Best flight of my flying career: back in 1965 at Willy, the chief scheduler walks in, looks around and sees only me sitting there reading a paper. All my syllabus rides were complete and I would get my wings later in the week. He says, “…get your gear, we have a T-38 we need to fly.” When I told him my syllabus rides were complete, he said “…I don’t care. Maintenance generated this airplane and it needs to fly for them to get credit”. He then told me “I don’t care what you do, just go fly that airplane”. I was then turned loose for a VFR flight into a MOA to do whatever I wanted in an almost new T-38. “Oh I have slipped the bonds of earth and danced the sky in laughter silvered wings..” …truer words were never written. Even after 57 years, 3000 AF flying hours, and an RF-4C combat tour, that flight still sticks in my mind…
I’m a civilian maintainer and back in 2001 I was fortunate enough to take an incentive ride in a T-38. On take off we were cleared for unrestricted climb and it was freakin awesome!! Best ride of my life!!
@@MrLongboarder87 You guys are all correct. It's been over 35 years since I worked T-38s and F-5s. I don't know where I got J 57 from (maybe I was thinking of the "Tweet"). Thanks for the correction, Guys.
No Music ++++ No mislabeling as "vertical takeoff" ++++ Loud engines ++++. No three hours of taxing and preparation ++++. This video shows a T-38 trainer and should itself be a training video on how to make excellent takeoff videos. Bang on!
Remembering it like it was yesterday. But it's been over 50 years since I earned my USAF wings in that beautiful machine. Even today, the graceful lines of that tiny bird are a thing of incomparable beauty.
@@GM-he3um don’t need much wing when ya got a dang rocket pushin ya from behind ;) the wings are there just for stability and control at this point lmao (Obviously I am being facetious, you need some form of lift, but not much in this case)
Beautiful planes, very elegant. I was stationed at NAS Cubi Pt in the 80s, and the Philippine air force had a bunch of F5s (the non-training variant of the T-38) they used to do low approaches at Cubi, and were apparently unaware of the speed restrictions, if you get my drift. Fun to watch, but I was always kind of alarmed to see them flying so fast when there was all kinds of air traffic around, including helicopters and fruit bats with 6' wingspan.
Reminded me of watching F-104s when I worked at Boeing for part of a summer in 1958. I was about 200 yards from the Larson AFB alert hangar. Two F-104s would come out of the hangar, pause for a few seconds while the ground crew did whatever they were doing, and them line up with the runway already hauling ass. The only thing better than this was the hundred-foot long streak of fire with shock rings in it when they lit the afterburner. I am sure I heard one pair blow past the sound barrier a few seconds after lifting off. One pair of those suckers passed over Fairchild or Geiger Field (Spokane) at 40 thousand feet seven minutes after starting the takeoff roll. That was a hot news item in Moses Lake. Love the sound of those planes.
When I went through USAF UPT in 67-68, we did this on our dollar ride in the T-38. It made you determined that you would somehow complete the program, and earn your wings. I always felt that every taxpayer should get a dollar ride in the T-38. All these years later, and the T-38 is still performing.
WM. Whiteman AFB, MO. The Companion Trainer Program (CTP) allows Jr B-2A pilots to get proficiency training. Back when I was in, it was called the Acceleration Copilot Enrichment (ACE) for the copilots and junior pilots to log more hours, proficiency, and basically go anywhere they wanted to go (smile).
I never saw them do this at SZL, only unrestricted climb I saw was when a F-18 would come through. We would coordinate with 42 then pile outside to watch it 😄
I flew them in UPT at Vance AFB...fun plane with crazy roll rate but you can see here even in full mil it takes a while to build up enough smash to yank it up to a near vertical climb.
In 71 during USAF tech school at Sheppard AFB Texas, found out my 2nd cousin who I'd never met was the civilian Flight Line Superintendent for Fighter Jet Training Program. Great guy who scored me a ride in a T-38 Talon. A LT.Colonel Senior Training Instructor took me up. WOW!!!! .....is an understatement.
Beautiful. She looks so svelte and quick next to all those commercial birds. The Tomcat is a beautiful marvel of engineering, the Eagle is amazing but the Talon, Freedom Fighter and Tigershark just look like what a fighter should be. The Viper is a close second to that image, it looks like the aftermath of the Eagle and the Tigershark spending a weekend at the coast with some wine and Barry White.
actually tiger 2 not tigershark. f5 a and b were freedom fighters and f5 e and f were tiger 2's. Or cf5a/b for canadair canadian air force versions. the f20 tigershark model that never went to production was based on the design but greatly updated. the t38 talons are in essence tiger 2 models.
@@SgtJoeSmith no they are not .. the T38 is sub-Freedom fighter actually... they have the less powerfull engines in the entire family and simpler wings with no leading edge extensions and not slats.. and if its a T-38A it has a fully analog cockpit (T-38Cs have the glass cockpit with HUD) very similar to the F-5A/B
@@sparrowlt thanks for updated info. 91bravo in guard years ago.. didnt get to play with jets. just what i know from model kits and books and tv growing up. just knew tigershark was non production modern day spin off.
I liked flying T38s cross country in the 1970s. I remember cruise climbing to flight level 410 in 11 minutes. The typical length of the sortie, as I remember, was less than an hour and a 1/2, but you could fly around 700 miles in that time.
You remember right, A long xc leg was a 1.5 stretching to a little over 700 miles. The 1960s era Wild West (I was busy being born) would stretch to 800+ by shutting down an engine. The best thing about T-38 xc was the transonic cruise speeds. In the high 20Ks 0.97 Mach cruise is not only achievable, but practical. You needed to call for your ride home, at your destination, while you were stepping to preflight the jet.
