Nederlandse Modelbouw en Luchtvaartsite

History

Lockheed T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star.
This aircraft made its maiden flight as early as 1944 and there were more than 1700 Shooting Stars were built.

Due to the large number of accidents at the beginning of the career of the P-80, the USAF decided to develop a trainer version, the TP-80C, which made its first flight in March 1948.
This prototype had originally also two additional tip tanks at the wing-tips, but because an internal fuel tank was removed because of the second seat, the flight range was very small. It was therefore decided to replace the two tip tanks with two fixed tanks of 230 gallons each.

In 1949, the type designation was changed to Lockheed T-33A, because of the large number of differences from the P-80.
Eventually more than 6500 aircraft built, including a version for the U.S. Navy, marked Lockheed TV-2, covering more than 950 pieces.

Furthermore, Kawasaki has 190 units built under license in Canada by Canadair and a further 656 examples with a Rolls Royce Nene of 2313 kg of thrust.