Northrop T-38A Talon

Specifications
Aircraft Type:	Military Trainer
First Flight:	YT-38, April 1959
Wingspan:	25 feet 3 inches
Length:	43 feet
Height:	11 feet 11 inches
Weight:	7,164 pounds
Capacity:	Two
Status:	Display - Static

As America’s fighter industry created the sleek, heavy, supersonic aircraft of the mid-1950s, the United States Air Force needed a trainer that flew more like their big jet fighters. Northrop’s solution was the safe and forgiving T-38 Talon, which had enough speed and power to act like the day’s modern tactical aircraft. Inexpensive to maintain and with the best safety record of any plane in the Air Force inventory, T-38s continues to fly today. On long-term loan from the United States Air Force Museum, the Museum’s T-38 was built in 1964 by Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorn, California and began U.S. Air Force service on September 14, 1964.