Awesome catch mate! Would you be okay with me featuring this in an episode of Weekly Dose of Aviation? Of course you will be credited both in the video and in the description.
I was a raft guide in the 80's and one of my customers was a T38 Instructor. We immediately bonded over the T38 since I grew up next to Ellington Field. (I actually dated the daughter of the coronel responsible for moving the shuttle via 747 between coasts- no idea why I mentioned that. since the therapist said not to ever.) Anyway, As part of my tip, he gave me his info for a ride and I FRIGGIN LOST IT!!! A year ago we moved "for the last time" again and I found it. What a huge deal that would have been. OMG I love that aircraft. Thanks for the video.
First flight 1959. A 65 year old design. I think of the way contemporary cars looked back then. The designers drove into work in these clunky machines and produced (with slide rules no less) this piece of art that looks like it could have been minted in 2024 - simply fantastic.
I live right under where the Mo National Guard F-15s did these kind of climbs along with the Boeing test pilots from Lamber Saint Louis AP where every one of them is made (F-15s) The sound shakes the ground and all you can see is a little pin head in the sky. The power is absolutely insane.
I saw those too. They were called “Viking Departures.” I’m pretty sure it was McDonnell Douglas, and many of those take-offs were to impress potential buyers. And the WERE impressive!
@@kenmohler4081 Yes it began as McDonnell Douglas, but it is Boeing now, and has been for prob 20 years or more, they still do it once in a while, and they are definitely still making them. My son works there and get to see them in all states of construction. He also has a friend who is an engineer and work in the Phantom Works group. I think he knows stuff we never will. 😁
I was stationed at Ellington AFB from 66 to 69. The astronauts used fly out of there. One afternoon I was near the flight line and there were 3 or 4 of them doing touch and goes. It was like a race between them as they were roaring around in the pattern. It was beautiful watching them in their T-38s . They must have been having the time of there lives.
Used to go out to the perimeter road and watch Tweets and Talons taking off and landing when I was stationed at Columbus AFB, MS from 86-88. Fun planes to watch
One of the coolest/most interesting unrestricted climbs I've ever been a part of was a CRJ 700. It's always interesting to see what those big planes can actually do once you don't have to worry about what the passengers think
A neat airshow fly-by was also at Cleveland in the mid-'70s. United Airlines had just introduced the new 'rainbow' paint scheme and also were celebrating their new routes to Hawaii, as such, they had a 727-load of fresh pineapples flown in to the show, complete with grass-skirted employees. Just after Howie Keefe did his demonstration in his P-51D 'Miss America', the United crew did a demonstration using the 727! They made a high-speed pass down the runway, at maybe 60-75' altitude. The plane was already past the end of the runway when the sound hit the crowd. To see something THAT big, going THAT FAST just off the deck was incredible - and much faster than the P-51!!!!
As a USAF Academy nominee waaaay back in the mid-'70s, I loved (and still do) the T-38! One of the prettiest Mach-capable jets - designed even before I was born! I'd give my left one (or maybe even both) to fly in one. As a side note, I attended an airshow at Lake Erie level (KBKL - Burke Lakefront Airport)in about 1974-5 in Cleveland OH, where a then-new F-15 performed a 'max-performance-takeoff', going from a standing start to straight up to 35,000' in less than 60 seconds, before tipping over to head to it's next destination. Back then I was taking flying lessons in a Cessna 150 that could do maybe 600fpm climb rate!
It would have had to be 1975. I saw the first F-15 delivered to the Air Force in December of 1974 at Luke AFB, AZ with then new president Ford in attendance.
Always thought these are a great looking aircraft. Didn't realise they had that good a climb rate but suppose as the Thunderbirds used them they must have been quite an impressive machine. Great filming 👍.
I work a few miles from Eglin AFB and this is a practically a daily thing here. They have a couple of black T-38’s that I think they must use to play “the bad guys”, they’ll usually tear out there first and then a few minutes later you’ll see the F35’s or F15’s taking off and passing overhead. I never get tired of watching them do that. The F35 sounds like a rocket flying overhead. Unbelievably loud.
TAKE NOTE UA-camRS: THIS is how to do a military aviation video. No stupid music drowning out the Sound of Freedom! No constant interruptions for lame begging for ads, likes and subs, fat guys with huge cameras, or to show off still photos. And thank you for NOT including 20 minutes of the airplane sitting in the chocks while the crew does the Before Engine Start Checklist or taxiing at four miles per hour to the opposite end of the runway! Well done!
Was stationed at Beale AFB in 67-68. We would watch the SR71 with a T38 in chase takeoff and climb. The T38 would eventually fall off the climb as the SR71 would continue to max altitude.
I got to see an SR-71 take off one time while in Korea. No idea what it was doing at the Army airfield when the Air Base was just north of there by a minute or two of it's flight time (mechanical issue I'm guessing), but I heard a noise that definitely wasn't the normal rotary wing aircraft we had, looked over and saw this aircraft shoot damn near straight up. The person beside me was Air Force said it was a SR-71. This was sometime around 1997? It was something I'll never forget.
@@REALfish1552 *Just think, in '97 (and probably today as well), the SR-71 was doing things no other aircraft could even contemplate, and it was designed in the 1950s!. If they designed it today it would never get built - too many risks. The SR-71 exemplifies everything great about what **_used_** t be called "American Ingenuity".*
It's amazing to see this from outside the aircraft. To experience it from the inside is next level stuff! I'll never forget flying this wonderful machine.
