On 2007-06-19 00:18:23 -0400, "Marty" said:

Hi Dudley,

I found that you have time in the T38 Talon. Is it as sweet to fly as it
looks?

Back in 85 at Oshkosh they had the civilian owned T38 on the ramp that I
later saw in a Pepsi commercial (Top Gun inspired) and in the movie Dragnet.
After getting back to camp I was telling a buddy of my instant fondness of
the jet. He dismissed it as "just a trainer".
After over 20 years, the Talon remains my favorite and grabs my attention
whether sitting on the ramp, in the air or even in short movie shot like in
Apollo 13.

Marty in Mo.

Hi Marty;

The 38 lists high on the list of airplanes I have flown. It is indeed
one of the true "fun" machines.
The comment made by your friend I find quite amusing :-)
The 38 was actually designed from the ground up to train pilots who
would be flying extremely high performance fighter planes. Considering
this purpose alone, Northrop built into the airplane sensitivity and
attention to handling that actually exceeded in many cases the
difficulity and attention to handling found in the fighters the pilots
would be flying after flying the Talon.
It is said within the Air Force, and rightly so, that NO pilot having
gone through the Talon program has to EVER be ashamed to "brag" about
having flown it :-)
We have a saying about the Talon;
"It sits on the ramp and gives you the impression it's going Mach 1"
Dudley Henriques