And here's the Starfighter... I only hope to see it fly someday: http://azaerophoto.com/forum/index.php? ... 786#msg786

Arizona has some cool stuff around it...

[262crew]

OK so after reading all of these posts several times, I have yet to understand if this airplane (as it looks now) was a "new" Lockheed design (new wind screen/canopy, modified fuselage and area fwd of the intakes) or was it modified by another company? Regardless its a cool looking bird!

[T33driver]

Quick synopsis...the T-2V Seastar was a Lockheed design based off the T-33 that entered service in 1957. Many mods were made to the T-33 platform to make it suitable for carrier landings for advance Navy pilot flight training. The aircraft was hampered by problems during it's development and by the time all the problems were ironed out, it was only a operational a few years and it was replaced by the first T-2 Buckeyes.

[Seafury1]

IIRC wasn't the old POF T-33 a TV-2?
Rich

Yes, but painted in AF Korea scheme.