Absolutely gorgeous piece of equipment. After being around these countless times, it never gets old looking at them. It's always possible that I could take one for a sortie one day.
Back in’93 I was working the ramp on the G sometime in late October at MSP. All of a sudden the field got whisper quiet. I looked to East and there she was all lit up and ready for launch. This was F-16 solo and it executed the same mini air show as the T-38 above. Whata great sky high moment.
Awesome!! I saw it taxiing, but was trying to escort several people around the airfield at the time and couldn't stop to watch. Wish I would have seen the climb!
i remember a couple years ago i was touring a b17 and there was 4 of these t38s and i got to watch them start up and take off and they could be so quiet and the so loud, it was crazy to me and i watched them do 2 man formation takeoffs and it was so cool to me
Worked in the control tower at Moody AFB in 1969-70. Test pilots would fly T-38’s that had to be certified after a problem had been corrected. Quite frequently they would ask clearance for a max climb to 45,000 ft. and then they would corkscrew it on the way up.
I was in class 70-04 at Moody, basically all of '69. You might have been in the tower the day my IP and I lost both engines just after liftoff in a 2-ship flight.
Question about military aircraft doing unrestricted climb out of non military airports. First of all, it’s always badass and I love watching them. My question: Are they granted clearance for it just for show, because they know everyone loves it? Or is there a real procedural reason and preferred by air traffic....like to get them clear of the airspace around the airport as fast as possible?
Remember those jets well from fighter lead-in training at Holloman AFB. Used to call them "pocket rockets". Great plane for low level down the canyons of the Colorado River.
Went thru pilot training with class 98-03 at Sheppard AFB. Unluckily I got kicked out during IFR training with T38s. I still think of that beast after 26years, almost everyday.
I was in Golden Gate Park for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass watching Los Lobos cover BERTHA when one of the Blue Angels, in town for Fleet Week, zoomed into the park, did a tail stand right over my head then rocketed straight up for ten thousand feet with me looking over the pilot's shoulder. Totally amazing... Los Lobos didn't miss a beat....
Is this what they flew straight up during Test Pilots School class.? Also I believe the astronauts used it to get around but it had golf clubs pod underneath . I think it was painted blue/white. Was a long time ago I got a tour. Great plane!
I’m not a pilot, but I love aviation and plane watching. My initial amateur interpretation of the clip was an aircraft gaining airspeed but unable to gain altitude. I was very relieved to see that beautiful climb at the end!
I've watched so many F-14s, 15s, 16s, 18s and 22s do this over the years. It is always an awesome experience! I wonder if the T-38's entire fuselage is a fuel tank? This plane is just straight up sexy! That being said, it was interesting to note how long it took to get enough airspeed to start that climb. The first planes I mentioned would have been going straight up in half the distance, or less.
Yeah, for a plane that’s over 50 yrs old why does that surprise you? Yes I know the math was around, but not able to be calculated manually. You have computers and flow dynamics that weren’t even thought of to help in the design. You forget, they used paper and pencil to draft the airplanes.
@@yingnyang2889 The problem isn't aerodynamic, it's thrust to weight. There are plenty of 50 year old birds capable of a faster unrestricted climb than this one.
I did only one of those in my 3 years as T-38 instructor. The Air Force allowed them only for Functional Flight Checks but I was departing from Oceana and the Navy didn't care.
@@davidleblanc8467 I truly can’t remember if I requested it or was outright granted by the tower. I know they had to coordinate with Departure control and was capped to 10,000.
At this given situation being at a civilian airport not closed for airshow, does the pilot get permission to go faster than 250 knots (or 200) when given permission for such a climb ? Or does it climb right at that speed limit ?
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew - And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
I've been in and out of MSP to Signature Aviation about 50 times in the last 15 years. We usually departed from 30L as our destination was to the west. They never cleared us to anything higher than 5000' Of course a PA-31, even with the Colemill Panther conversion didn't climb quite like a T-38 😂😂 Very nice video JA! Thanks. I'll check out more of your vids.
Today at Langley AFB, I watched five F-22's and five T-38's taking off. The F-22 was wicked loud compared to the T-38, but both were very cool to watch.
Retired USAF crew chief of one of the time to climb record T38 60400 out of Columbus AFB, Mississippi in 1977, still gives me goosebumps today. FLEW 2 different incentive flights in the T38 Talon, Go Air Force
I live in Huntsville, AL. I watch the t38s from Columbus on the flight radar app often. A few of them usually come up and do touch and goes at KHSV then head back down to Columbus. I work on Redstone Arsenal, near the airport so I’ll see them in the distance sometimes but not as often as I’d like.
Actual pilots, was this a sloppy take off in your opinion? The gear retraction really drew the plane back toward the ground for my liking, but I'm not a pilot.
It had nothing to do with the landing gear retraction. The pilot raised the flaps after raising the gear handle. The jet 'settled' a little bit due to losing a little lift as the flaps retracted. The lift will be regained as the jet continues to accelerate. Nothing sloppy, just normal ops.
@@mig29fulcrumflyer After studying the video closer, I see the flap refraction, thanks. Again, wondering if this is sloppy though. I'm not seeing much + climb before retracting both the gear and flaps.
