@ Titusville, FL
September 2021
A Cold War training aircraft on display at the Valiant Air Command museum. The T-2 Buckeye was the U.S. Navy’s intermediate training aircraft, used to introduce Navy and Marine Corps student naval aviators and student naval flight officers to jets. Every jet-qualified Naval Aviator and virtually every Naval Flight Officer from the late 1950s until 2004 received training in the T-2 Buckeye, a length of service spanning four decades. It entered service in 1959 and was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk in 2008. The type is still in active service with the Hellenic Air Force. All 609 T-2 aircraft were manufactured by North American at Air Force Plant 85 in Columbus, Ohio. The aircraft was named after the state tree of Ohio, as well as the mascot of Ohio State University.
