T-33

[Rajay]

Spoke with NMUSAF on Monday, I was told that the museum has to see if any other military branches or institutions, or VFW's were interested and if not then the GSA ( government surplus auction) would be contacted to offer it at auction. The last thing would be to have it scrapped. From what I was told, that's the only way an " average Joe " could possibly acquire the plane.

GSA is not "government surplus auction" - unless you were making a joke.

The GSA is the General Services Administration and it is basically responsible with running and maintaining the infrastructure of the federal government in the US. It takes care of and is responsible for all of the internal "housekeeping" as it were. Replacing the burnt out light bulbs, stocking the toilet paper in the bathrooms, buying the paper and ink for the printers, etc. Essentially the largest logistics and office supply operation in the world.

[4RG.I.'S]

Spoke with NMUSAF on Monday, I was told that the museum has to see if any other military branches or institutions, or VFW's were interested and if not then the GSA ( government surplus auction) would be contacted to offer it at auction. The last thing would be to have it scrapped. From what I was told, that's the only way an " average Joe " could possibly acquire the plane.

GSA is not "government surplus auction" - unless you were making a joke.

The GSA is the General Services Administration and it is basically responsible with running and maintaining the infrastructure of the federal government in the US. It takes care of and is responsible for all of the internal "housekeeping" as it were. Replacing the burnt out light bulbs, stocking the toilet paper in the bathrooms, buying the paper and ink for the printers, etc. Essentially the largest logistics and office supply operation in the world.

Perhaps Cooper's statement referred to this GSA?:

http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/

For example they have the remains of a UH-1H at auction currently.

[cooper9411]

Thanks 4RG.I.'S, that is the one I was referring to.

[Chris Brame]

Afraid I can't help with wings, but we do need a T-33 fin and horizontal stab if anyone knows of any. Probably a tonne of new boxed ones still sitting around somewhere........

Check with Forgotten Field (scroll down to item #3094):
http://www.forgottenfield.com/amg/airframe/

3094. P80 or T33 Tail Section. Some corrosion evident, and includes empennage in good condition(not in photos)

[Tim Savage]

The 'nice' T-33 probably isn't so nice anymore. I just heard from someone that drove by that the city is sandblasting the airframe, canopy and all. That is unfortunate because five miles down the road at the city airport are guys that restore and maintain historic airplanes and they didn't ask questions.

BTW: This 'nice' T-33 was N217AP sold by Courtesy Aircraft. I think it came out of a tech school up near Chicago and Butch Schroeder had it for a while at Danville, IL.

[mlenoch]

The former Butch Schroeder T-33 is now owned by Heritage Aircraft LCC in Manassas, Virginia. It is in the process of restoration.
Butch obtained the airframe via John O'Conner from the Chicago south side high school, Chicago Vocational Technical High School in 2008 (? or so). This school was a Navy training facility during and after WW2; later it became part of the Chicago school system in the 1970s. The school obtained 2 T-33 airframes from the USAF in the late 60's; these were taxied from Midway Airport to the school. One airframe remained completely intact while the other had the wings cut outboard of the main gear and the engine removed as it was over-temped at the school during instruction.
Both airframes are in Virginia.

[Chris Brame]

Been wondering what happened to those two - 51-4271 and 51-4309 (4309 was the one that got cut up; the yearbook mentions it was made into an electronics and hydraulics demonstrator). The school got them in 1964; here's a few shots from the yearbook from then up to 1989:












(Off topic, but way back when, they also had some fairly interesting things for the kids to work on:)

[SaxMan]

Jack Kosko and his crew are restoring one of the Chicago Vocational School UC-78s. The school had two of them and we have found that parts of both planes were mixed together, but the data plate is for 43-4523.

It would be interesting to see what else the school had and where they ended up.

[Tim Savage]

The former Butch Schroeder T-33 is now owned by Heritage Aircraft LCC in Manassas, Virginia. It is in the process of restoration.
Butch obtained the airframe via John O'Conner from the Chicago south side high school, Chicago Vocational Technical High School in 2008 (? or so). This school was a Navy training facility during and after WW2; later it became part of the Chicago school system in the 1970s. The school obtained 2 T-33 airframes from the USAF in the late 60's; these were taxied from Midway Airport to the school. One airframe remained completely intact while the other had the wings cut outboard of the main gear and the engine removed as it was over-temped at the school during instruction.
Both airframes are in Virginia.

Vlado: the airplane at Huntington came from Manassas....is this a different airframe then? My understanding is that this is the same airplane that Butch had. I was told it was owned by the same gentleman at Manassas that owned the -7 Corsair that John recently bought.

[kmiles]

The Collings Foundation has a static display T-33 in the hangar here that could be for sale as we could use the room. It does not have the drop tanks, but otherwise is pretty complete. It has been indoors for the past 30 years, and there are no obvious signs of corrosion. There was an FBO several years ago that wanted to buy it to put it on a pole, but they went another direction. We could possibly sell the wings and fuselage separately if there are parties interested in both, but we would not sell one without selling both. If it is of interest, call us at 978-562-9182 and ask for Ken or Rob.

[Nathan]

If anyone has any left over T-33 wings or fuselage after all this is done, I might be interested in them. Thanks.

[Chris Brame]

Thanks to Nathan Decker at Forgotten Fighters, here's a photo from today of the refinished T-33 going into the park in Huntington, IN:

Complete with out-of-proportion national insignia, just like the good old days of playground Warbirds.

Here are a few more shots of the plane it's replacing; the cockpit's a little more intact than I expected:










From Nathan's email:

On the NEW Huntington T-33, they finished repainting it a few days ago (attached) and that FAA was last in Virginia. There was a flatbed semi there a while ago after the plane arrived, must have been a long, slow road trip. That is an hour old, btw, they've been working hard on the memorial park. There's even a super cool M4 Sherman tank there!

On the OLD T-33, your WiXer better hurry, it's not long for this world. When I drove by a couple days ago there were some guys in suits with tape measurers and clipboards looking at it, never a good sign.

Nathan M., you might want to get in touch with Nathan D.

[Nathan]

Im heading to Leon's this weekend to pick up HUP fuselage. Cooper, why don't you try and save this T-33 and we can talk about the future on the bird?

[cooper9411]

Definitely going to try! I may have to take a road trip to Huntington and play "Jim Rockford"!

[chippie51]

The really frustrating thing is that a bit of money and time spent with a few tubs of filler and a few gallons of paint along with a "new" canopy and their existing T-33 would be good for a few more years. Ruining a good airframe really makes no sense.