There was a retired USAF colonel (Thornton) who had purchased a T-38 and registered it as a general aviation aircraft (N38TC). You may recall this particular aircraft appeared (flown by Col. Thornton) in the movie, Dragnet. You may recall the scene where it pulled up alongside a Lear jet. The T-38 can definitely catch a Lear jet. 😎
In 1986 I was in a debriefing at a strip called Miramar were a Navy pilot named "Mavric" reported a classified incident (some information was left out for OPSEC) with one of these, he and his RIO "Goose" had communicated a foreign relations gesture. "Goose" Even had an image of the event. Moments after that we were all on the flight line about to take off in the F-14 for a training mission.
My good friend a retired Colonel flew a1 in Nam, taught T38 training then moved to the A10 he retired then did another full career flying commercial. he’s been AGL almost as much as he’s been down on the deck with the rest of us
I work these T38s out of Vance AFB climbing unrestricted to a block altitude FL250-FL450 on occasion. Specific profile they fly. Must be quite a ride! I’m a center controller.
saw gene cernan (last man on the moon) do this in nasa t-38. shaw afb sc 1980ish. had just given him wx brief, ops guy told me who he was, and was going to do max performance takeoff. never got more than 6ft entire length of runway then straight up to 35000. rip col.
Best flight of my flying career: back in 1965 at Willy, the chief scheduler walks in, looks around and sees only me sitting there reading a paper. All my syllabus rides were complete and I would get my wings later in the week. He says, “…get your gear, we have a T-38 we need to fly.” When I told him my syllabus rides were complete, he said “…I don’t care. Maintenance generated this airplane and it needs to fly for them to get credit”. He then told me “I don’t care what you do, just go fly that airplane”. I was then turned loose for a VFR flight into a MOA to do whatever I wanted in an almost new T-38. “Oh I have slipped the bonds of earth and danced the sky in laughter silvered wings..” …truer words were never written. Even after 57 years, 3000 AF flying hours, and an RF-4C combat tour, that flight still sticks in my mind…
The Tallon and Phantom, ahh yes, The two most gorgeous planes to grace the runways at Shaw AFB. That's a great story, Danny.
High flight poem!
Wow…that’s a great memory to have! Have you considered buying and restoring one?
That’s a great story. Thank you
Put a smile on my face when I read that. My mind goes back to those precious memories of flying the t-38 also.
I’m a civilian maintainer and back in 2001 I was fortunate enough to take an incentive ride in a T-38. On take off we were cleared for unrestricted climb and it was freakin awesome!! Best ride of my life!!
@@kirkf4crewdawg604 every T-38 I’ve worked on has had two J85-GE-5 with afterburners.
Yes, all T-38’s at Laughlin had J85’s
@@MrLongboarder87 You guys are all correct. It's been over 35 years since I worked T-38s and F-5s. I don't know where I got J 57 from (maybe I was thinking of the "Tweet"). Thanks for the correction, Guys.
@@kirkf4crewdawg604 was
@@jamesbroomfield8503 What was?
No Music ++++ No mislabeling as "vertical takeoff" ++++ Loud engines ++++. No three hours of taxing and preparation ++++. This video shows a T-38 trainer and should itself be a training video on how to make excellent takeoff videos. Bang on!
I appreciate the compliment!
I was a crew chief on T-38's at Holloman AFB. I never got to see a climb like that. I agree it's spot on.
Remembering it like it was yesterday. But it's been over 50 years since I earned my USAF wings in that beautiful machine. Even today, the graceful lines of that tiny bird are a thing of incomparable beauty.
The wings are tiny! 😳
@@GM-he3um made off of the f-5 airframe. So they are going to be small
@@GM-he3um don’t need much wing when ya got a dang rocket pushin ya from behind ;) the wings are there just for stability and control at this point lmao
(Obviously I am being facetious, you need some form of lift, but not much in this case)
CAVU, good sir. Thank you for your service.
Beautiful planes, very elegant. I was stationed at NAS Cubi Pt in the 80s, and the Philippine air force had a bunch of F5s (the non-training variant of the T-38) they used to do low approaches at Cubi, and were apparently unaware of the speed restrictions, if you get my drift. Fun to watch, but I was always kind of alarmed to see them flying so fast when there was all kinds of air traffic around, including helicopters and fruit bats with 6' wingspan.
I have 1700 hours in the T-38…and this was a beautiful reminder. Thanks.
i was a crew chief on T-38s back in 1969. i'm amazed they're still in service. the other planes i crewed were the F-100Ds and F-4Ds, long gone.
All very cool airplanes. The T-38 is just a good design. Must be a blast to fly. Rocket engine and tiny wings.
Reminded me of watching F-104s when I worked at Boeing for part of a summer in 1958. I was about 200 yards from the Larson AFB alert hangar. Two F-104s would come out of the hangar, pause for a few seconds while the ground crew did whatever they were doing, and them line up with the runway already hauling ass. The only thing better than this was the hundred-foot long streak of fire with shock rings in it when they lit the afterburner. I am sure I heard one pair blow past the sound barrier a few seconds after lifting off. One pair of those suckers passed over Fairchild or Geiger Field (Spokane) at 40 thousand feet seven minutes after starting the takeoff roll. That was a hot news item in Moses Lake. Love the sound of those planes.
When I went through USAF UPT in 67-68, we did this on our dollar ride in the T-38. It made you determined that you would somehow complete the program, and earn your wings.
I always felt that every taxpayer should get a dollar ride in the T-38. All these years later, and the T-38 is still performing.
Very nice. I was an approach controller at Vance (not sure where you did UPT), and 38’s always made sequencing for arrival a bit tricky!
