2 May 1977

The first 10 female officers to graduate from the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program, Class 77-08, with a Northrop T-38A Talon, 2 September 1977. (U.S. Air Force)
The first 10 female officers to graduate from the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program, Class 77-08, with a Northrop T-38A Talon, 2 September 1977. (U.S. Air Force)

2 May 1977: First Lieutenant Christine E. Schott, USAF, was the first woman in the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program to solo in the Northrop T-38A Talon at Williams AFB, Arizona. She was a member of Class 77-08, which entered on 19 September 1976.

Northrop T-38A-55-NO Talon 64-13302 on takeoff at Edwards AFB. (U.S. Air Force)
A Northrop T-38A Talon two-place, twin engine supersonic trainer (T-38A-55-NO Talon 64-13302) at Edwards AFB. (U.S. Air Force)

The ten women in this photograph, along with their 36 male classmates, received their Silver Wings on 2 September 1977. They are Captains Connie Engel, Kathy La Sauce, Mary Donahue, Susan Rogers and Christine Schott; First Lieutenants Sandra Scott and Victoria Crawford; Second Lieutenants Mary Livingston, Carol Scherer and Kathleen Rambo.

Captain Christine E. Schott would later be the first woman in the Air Force to qualify and serve as an aircraft commander on the C-9A Nightingale medical transport.

Screen Shot 2016-05-01 at 12.36.16
Above image from “Chronological History of the C-9A Nightingale,” by Cadet 1st Class Janene L. Drummer and Ms. Kathryn A. Wilcoxson, Office of History, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Illinois, March 2001)
McDonnell Douglas C-9A Nightingale, 71-0874. (U.S. Air Force)
McDonnell Douglas C-9A Nightingale, 71-0874. (U.S. Air Force)

A private venture by Northrop, the Talon was designed by a team led by Edgar Schmued, famous for his work on the North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre and the F-100 Super Sabre. The Talon is a twin-engine advanced trainer capable of supersonic speeds. More than 5,500 hours of wind tunnel testing was performed before the airplane’s final configuration was determined.

The T-38 was the world’s first supersonic flight trainer. The Northrop T-38A Talon is a pressurized, two-place, twin-engine, jet trainer. Its fuselage is very aerodynamically clean and uses the “area-rule” (“coked”) to improve its supersonic capability. It is 46 feet, 4.5 inches (14.135 meters) long with a wingspan of 25 feet, 3 inches (7.696 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10.5 inches (3.924 meters). The one-piece wing has an area of 170 square feet (15.79 square meters). The leading edge is swept 32º. The airplane’s empty weight is 7,200 pounds (3,266 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight is approximately 12,700 pounds (5,761 kilograms).

The T-38A is powered by two General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojet engines. The J85 is a single-shaft axial-flow turbojet engine with an 8-stage compressor section and 2-stage turbine. The J85-GE-5 is rated at 2,680 pounds of thrust (11.921 kilonewtons), and 3,850 pounds (17.126 kilonewtons) with afterburner. It is 108.1 inches (2.746 meters) long, 22.0 inches (0.559 meters) in diameter and weighs 584 pounds (265 kilograms).

The T-38A has a maximum speed of Mach 1.08 (822 miles per hour/1,323 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and Mach 1.3 (882 miles per hour/1,419 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). It has a rate of climb of 33,600 feet per minute (171 meters per second) and a service ceiling of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters). Its range is 1,140 miles (1,835 kilometers).*

In production from 1961 to 1972, Northrop has produced nearly 1,200 T-38s. In 2001, most T-38A and T-38B Talons were upgraded to teh T-38C standard. As of January 2014, the U.S. Air Force had 546 T-38A Talons in the active inventory. It also remains in service with the U.S. Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“Air-to-air right side view of a USAF T-38 Talon aircraft from the 560th Flying Training Squadron, Randolph AFB, Texas as their wingman banks to the left. (photo U.S. Air Force)”

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

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8 thoughts on “2 May 1977

  1. Flew the 38 10 hours in preparation for checking out in the F-5C. Both wonderful planes and a pleasure to fly! Thank you Northrop and Edgar Schmued!

  2. 2 May, 1977 (female pilots)

    This was big news back in the day.

    (On a totally unrelated note, it was also my 32nd day since starting U.S. Navy basic training at RTC Great Lakes, IL)

    The restrictions put on females in the military were beginning to be cast aside. Now, no one gives a second thought to women flying all types of military aircraft, which is how it always should have been. (Just saying.) 🙂

    What a beautiful photo of the T-38! Bryan, you do a great job of finding these.

    MK

  3. Have a T 38 Talon at Castle Air Museum and I love ❤️ the looks and dynamics of design. Beautiful ship.

    1. The T-38 was designed by Edgar Schmued, who had previously designed the North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, the F-86 Sabre, F-100 Super Sabre, and the Navion. He certainly knew his was around a drafting table. 🙂

  4. The T 38 was the first supersonic trainer designed for that purpose (training), but the supersonic Grumman F11 Tiger was used in Navy Advanced flight training at NAS Kingsville and NAS Beeville. Both in Texas. The F11 was used in training from the early 60’s until about 1966.

  5. Such a great blog! Thank you for sharing all of this invaluable history. My grandfather was shot down over Germany as part of Mission 63, June 13, 1945. I saw your post about it but comments are closed. He wrote a short story about his experience that day. If possible, would love to get your thoughts on where I could share this.

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