Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star

The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, or T-Bird, is a subsonic jet trainer designed and produced by Lockheed. Originally designated TP-80C/TF-80C, it was derived from the P-80 jet fighter by lengthening the fuselage by 38.5 inches and adding a second seat with dual controls under a longer canopy. The T-33A flew first on 22 March 1948 and entered United States Air Force service as an advanced trainer shortly after, proving popular with other operators; the Navy flew the TO-2 and TV-2, and the carrier-capable T2V SeaStar was a derivative. A total of 6,557 were produced: 5,691 by Lockheed, 210 under licence by Kawasaki and 656 by Canadair as the T-33AN/CT-133 Silver Star. Most were unarmed, though some carried a pair of machine guns for gunnery training, and some services used the type in combat, among them Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Indonesia in East Timor. The last operator, the Bolivian Air Force, withdrew its final T-33s in July 2017.