Navy T-39N (Sabreliner) crashes in north Georgia: 3 dead, 1 missing.

[DemoTex]

A Navy training jet crashed in a north Georgia forest on Monday, killing at least three people aboard and setting more than 10 acres of woodland ablaze, local and federal authorities said.

A fourth person aboard the jet was unaccounted for Monday night, said Harry White, spokesman for the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the crash of the twin-engine T-39N trainer caused no injuries on the ground. It went down just north of Morganton, Georgia, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, Fannin County Sheriff's Maj. Keith Bosen said.

"We got reports that it was flying pretty low," Bosen said. The plane had flown north-northeast over the nearby town of Blue Ridge before it went down about 4:40 p.m., he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/12/georgia.military.aircraft.down/index.html?hpt=T2

Primary Function: Training platform for Navy/Marine Corps flight officers.
Contractor: North American Rockwell.
Propulsion: two Pratt & Whitney J-60-P-3 at 3,000 pounds thrust each.
Length: 44 feet (13.41 meters).
Height: 16 feet (4.88 meters).
Wingspan: 44 feet 6 inches (13.56 meters).
Weight: maximum takeoff, 18,650 pounds (8,460 kg).
Airspeed: 434 knots (499.44 miles per hour; 803.77 km per hour).
Ceiling: 42,000 feet (12,802 meters).
Range: 1,476 nautical miles (1,699 statute miles; 2,734 km).
Crew: Two (7 passengers).
Armament: None.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Thanks. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. Those have been around for a long time. No? Isn't that what Pussy Galore flew?

[DemoTex]

3. The T-39 has been around for a very long time.

It was one of three corporate jets that were originally designed to military specifications (North American Sabreliner/T-39, Lockheed Jetstar/C-140, and Hawker-Siddley 125). The T-39 was built specifically for the US Navy and this is reflected in the relatively high lower sill of the entry door frame; the Navy required that the door be above the aircraft's floating water line in case of ditching at sea.

[FightingIrish]

4. At risk of sounding really old,

When I went through BNAO School, now VT-10, this is what we flew all over Alabama, Georgia and the Florida panhandle. We trained in contact navigation over vast areas that all looked the same. I had one instructor who refused to switch fuel tanks until the engine started to quit. He was a screamer who enjoyed wadding up a trainee's chart and throwing it in his face. He was affectionately know as Sweet Old Bob.

The plane was the UC-45J, also designated the SNB. We called it the "Bug Smasher" or alternatively the "Super Navy Bomber"

[DemoTex]

5. I'm long in tooth, too .. I remember the C-45 and variants.

And the T-28 Trojan. I love radial engines. 'Course I'm partial to the Lockheed P-2 (specifically the SP-2E (-5): R3350's + the Westinghouse jets. The R-3350 compound engine (two banks of 13 cylinders each - 26 total) had 3350 cu-in displacement and developed 3350 HP (1 HP/CU-IN!!!!)).


One of a half dozen U.S. Army SP-2E's (ASA) of the 1st Radio Research Company (509th RR Group - 224th RR Battalion (AVN) at Naval Air Facility (NAF), Cam Ranh Bay, Viet Nam, in early 1971). We flew these on long night missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, all top-secret code-word. Our call-signs, if you were there, included Crazy-Cat, Cat's Paw, or Vanguard (and a couple of others for up-Laos missions near Dien Bien Phu (got pics!).

A US Navy admiral friend of mine once published (about the Army SP-2E missions): "Few ever flew such a dated aircraft on such a long, dangerous mission. I'll carry your helmet bags anywhere."

Two-turnin', two burnin'!