@@Wtsmyageagain Laredo.
@@Wtsmyageagain my brother did his UPT at Vance in 68-69. :-)
What did you track after 38s?
@@davidinflorida6814 I was there 20 years later, class of 88-04. Loved my time in the T-38!
One of the best flying and best looking jets made. It looks fast sitting still. ❤️
WM. Whiteman AFB, MO. The Companion Trainer Program (CTP) allows Jr B-2A pilots to get proficiency training. Back when I was in, it was called the Acceleration Copilot Enrichment (ACE) for the copilots and junior pilots to log more hours, proficiency, and basically go anywhere they wanted to go (smile).
Those B-2 guys/girls love to climb. That's the steepest pullup I've seen from a T-38 on takeoff.
I never saw them do this at SZL, only unrestricted climb I saw was when a F-18 would come through. We would coordinate with 42 then pile outside to watch it 😄
I flew them in UPT at Vance AFB...fun plane with crazy roll rate but you can see here even in full mil it takes a while to build up enough smash to yank it up to a near vertical climb.
@@90whatever as someone who will probably never fly a jet, what are some of the different characteristics of common planes?
@@lordvader3538 Well, yeah - you're too busy flying the TIE Advanced...
In 71 during USAF tech school at Sheppard AFB Texas, found out my 2nd cousin who I'd never met was the civilian Flight Line Superintendent for Fighter Jet Training Program. Great guy who scored me a ride in a T-38 Talon. A LT.Colonel Senior Training Instructor took me up. WOW!!!! .....is an understatement.
The little jet that could. Worked them mid 80’s. Great plane.
Yeah, I worked them at Columbus AFB, 1985-88.
The little jet that still does.
Beautiful. She looks so svelte and quick next to all those commercial birds.
The Tomcat is a beautiful marvel of engineering, the Eagle is amazing but the Talon, Freedom Fighter and Tigershark just look like what a fighter should be.
The Viper is a close second to that image, it looks like the aftermath of the Eagle and the Tigershark spending a weekend at the coast with some wine and Barry White.
I couldn’t agree more. Something about the shape of the vertical stabilizer just works for me.
actually tiger 2 not tigershark. f5 a and b were freedom fighters and f5 e and f were tiger 2's. Or cf5a/b for canadair canadian air force versions. the f20 tigershark model that never went to production was based on the design but greatly updated. the t38 talons are in essence tiger 2 models.
@@SgtJoeSmith no they are not .. the T38 is sub-Freedom fighter actually... they have the less powerfull engines in the entire family and simpler wings with no leading edge extensions and not slats.. and if its a T-38A it has a fully analog cockpit (T-38Cs have the glass cockpit with HUD) very similar to the F-5A/B
@@sparrowlt thanks for updated info. 91bravo in guard years ago.. didnt get to play with jets. just what i know from model kits and books and tv growing up. just knew tigershark was non production modern day spin off.
The T-38 looks like an undersized chicken hawk amongst a bunch of roosting hens.
I liked flying T38s cross country in the 1970s. I remember cruise climbing to flight level 410 in 11 minutes. The typical length of the sortie, as I remember, was less than an hour and a 1/2, but you could fly around 700 miles in that time.
Question: did she use ground effect for speed?
You remember right, A long xc leg was a 1.5 stretching to a little over 700 miles. The 1960s era Wild West (I was busy being born) would stretch to 800+ by shutting down an engine. The best thing about T-38 xc was the transonic cruise speeds. In the high 20Ks 0.97 Mach cruise is not only achievable, but practical. You needed to call for your ride home, at your destination, while you were stepping to preflight the jet.
I stretched one flight for a total 2.4 hours - very low on fuel at landing.
Awesome catch mate! Would you be okay with me featuring this in an episode of Weekly Dose of Aviation? Of course you will be credited both in the video and in the description.
Thanks! Absolutely!
Hi lucaas
I was a raft guide in the 80's and one of my customers was a T38 Instructor. We immediately bonded over the T38 since I grew up next to Ellington Field. (I actually dated the daughter of the coronel responsible for moving the shuttle via 747 between coasts- no idea why I mentioned that. since the therapist said not to ever.)
Anyway, As part of my tip, he gave me his info for a ride and I FRIGGIN LOST IT!!!
A year ago we moved "for the last time" again and I found it. What a huge deal that would have been. OMG I love that aircraft. Thanks for the video.
First flight 1959. A 65 year old design. I think of the way contemporary cars looked back then. The designers drove into work in these clunky machines and produced (with slide rules no less) this piece of art that looks like it could have been minted in 2024 - simply fantastic.
I live right under where the Mo National Guard F-15s did these kind of climbs along with the Boeing test pilots from Lamber Saint Louis AP where every one of them is made (F-15s) The sound shakes the ground and all you can see is a little pin head in the sky. The power is absolutely insane.
I saw those too. They were called “Viking Departures.” I’m pretty sure it was McDonnell Douglas, and many of those take-offs were to impress potential buyers. And the WERE impressive!
@@kenmohler4081 Yes it began as McDonnell Douglas, but it is Boeing now, and has been for prob 20 years or more, they still do it once in a while, and they are definitely still making them. My son works there and get to see them in all states of construction. He also has a friend who is an engineer and work in the Phantom Works group. I think he knows stuff we never will. 😁
I’m pretty out-of-date on St. Louis. I lived there 40 years ago. I am amazed they are still making F-15s. They are beautiful aircraft.
F15 thrust to weight ratio is close to a ICBM lol. I loved watching them at Lambert too. the landings were just as cool too.
