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T-38 Talon headrest and wheels


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Is there any guideline when the early/late bang seat headrests and wheels may have been newly built in or replaced on the Talons or a list of a/c showing such feature during the time?

I would like to build a T-38A Talon BuNo 59-1603 as it served at NFWS in 1976 (with Driscoll's nametag and five victory marks), so if someone has a direct info on this a/c from that time, I would be grateful.

My understanding is that it was one of the early birds and did not have these things replaced when flying with the USAF and after it was handed over to the Navy, so I would tend to opt for early wheels and headrests unless somebody proves me wrong.

Picure courtesy of Furball Aero Design

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There is a photo of that aircraft in Schiffer Publishings Northop's T-38 Talon from 1974.  The aircraft has the early style headrests and has a spoked front wheel. Other photos dated 1976 shows other Navy T-38's still had the early style headrest. It also still had the USAF on the bottom left wing as it is visible on the landing gear door.  Other T-38's also still had the national insignia on the bottom right. Hope that helps.

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This is an easy one. The headrest conversion began around 1977. This incorporated a drogue chute that gave the Northrop seat a zero altitude, 75 knot capability. The main wheels would be solid and the nose wheel could be solid or spoked. I was assigned to the 64FTW at Reese AFB from May ‘78 til June ‘81. When I arrived in ‘78 there were a tiny number of old style seats. The slotted mains came along long after I left.

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  • 1 year later...

To bring that topic up again.

Would the USAF markings under the left wing be black or dark blue? I only have a BW pic of McKeown's and Ensch's T-38 (the Furball sheet shows it at a later stage with McKeown's name removed since he left Topgun) which shows part of the USAF markings on the left main wheel door.

 

B/r

Michael

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On 5/2/2023 at 9:25 AM, SCOUT712 said:

To bring that topic up again.

Would the USAF markings under the left wing be black or dark blue? I only have a BW pic of McKeown's and Ensch's T-38 (the Furball sheet shows it at a later stage with McKeown's name removed since he left Topgun) which shows part of the USAF markings on the left main wheel door.

 

B/r

Michael

 

Every T-38 I flew in the white scheme had the USAF markings in insignia blue.

 

Regards,

Murph

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