HAF T-37 Tweety Bird, Spin Experience

The Cessna T-37 Tweet is one of the most prominent of the trainer-attack type aircraft. This small, economical twin-engine jet aircraft flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force, and in the air forces of several other nations. The A-37 Dragonfly variant served with distinction in the light attack role during the Vietnam War.

Fifty-two years after its first flight, the T-37 is still serving the U.S. military, giving the Air Force's primary pilot training students the experience needed before moving on to the Northrop T-38 Talon, Beechcraft T-1A Jayhawk, Bell UH-1 Huey, United States Navy Beechcraft T-44 Pegasus, or other advanced Navy, Marine Corps or Allied trainers. 1,269 Cessna T-37s were built with 419 still serving in the United States Air Force in 2006. In 2001 the USAF began replacing the T-37 with the T-6 Texan II.

Origins

The Cessna Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas earned a good reputation with the United States Army during World War II and the Korean War with the company's highly-regarded utility, light transport, and observation aircraft, particularly the "O-1 Bird Dog" series.

In the spring of 1952, the United States Air Force (USAF) issued a request for proposals for a "Trainer Experimental (TX)" program, specifying a lightweight two-seat basic trainer for introducing USAF cadets to jet aircraft.

Cessna responded to the TX request with a twin-jet design that featured side-by-side seating. The USAF liked the Cessna design, which was given the company designation of "Model 318", and particularly liked the side-by-side seating since it let the student and instructor interact more closely than with tandem seating. In the spring of 1954, the USAF awarded Cessna a contract for three prototypes of the Model 318, and a contract for a single static test aircraft. The Air Force designated the type as XT-37.

The first XT-37 first flew in October 1954. It had a low straight wing, with the engines buried in the wing roots; a clamshell-type canopy, hinged to open vertically to the rear; a control layout similar to that of contemporary operational USAF aircraft; ejection seats; and tricycle landing gear with a wide track of 4.3 m (14 ft).

The wide track and a steerable nosewheel made the aircraft easy to handle on the ground, and the short landing gear avoided need for access ladders and service stands. The aircraft was designed to be simple to maintain, with more than a hundred access panels and doors. An experienced ground crew could change an engine in about a half hour.

The XT-37 was aerodynamically clean, and so an air brake was fitted behind the nosewheel door to reduce landing speed. Since the short landing gear placed the engine air intakes close to the ground, screens pivoted over the intakes from underneath when the landing gear was extended, to prevent foreign object damage.

The XT-37 was fitted with two Continental-Teledyne J69-T-9 turbojet engines with 920 lbf (4.1 kN) thrust each. These were French Turbomeca Marboré engines built under license. The engines had thrust deflectors to allow the engines to remain spooled up (i.e. rotating at speeds above idle) during landing approach, permitting shorter landings while still allowing the aircraft to easily make another "go-round" in case something went wrong. Empty weight of the XT-37 was 2.27 tonnes (5,000 lb).

Tests showed the XT-37 had a maximum speed of 628 km/h (390 mph) at altitude, with a range of 1,505 km (935 mi). The aircraft was unpressurized, and so limited to a ceiling of 7.6 km (25,000 ft) by USAF regulations.

The initial prototype crashed during spin tests. The later prototypes had new features to improve handling, including long strakes along the nose, and an extensively redesigned and enlarged tail. After these modifications, the USAF found the aircraft acceptable to their needs, and ordered it into production as the T-37A. Even so, the aircraft remained tricky in recovering from a spin; the recovery procedure was complex compared with most aircraft.

Operational history

The T-37A was delivered to the U.S. Air Force beginning in June 1956. The USAF began cadet training in the T-37A during 1957. The first T-37B was delivered in 1959. Instructors and students considered the T-37A a pleasant aircraft to fly. It handled well and was agile and responsive, though it was definitely not overpowered. It was capable of all traditional aerobatic maneuvers.

The type remained in service with the USAF into the 21st century, having survived various attempts to find a replacement. However, the Tweet is now being phased out in favor of the turboprop-powered Beechcraft T-6A Texan II (a turboprop aircraft with more power and modern avionics).

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• HAF
• 360
• 361
• 362
• 363
• 364
• 120
• pea
• T-6
• Texan
• T-2
• buckeye
• scramble
• rediness
• dogfight
• DAE
• epkpedeysi
• sxoli
• ilarwn
• SETHE

[zimmermann10]

Fake

[tasoscorsair]

@zimmermann10 and why you say that?

[zimmermann10]

@tasoscorsair The spin was made with the help of PC, a kind of assembly of footages, sorry!

[tasoscorsair]

@zimmermann10 no man, its not made with a help of a pc... well the video is made at mid 90's and since 1963 that it entered in use with HAF its a standard exercise for the 4th year cadets.... sorry!

[DelNegro10]

@tasoscorsair

Yes, it is really a fake, zimmermann10 are right. The T-37 is well know like a aircraft that does not leave the spin!

[tasoscorsair]

@DelNegro10 its a jet training aircraft that prepares pilots for fighters, its supposed to leave the spin in order to prepare you for the fighter...

[tasoscorsair]

@DelNegro10 plus look at the shadows and the direction of the sun light, you cant fake these.

[Staf1221]

too much cutting :(

its more video for song than song used in video

[95in3rd]

Throttles idle. Rudder and ailerons neutral. Stick abruptly full aft and hold. Rudder-abruptly apply full rudder opposite spin direction opposite turn needle and hold. Stick abruptly full forward one full turn after applying rudder. Controls neutral after spinning stops and recover from dive.

[williamkwright]

@95in3rd Been there, done that!

[JPVick123]

Check out ...... WWII AT-6 Part II .... if you'd like to see a 12 turn spin in a AT-6

[penguin217]

song is crap!

[avionicswirenut]

I worked on the T-37B in America for 15 years....Good old ship...My father was an instructor pilot on the T-37B in the 60's.....

[wilderh123]

You can complain about the editing but the video accurately depicts the T-37 spin. It just doesn't depict the feeling you get when you have no control over your airplane because it has stalled.

[kolbpilot]

0:58  Left rudder .