That’s awesome
I was stationed at Ellington AFB from 66 to 69. The astronauts used fly out of there. One afternoon I was near the flight line and there were 3 or 4 of them doing touch and goes. It was like a race between them as they were roaring around in the pattern. It was beautiful watching them in their T-38s . They must have been having the time of there lives.
It's referred to as banging the stick I believe
My uncle, Dr. Joseph Allen might have been one of those astronauts! He flew the Talon many times and loved it. He went up on Space Shuttles twice.
I hear them doing touch and goes at Ellington at my CAP meetings, always very cool
Used to go out to the perimeter road and watch Tweets and Talons taking off and landing when I was stationed at Columbus AFB, MS from 86-88. Fun planes to watch
Was also there from 84 to 88 loved it.
75-05 and then back as a FAIP in the T-38 @@stevelong7638
One of the coolest/most interesting unrestricted climbs I've ever been a part of was a CRJ 700. It's always interesting to see what those big planes can actually do once you don't have to worry about what the passengers think
A neat airshow fly-by was also at Cleveland in the mid-'70s. United Airlines had just introduced the new 'rainbow' paint scheme and also were celebrating their new routes to Hawaii, as such, they had a 727-load of fresh pineapples flown in to the show, complete with grass-skirted employees. Just after Howie Keefe did his demonstration in his P-51D 'Miss America', the United crew did a demonstration using the 727! They made a high-speed pass down the runway, at maybe 60-75' altitude. The plane was already past the end of the runway when the sound hit the crowd. To see something THAT big, going THAT FAST just off the deck was incredible - and much faster than the P-51!!!!
I LOVED flying that airplane. So much fun!
67th?
25th FTS VAFB 1979-80 UPT then 85-88 as IP/Flight Commander/Chief of Academic Training.
I just wanna fly something..
Do you miss it as much as I do? I loved my time in the back of a T-38 and that was nearly 50 years ago.
@@Night56Owl
As a USAF Academy nominee waaaay back in the mid-'70s, I loved (and still do) the T-38! One of the prettiest Mach-capable jets - designed even before I was born! I'd give my left one (or maybe even both) to fly in one. As a side note, I attended an airshow at Lake Erie level (KBKL - Burke Lakefront Airport)in about 1974-5 in Cleveland OH, where a then-new F-15 performed a 'max-performance-takeoff', going from a standing start to straight up to 35,000' in less than 60 seconds, before tipping over to head to it's next destination. Back then I was taking flying lessons in a Cessna 150 that could do maybe 600fpm climb rate!
I’m a fellow nominee. I feel the exact same way 20 years later.
nice.
So you’re not a eunuch yet? 😂
It would have had to be 1975. I saw the first F-15 delivered to the Air Force in December of 1974 at Luke AFB, AZ with then new president Ford in attendance.
@@yingnyang2889 Nobody has offered me a flight in one! I've flown aerobatics in a AT-6/SNJ four times, so that's about as close as I have gotten.
One of the most beautiful airplanes made!
Always thought these are a great looking aircraft. Didn't realise they had that good a climb rate but suppose as the Thunderbirds used them they must have been quite an impressive machine. Great filming 👍.
That aircraft design is at least 60 years old. I never would have expected a trainer to be able to do this! Fantastic.
I work a few miles from Eglin AFB and this is a practically a daily thing here. They have a couple of black T-38’s that I think they must use to play “the bad guys”, they’ll usually tear out there first and then a few minutes later you’ll see the F35’s or F15’s taking off and passing overhead. I never get tired of watching them do that. The F35 sounds like a rocket flying overhead. Unbelievably loud.
TAKE NOTE UA-camRS: THIS is how to do a military aviation video. No stupid music drowning out the Sound of Freedom! No constant interruptions for lame begging for ads, likes and subs, fat guys with huge cameras, or to show off still photos. And thank you for NOT including 20 minutes of the airplane sitting in the chocks while the crew does the Before Engine Start Checklist or taxiing at four miles per hour to the opposite end of the runway! Well done!
Was stationed at Beale AFB in 67-68. We would watch the SR71 with a T38 in chase takeoff and climb. The T38 would eventually fall off the climb as the SR71 would continue to max altitude.
I got to see an SR-71 take off one time while in Korea. No idea what it was doing at the Army airfield when the Air Base was just north of there by a minute or two of it's flight time (mechanical issue I'm guessing), but I heard a noise that definitely wasn't the normal rotary wing aircraft we had, looked over and saw this aircraft shoot damn near straight up. The person beside me was Air Force said it was a SR-71. This was sometime around 1997? It was something I'll never forget.
Beale in the 90s and was doing the same! Civilians did most of the work on them so I hardly had to touch them but they were beautiful
@@REALfish1552 I got to spend 2 years working on the SR and I still mark it as one of the greatest privileges of my life. Love that aircraft.
@@REALfish1552 *Just think, in '97 (and probably today as well), the SR-71 was doing things no other aircraft could even contemplate, and it was designed in the 1950s!. If they designed it today it would never get built - too many risks. The SR-71 exemplifies everything great about what **_used_** t be called "American Ingenuity".*
Probably the most crisp and clear heatwave mirage I've seen on video, awesome plane
It's amazing to see this from outside the aircraft. To experience it from the inside is next level stuff! I'll never forget flying this wonderful machine.
I would die.
🤣
Absolutely gorgeous piece of equipment. After being around these countless times, it never gets old looking at them. It's always possible that I could take one for a sortie one day.
