The Air Force will station seven T-38 Talons at Langley AFB, Va., for use as companion trainers for the F-22s of Langley’s 1st Fighter Wing. They will give Langley’s F-22 pilots additional flight hours and serve as Raptor adversaries in flight exercises. Capt. Shannon Collins, Air Combat Command spokeswoman, told the Daily Report that the T-38s are scheduled to arrive between March and September 2011. Dual-qualified F-22/T-38 pilots as well as pilots awaiting F-22 training will fly these T-38s, she said. No additional pilots will be assigned to Langley. These Langley-bound aircraft are reported to be ex-South Korean T-38Bs and not Air Education and Training Command T-38Cs. M1 Support Services of Denton, Tex., will maintain them. News surfaced at the end of November that the Air Force intends to base a T-38 contingent at Tyndall AFB, Fla., also home to F-22s, for similar purposes.
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.