In Other News... T-38s In the News. Again. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/supersonic-shockwave-interaction.htmlThe T-38 is another of those iconic birds like the B-52; and like the Stratofortress, 60 years later she has outlived every plane meant to replace her. She was designed in a different age; when pilots were meant to fall in love with their aircraft, and she is certainly a comely creature, even if intended as a trainer. It is entirely possible her feminine curves were deliberate; to excite the male libido and ego as one, driving enlistment.
I know I was smitten after sitting in one for just a few minutes when I was eight years old; the Thunderbirds flew them back then and I went to a show. They had one of the second string aircraft (or maybe it was being transported) set up on the tarmac by the bleachers, and every kid lined up for their chance to actually lay hands on her.
In retrospect, she was a little old and tired even then; I can close my eyes to this day and see the shiny patches under and around the castle button on the stick, and paint worn through almost to white aluminum where gloved hands had flipped the same dozen or so toggles on the dash uncountable times. But to me she gleamed and shone as new. I can still remember the smell of smoked rubber and canvas and kerosene.
After that I pestered my grandparents and then my mom for weeks to get me the model kit I saw at the local Woolworth's Five & Dime. It was my first model ever; I was so careful with the glue (the real kind with toluene, that gave me a terrible headache) and I used my penknife to cut the pieces apart. The decals... oh my gawd, they drove me mad. But eventually I pieced them together in some semblance of that beloved paint scheme, as good as the real thing to my youngling eyes.
I flew so many sorties with that model... against pigeons and haybales and even my models of the NCC-1701 Enterprise, and Luke's X-Wing... but I couldn't make the cut to fly the real thing. *sigh*
*mnemories*