The T38 has to be one of the most elegant trainer in existence.
Back in’93 I was working the ramp on the G sometime in late October at MSP. All of a sudden the field got whisper quiet. I looked to East and there she was all lit up and ready for launch. This was F-16 solo and it executed the same mini air show as the T-38 above. Whata great sky high moment.
Epic!
Worked on The Little White Rocket during my tour in the 70's! Beautifully flying aircraft!!!!
What an elegant, lean and streamlined design. Awesome!
That is what makes flying fun. Straight and level is sleepy time.
she sure doesn't get old does she !
Just got to see one out of Vance AFB at Northwest Arkansas National. I forgot how loud these things are! Lotta bang for such a small airframe.
At one time i was the purchasing manager for buying support and replacments for this plane ,made me very proud to be a small part of it.
Think this one of the most Iconic and beautiful of jet designs. It's clean, sleek lines evoke thoughts of speed while sitting parked on the runway.
I love flying the 38. Such a nimble bird.
Awesome!! I saw it taxiing, but was trying to escort several people around the airfield at the time and couldn't stop to watch. Wish I would have seen the climb!
Thanks! 😖
My dad worked at Randolph AFB and I would go to work with him and watch the T-38's at lunch. Great memories.
What a nice aeroplane! Beautiful. Can be a handful to fly; keep the speed up. CAVU skies to all aviators; RAFVR, here.
i remember a couple years ago i was touring a b17 and there was 4 of these t38s and i got to watch them start up and take off and they could be so quiet and the so loud, it was crazy to me and i watched them do 2 man formation takeoffs and it was so cool to me
Worked in the control tower at Moody AFB in 1969-70. Test pilots would fly T-38’s that had to be certified after a problem had been corrected. Quite frequently they would ask clearance for a max climb to 45,000 ft. and then they would corkscrew it on the way up.
I was in class 70-04 at Moody, basically all of '69. You might have been in the tower the day my IP and I lost both engines just after liftoff in a 2-ship flight.
Question about military aircraft doing unrestricted climb out of non military airports. First of all, it’s always badass and I love watching them. My question: Are they granted clearance for it just for show, because they know everyone loves it? Or is there a real procedural reason and preferred by air traffic....like to get them clear of the airspace around the airport as fast as possible?
It is amazing that these antiques still fly.
Haha. That little T-38 def needed the time to accelerate. Those little engines were working overtime on that climb. 👍🏼
It looks like that one belongs to Whiteman, which has older T-38A models. It never gets old seeing an unrestricted climb!
Remember those jets well from fighter lead-in training at Holloman AFB. Used to call them "pocket rockets". Great plane for low level down the canyons of the Colorado River.
They'll never match a T-38 but watch passenger and cargo aircraft when they're empty or relatively light. They have some seriously powerful engines.
Went thru pilot training with class 98-03 at Sheppard AFB. Unluckily I got kicked out during IFR training with T38s. I still think of that beast after 26years, almost everyday.
Stationed at Moody AFB 73-76. Loved watching these fly.
I was in Golden Gate Park for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass watching Los Lobos cover BERTHA when one of the Blue Angels, in town for Fleet Week, zoomed into the park, did a tail stand right over my head then rocketed straight up for ten thousand feet with me looking over the pilot's shoulder. Totally amazing... Los Lobos didn't miss a beat....
T-38s? No one's been this close before!
My favorite aircraft of all time! What a majestic hot rod!!
I'm glad that I was able to see the Thunderbirds back when they were flying T-38's
Just oozes speed sitting on the runway. Beautiful bird.
Is this what they flew straight up during Test Pilots School class.? Also I believe the astronauts used it to get around but it had golf clubs pod underneath . I think it was painted blue/white. Was a long time ago I got a tour. Great plane!
I’m not a pilot, but I love aviation and plane watching. My initial amateur interpretation of the clip was an aircraft gaining airspeed but unable to gain altitude. I was very relieved to see that beautiful climb at the end!
I've watched so many F-14s, 15s, 16s, 18s and 22s do this over the years. It is always an awesome experience! I wonder if the T-38's entire fuselage is a fuel tank? This plane is just straight up sexy! That being said, it was interesting to note how long it took to get enough airspeed to start that climb. The first planes I mentioned would have been going straight up in half the distance, or less.
@@Koji-888 No, just no afterburner on those J-57s.
@@kirkf4crewdawg604 Those are GE-J85-5s, and they are using the ABs.
Yeah, for a plane that’s over 50 yrs old why does that surprise you? Yes I know the math was around, but not able to be calculated manually. You have computers and flow dynamics that weren’t even thought of to help in the design. You forget, they used paper and pencil to draft the airplanes.
check out the viperjetmrkII then. the T-38 grown-up
@@yingnyang2889 The problem isn't aerodynamic, it's thrust to weight. There are plenty of 50 year old birds capable of a faster unrestricted climb than this one.
I did only one of those in my 3 years as T-38 instructor. The Air Force allowed them only for Functional Flight Checks but I was departing from Oceana and the Navy didn't care.
And there in a nutshell is the difference between the Navy and the Air Force.
Navy didn't use T-38s. They weren't carrier rated and they used F-5s for DAC.
I was referring to the difference in attitude between the services.
Did you request or did the controller offer the clearance?
@@davidleblanc8467 I truly can’t remember if I requested it or was outright granted by the tower. I know they had to coordinate with Departure control and was capped to 10,000.
