re: #140 austin_blue

So they are finally replacing the Dirty White Rocket, the T-38, which I trained in in…1979.

And it was old then.

Fun plane to fly, it has wings like knife blades. At around 280 knots, it has a 0 degree angle of attack, which means all of the lift generated by the plane to keep it in the air is generated by the shape of the body, not the wings. You didn’t really do loops, you did high-angle climbs and dives. It was an absolute supersonic telephone pole.

I read the Pilot’s manual for it and it seemed like 1) a hell of a lot of fun and 2) a plane that could the fuck away from a new pilot really easily.