Airforces

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COMMENT

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for breaking news stories. E-mail the news

team at [email protected]

On sale September 21

E

L ALTO INTERNATIONAL Airport in La

Paz is well known among civil aviation

observers as the highest international

airport in the world, at an elevation of

over 13,000ft (4,000m). It was also, until

recently, home to the very last military T-

Shooting Stars. The final four of these jets

• first flown in prototype form in 1948, and
  developed from the Lockheed P-80 that
  flew four years earlier – were operated
  by Escuadrón de Caza 311 of the Fuerza
  Aérea Boliviana (FAB, Bolivian Air Force).
  Consigning another combat aircraft to the
  history books seems to be a fairly regular
  occurrence these days. But the ‘T-Bird’ was
  something different: a genuine milestone
  in aviation history, it was the first practical,
  purpose-built jet trainer and schooled
  generations of jet pilots across the Western
  world. In terms of numbers of operators,
  the T-33 is perhaps only challenged by its

Eastern Bloc counterpart, the MiG-15UTI,

another development of a Korean War-era

fighter. At least 40 different nations flew the

T-Bird, some of them also in combat roles.

So good was the Shooting Star for its

intended purpose that it was still in

widespread service into the early 1980s.

In the middle of that decade it was almost

resurrected by Boeing – in much revised

form – as the Skyfox, re-engined with twin

Garrett turbofans. Ultimately, 6,557 T-

series aircraft were completed, including 656

by Canadair and 210 by Kawasaki. Bolivia

initially acquired 18 of the Canadian jets,

which had begun life as CT-133 Silver Star

Mk3s, and it was a Canadian company,

Kelowna Flightcraft, that provided the

survivors with a much-needed avionics

upgrade between 1999 and 2002.

Only nine FAB T-Birds were still operational

by late 2015, but within a year, time-

expired equipment and a lack of spares

had reduced the fleet to four. While

Bolivia is officially retiring its T-33s without

replacement, pilots of the type have

expressed hope that a successor will be

found in the A-29 Super Tucano, which

has already been evaluated at La Paz.

After almost 70 years in service, the end

has come for the T-33 – in military hands,

at least. It deserves to be remembered

as a pioneer, every bit as important

in post-war aviation history as the

Canberra, MiG-21 or F-4 Phantom II.

Time’s up

for the T-Bird

One of the last four operational T-33s before the type’s retirement from Bolivian service on

July 31. Anthony Pecchi

AFM

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #354 SEPTEMBER 2017 // 3