At this given situation being at a civilian airport not closed for airshow, does the pilot get permission to go faster than 250 knots (or 200) when given permission for such a climb ? Or does it climb right at that speed limit ?
The military has an exemption to exceed 250 knots below 10k ft when faster speeds are spelled out in the aircraft's flight manual.
The standard speed for buzzing around the traffic pattern in the 38 is 300 kts.
Flap retraction at 0:53 - significant settling? Or just releasing back pressure to get back into ground effect to increase acceleration?
The latter I believe.
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Every morning they played that video (or evening?) before TV was 24/7
@@retiredpd I remember seeing it at night, when the channel was shutting down for the night p.s. my Pappy was a F-86 Driver
I've been in and out of MSP to Signature Aviation about 50 times in the last 15 years. We usually departed from 30L as our destination was to the west. They never cleared us to anything higher than 5000' Of course a PA-31, even with the Colemill Panther conversion didn't climb quite like a T-38 😂😂 Very nice video JA! Thanks. I'll check out more of your vids.
Wow! 🤣. Thank you!
Nice looking plane snd the F5 looks even better
Little T-38 gettin some! Looked awesome.
Today at Langley AFB, I watched five F-22's and five T-38's taking off. The F-22 was wicked loud compared to the T-38, but both were very cool to watch.
Such a gorgeous jet.
I worked these for 5 years and loved them.
When I lived in southern oregon I would see a black t38 flying low over my town every couple months. Cool little jet.
Damn, that was cool. I see the T-38's fly ever day here in CA out of Beale AFB (BB) near my home. Bad ass jet.
Can't find that tripod. Is it specialist?
Retired USAF crew chief of one of the time to climb record T38 60400 out of Columbus AFB, Mississippi in 1977, still gives me goosebumps today. FLEW 2 different incentive flights in the T38 Talon, Go Air Force
I live in Huntsville, AL. I watch the t38s from Columbus on the flight radar app often. A few of them usually come up and do touch and goes at KHSV then head back down to Columbus. I work on Redstone Arsenal, near the airport so I’ll see them in the distance sometimes but not as often as I’d like.
Glad you like the Air Force Air Craft, sure has trained a group of great USAF pilots. Thanks for the comment, Go USAF 👍 😀 🙂 😊
Actual pilots, was this a sloppy take off in your opinion? The gear retraction really drew the plane back toward the ground for my liking, but I'm not a pilot.
It had nothing to do with the landing gear retraction. The pilot raised the flaps after raising the gear handle. The jet 'settled' a little bit due to losing a little lift as the flaps retracted. The lift will be regained as the jet continues to accelerate. Nothing sloppy, just normal ops.
@@mig29fulcrumflyer After studying the video closer, I see the flap refraction, thanks. Again, wondering if this is sloppy though. I'm not seeing much + climb before retracting both the gear and flaps.
I saw four of those bad boys land a couple weeks ago. Pretty sweet.
do they use a spoon to remove the pilot from the chair afterwards?
T-38 are BEAUTIFUL little planes.
There was a retired USAF colonel (Thornton) who had purchased a T-38 and registered it as a general aviation aircraft (N38TC). You may recall this particular aircraft appeared (flown by Col. Thornton) in the movie, Dragnet. You may recall the scene where it pulled up alongside a Lear jet. The T-38 can definitely catch a Lear jet. 😎
That T-38 is still there at Thornton Aviation, Van Nuys, CA.
Loved flying that aircraft in UPT, a long time ago.
I had the good fortune to fly this sleek aircraft and achieve 1.2 mach!
It’s interesting that ACE jets never got the PMP mod since it was performed in 2003, primarily for safety.
In 1986 I was in a debriefing at a strip called Miramar were a Navy pilot named "Mavric" reported a classified incident (some information was left out for OPSEC) with one of these, he and his RIO "Goose" had communicated a foreign relations gesture. "Goose" Even had an image of the event. Moments after that we were all on the flight line about to take off in the F-14 for a training mission.
My good friend a retired Colonel flew a1 in Nam, taught T38 training then moved to the A10 he retired then did another full career flying commercial. he’s been AGL almost as much as he’s been down on the deck with the rest of us
That’s awesome
Imagine the Wright Brothers seeing that. Aviation history is a fast moving history.
I saw 3 Phantoms do that together - loudest sound of freedom I ever hear
Pure vertical thrust at it's best.
I work these T38s out of Vance AFB climbing unrestricted to a block altitude FL250-FL450 on occasion. Specific profile they fly. Must be quite a ride! I’m a center controller.
I wonder if the pilot was reliving the days when the USAF Thunderbirds flew T-38s
Loved flying the T38. I was in class 69-04 at Vance and was pipeline Viet Nam in the U10B (low and slow) 😀
Hello classmate. Randle (Whit) Whitney
Whit, looked you up in class yearbook. I was in the other section. Some things are like yesterday but some seem like a lifetime ago.
My ears popped just watching that!😵💫
Hard to believe it first flew in 1959
Love seeing a jet impersonating the Space-Shuttle on take off ... :-)
saw gene cernan (last man on the moon) do this in nasa t-38. shaw afb sc 1980ish. had just given him wx brief, ops guy told me who he was, and was going to do max performance takeoff. never got more than 6ft entire length of runway then straight up to 35000. rip col.
Wish I was there. I was there to watch the KLM land tho and I’m sure I saw u but Idk what u look like👍🏻
My hometown airport. Nice to see this video, especially with my favorite military aircraft :)
Me and my brother loving seeing t-38s we see them every once and a while go near our house