The US Navys Primary and Intermediate Jet Trainers
By: Norm Goyer
After World War II and Korea, but before the Vietnam war, the Navy turned to pure jet trainers. Their goal was to start pilots flying jets with zero time in any prop driven aircraft. In March 1959, Aviation Cadet E. R. Clark soloed in a TT-1, the first student in Naval Aviation history to solo a jet without previous experience in propeller aircraft. As history tells us, it did work, but eventually the training command reverted back to increment training, which seemed to be better suited for both new pilots and the Navy.
Temco was not able to obtain the correct engine for the TT-1 and the program was delayed.
Cadet Clark soloed in a rare Navy primary trainer, the Temco Pinto, better known as the “Tinker Toy.” Temco only built 15 of them because the Navy initially did not order any. The Temco Model 51 was initially designed in response to an Air Force competition for a jet-powered primary trainer. Cessna’s T-37 “Tweet” won the contract, but the little, inexpensive Temco Pinto also caught the Navy‘s eye. The idea of the Pinto was an attempt to provide primary training in a jet-powered aircraft and thus save the Navy time and money.
There were only 15 Pintos manufactured. This one is civilian registered.
The Pinto was a conventional mid-wing, tricycle landing gear trainer with a two- place, tandem cockpit, powered by a single Continental J69-T-9, built under a license from Turbomeca Marboré. The “Pinto” carried no armament. The TT-1s were equipped with many of the same features found in current military jets, including, ejection seats, liquid oxygen equipment, speed-brakes, along with typical flight controls and instrument panels. Although the flight characteristics were considered good, the “wave off” capability was rated marginal due to it being slightly underpowered. This was the main reason the Navy did not purchase any. At the time, Temco was only able to obtain this underpowered engine, it was not their first choice. After its first flight in 1956, fourteen TT-1 Pintos were subsequently produced between 1955 and 1957.
The Rockwell T-2 Buckeye was used by the US Navy as an intermediate jet transition trainer.
In 1968, American Jet Industries bought a surplus Temco Pinto and installed a CJ-610 producing more that three times the power and weighing only 20 pounds more. The “Super” Pinto was a one-off but was so successful that the remaining Pintos were all converted to “Super Pintos. The Super had the J-85 engine with 2,850 pounds of thrust and an increase to 320 gallons of fuel. Cruise speed was increased to 400 mph, max speed increased to 550 mph and the rate of climb shot up to 10,000 feet per minute. Takeoff roll was now only 500 feet. The Super Pinto also had many minor revisions due to the increased fuel and engine size. The Navy did want the Super Pinto.
In 1959, this small fleet of primary jet aircraft served in the Air Training Command at Pensacola, Florida. They were used in a training program demonstrating the feasibility of using a jet powered trainer for primary flight training. This was the airplane that Cadet Clark soloed.
Other countries, including Greece, purchased the Rockwell T-2 for their air forces.
The Navy reverted to primary training in their fleet of Beechcraft T-34C turboprops and then transitioned the cadets into the North American T-2 Buckeye for more advanced jet training including carrier use. The North American T-2 Buckeye was the United States Navy’s intermediate training aircraft, intended to introduce student Naval aviators to the jet age. The Buckeye entered initial service in 1959, and eventually was replaced by the T-45 Goshawk in 2008; that’s almost 50 years of heavy duty training. It is evident that the Rockwell T-2 was a very rugged aircraft. The original Buckeye only had a single-engine, but the aircraft was subsequently redesigned. The single engine was replaced with two Pratt & Whitney J60-P-6 turbojets in the T-2B. The aircraft was upgraded once again and the T-2C was fitted with two even more powerful General Electric J85-GE-4 turbojets.
Initially, the Buckeye was designed as a low-cost multi-stage trainer. Its straight wing is similar to that used in the original North American FJ-1 Fury. Its cockpit controls are similar to the T-28C trainer which many Navy cadets had soloed in. The T-2’s performance is between the Air Force’s Cessna T-37 Tweet, and the Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk. It has no built-in armament, but does has two underwing hardpoints for gun pods, 100 lb practice bombs or 2.75 inch rockets. All 273 T-2 Buckeyes were manufactured in Columbus, Ohio. The name Buckeye refers to the state tree of Ohio, as well as the mascot of the Ohio State University.
Virtually every Naval aviator from the late 1950’s until 2004 received training in the T-2 Buckeye, a career spanning four decades. In the Naval aviator syllabus, the T-2 has been replaced by the near-sonic T-45 Goshawk (the US Navy version of the BAE Hawk), which is more comparable to other high performance subsonic trainers, or the USAF T-38 Talon. More recently, the T-2 has been used as a director aircraft for aerial drones. Several T-2 Buckeyes are now registered in civilian markings and regularly appear at air shows.
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