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TEMCO TT-1 Pinto

1959 COLD WAR

History

When the United States Air Force (USAF) was looking for a new base trainer, Temco Aircraft returned with their Jet 51, a straight-wing, single-engine development with two crew members in a large Tandem seating under the canopy. Since the junior trainer is a stepping stone between classroom instruction and the advanced fighter trainer, the Type 51 was purposely designed with fighter-like features, including turbojets (as opposed to the traditional propeller appearance found in the basic trainer type) ). Retractable tricycle landing gear and ejection seat. Despite these efforts, the competing Cessna T-37 "Tweet" family remained in service with only 15 Type 51 aircraft, officially designated TT "Pinto".

After its first flight on March 26, 1956 and its launch in 1959, the series was discontinued in 1961.

The TT is powered by a Continental Motors (Teledyne) YJ69-T-9 turbojet engine buried in the rear of the fuselage and sucked in through small crescent-shaped air intakes on the sides of the fuselage. This engine is a licensed engine of French origin, better known worldwide as the Turbomeca "Marbore" and powers similar types of aircraft such as the Fouga Magister and Hispano HA-200.

The unit produced 920 pounds of thrust, enabling the plane to reach speeds of 345 miles per hour and fly at 250 miles per hour. The aircraft has a service ceiling of 30,000 feet (requiring a pressurized cockpit and oxygen for two crew members) and a climb rate of 1,900 feet per minute.

Beginning in 1959, the TT was used by Air Force Training Command in Pensacola, Florida, but did not justify its use as a standard basic jet trainer. This resulted in their rather brief combat tenures, which ended under the banner of the United States Navy's (USN) Naval Air Training Command. A 1968 initiative by the American Jet Industries (AJI) attempted to revive the design with a General Electric CJ610-6 turbojet (2,850 lb thrust) as the T-610 "Super Pinto" for use as a light attack platform.

Only the Philippine Air Force has shown interest in the improved aircraft and plans to produce it locally. However, only one prototype of the model exists before it officially ends.

An example of a Pinto is on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.