T-2 Buckeye Retires

[Robbie Stuart]

From Aero News Network; aero-news.net

Navy Workhorse Trainer's Service Comes To An End

Wed, 13 Aug '08
Last Flight For The Buckeye

It's the end of an era. Last week, a T-2 Buckeye made its last student training flight from Naval Air Station Pensacola, before the type was retired from service after close to 50 years.

The Pensacola News-Journal reports Lt. j.g. Dave Chun and 1st Lt. Brian Miller were the last student pilots to fly the jet. For Chun, the August 8 flight was doubly special... as it also marked his successful checkout flight. He received his wings afterward.

"This is the third best day of my life," Chun said. "My wife and my baby, those are the only things that beat this."

One of the US military's first jet-engined trainers, the North American-built Buckeye was designed as a low-cost, multi-stage trainer. Sporting a straight wing and cockpit controls similar to the T-28C Trojan -- itself a training platform for the USAF's F-86 Sabre -- the Buckeye offered a faster top speed that the Air Force T-37 "Tweety Bird."

From the time the first T-2 entered service in 1959, US Navy Buckeyes flew over 3.4 million hours. Almost every Naval aviator in Pensacola flew the type, in preparation for carrier landings.

Befitting the historic occasion, Chun and Miller were greeted by two fire trucks, spraying torrents of water over their plane as they taxied in. A formal retirement ceremony will be held August 22; after that, the plane's next -- and likely final -- destination will be the "boneyard" at Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona.

"It's going to be different not to see the Buckeye flying over Pensacola," said 13-year Buckeye instructor Cmdr. James J. Crittenden. "It's hard to grasp the historic nature of the day."

The Buckeye will be replaced with the T-45 Goshawk... which sports far more advanced avionics, and flying dynamics that more closely mimic the F/A-18s Navy aviators fly in active duty.

"The Buckeye is the last of the old stick-and-rudder airplanes," said Lt. Cmdr. Doug Drew, commander of the VT-86 reserve training unit at Pensacola. "It's time to upgrade to something more modern. We're moving from the 20th century to the 21st century."
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Sometimes I just don't like "change" very much. Goodbye to a good ole airplane.
Robbie

[skymstr02]

Currently there are 8 in service in Pensacola training UMFOTS. On Aug 20th, the first two will be going to AMARG, three more on Aug 25th. The remaining three will be going to Patuxant River to join VX-20. They will be used as chase planes for the P-8A project.

Currently there are 8 in service in Pensacola training UMFOTS. On Aug 20th, the first two will be going to AMARG, three more on Aug 25th. The remaining three will be going to Patuxant River to join VX-20. They will be used as chase planes for the P-8A project.

It seems like the T-2C Buckeye will live on a little longer in Navy service. Before long it looks like it will be 50 years since the first single engined T2J-1 Buckeyes (later T-2A) entered service in 1959. The T-2C's still flying entered service beginning in 1968, 40 years ago.

It seems like the Buckeye warbirds in civilian hands are mostly the initial 2-engine model, the T-2B. The T-2 is an interesting and colorful jet trainer warbird.

[Owen Miller]

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 8808090325

[Old SAR pilot]

The Hellenic Air Force is still (for the time being) using the T-2E....

http://www.haf.gr/en/mission/weapons/t2.asp