Tweet closes 42-year Randolph career

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lindsey Maurice
  • 12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
SAN ANTONIO (AFNEWS) --  After 42 years of serving as the primary pilot instructor training aircraft at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, the T-37 Tweet turned its reigns over to the T-6 Texan II in a special ceremony April 6 at 3:59 p.m. on the west ramp behind Hangar 64. 

During its time at Randolph flying with the 559th Flying Training Squadron, the Tweet flew more than 597,000 sorties, logging more than 813,000 hours and training 7,737 T-37 instructor pilots. 

"In many respects the T-37 is the foundation upon which American airpower was built for nearly the past 50 years," said Lt. Col. Mitch Ashmore, 559th FTS director of operations. "It became the proving ground to determine those who have what it takes to become a pilot in the world's greatest Air Force." 

"Most Air Force pilots learned to fly in this airplane, and just like your first car holds a special place in your heart, so does the T-37 for those who learned to fly on it," he said. "Randolph was a large part of that heritage forging pilots for 42 years and for most of that time producing Air Education and Training Command instructors in the T-37 from October 1965 to April 2007." 

Highlights of the ceremony included remarks from guest speaker retired Col. Robert Hermanson, 559th FTS commander from July 1974 to July 1976; a flyby of a T-37 and T-6 symbolizing the past and future of the primary PIT mission; and a special presentation of a heritage board with a drawing of the T-37 and signatures of various instructors, maintainers, life support and SARM personnel from throughout the Tweet's Randolph career. 

The 4-by-8-foot board will be hung in the 559th FTS as a final tribute to the T-37 and to those who supported its mission, said Colonel Ashmore. 

The colonel remembered his first assignment following undergraduate pilot training as a T-37 instructor at then-Reese Air Force Base. 

"Mid-career I flew the T-37 at Randolph and now in my final assignment before I retire I am again flying the T-37 at Randolph," he said. "I have more than 2,400 hours in the airframe. It's a very reliable and capable aircraft and perfectly suited for the mission it performs. I'll miss most hearing the high pitched 'dog whistle' annoying whine the engines make announcing a T-37 is taxiing to park." 

Joe Titus, 12th Maintenance Directorate avionics specialist, said he also holds a special place in his heart for the Tweet after working with the airframe for more than 10 years. 

"I really enjoyed working on the aircraft," he said. "It's a very reliable plane as you can see, having been around for so long. It's also a lot easier to trouble shoot and maintain than some of the newer aircraft - much like working on an old car. I got to know its quirks over the years and what I needed to do to fix her." 

Colonel Ashmore added that the Randolph Tweet maintenance team is the backbone of the 559th FTS' T-37 mission. 

"The maintainers at Randolph have done a superb job keeping our aircraft in top shape," he said. "Some of our T-37s have more than 19,000 hours on them. That's equivalent to flying them once a day for over an hour every day for 50 years. Try doing that with your car!" 

Randolph's last class of T-37 instructor pilots graduated March 26 and are now instructing pilots at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, where the T-37B will remain in the Air Force fleet for a couple more years before it retires permanently.

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