T-43 Bobcat Information & T-43 Bobcat Links at HealthHaven.com

T-43
Role	Military training and transport aircraft
Manufacturer	Boeing
Introduced	September 1973
Status	Active service
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	19
Unit cost	$5,390,000
Developed from	Boeing 737

The Boeing T-43 Bobcat is a modified Boeing 737-200 used by the United States Air Force. Informally referred to as the Gator (an abbreviation of "navigator"), nineteen of these aircraft were delivered during 1973 and 1974. The primary mission of the T-43 is as navigator training aircraft, although several were later converted to CT-43As as executive transports.

[edit] Design and development

A T-43 in flight

The T-43As are used for USAF Undergraduate Navigator/Combat Systems Officer training (with the exception of those USAF Navs/CSOs slated for the F-15E and B-1B) and advanced interservice NAV pipeline training for Student Naval Flight Officers slated for eventual assignment to land-based naval aircraft. Externally, the T-43 differs from the civilian aircraft by having more antennas and fewer windows.

The T-43A has stations onboard for twelve navigator students, six navigator instructors, as well as a pilot and co-pilot. The student training compartment is equipped with avionics gear as used in contempary operational aircraft. This includes ground mapping radar; VOR (VHF omnirange) and TACAN (tactical air navigation) avionics systems; Long Range Navigation System (LORAN-C); inertial navigation system; radar altimeter; and all required VHF, UHF and HF communications equipment. Five periscopic sextant stations spaced along the length of the training compartment are used for celestial navigation training. However, with the advent of GPS, student navigators are no longer taught celestial navigation or LORAN.

The aircraft has considerably more training capability than the aircraft it replaced, the T-29B and T-29C. Introduction of the T-43 into Air Force Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT) in 1974 also enabled the U.S. Navy to disestablish Training Squadron TWENTY-NINE (VT-29) and its T-29 aircraft at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas that had been training student Naval Flight Officers for various land-based naval aircraft such as the P-3 Orion and variants of the C-130 Hercules. The Navy then merged its NFO "NAV" pipeline with Air Force UNT in 1976, forming Interservice Undergraduate Navigator Training (IUNT) with both Navy students and instructors.

Inside each T-43A training compartment are two minimum proficiency, two maximum proficiency and 12 student navigator stations. Two stations form a console, and instructors can move their seats to the consoles and sit beside students for individual instruction. The large cabin allows easy access to seating and storage, yet reduces the distance between student stations and instructor positions.

The aircraft were initially assigned to the 323rd Flying Training Wing (323 FTW) of the Air Training Command (ATC) at Mather AFB, CA, plus two additional aircraft assigned to the Colorado Air National Guard to support introductory air navigation training for cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. When the 323 FTW was inactivated and Mather AFB closed by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action in the early 1990s, most of the T-43s were transferred to the 12th Flying Training Wing (12 FTW) of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) at Randolph AFB, TX, with the 12 FTW assuming the navigator training role.

[edit] Operational history

Boeing T-43A of the USAF 562nd Flying Training Squadron

Six aircraft^[2] of the nineteen originally ordered are still in service for the Air Force in their original role, based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas and operated originally by the 558th Flying Training Squadron (558 FTS) and since 1996 by the 562d Flying Training Squadron and by the 563d Flying Training Squadron since 1999. Two other aircraft are used for similar purposes by the Colorado Air National Guard at Buckley AFB and Peterson AFB, Colorado in support of cadet flight training at the United States Air Force Academy.

In addition, several T-43A were later modified to a transport aircraft configuration designated CT-43A, such as one previously operated by the 6th Air Mobility Wing (6 AMW) at MacDill AFB, Florida in support of United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) for transport of the USSOUTHCOM Commander in Central and South America. The 6 AMW's CT-43A aircraft was replaced by a Gulfstream C-37A aircraft in early 2001.

[edit] Variants

T-43A: Model 737-253 powered by two JT8-D9 engines and provision for 3 instructors and 16 student navigators, 19 built.^[3]
CT-43A: T-43As converted as staff transports.

[edit] Operators

United States

United States Air Force

[edit] Accident

Main article: 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash

USAF MH-53J Pave Low helicopter near the wreckage of the USAF CT-43A in Croatia in 1996

On 3 April 1996, a CT-43A, USAF Serial No. 73-1149, carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 other passengers and crew crashed in Croatia. There were no survivors.