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Tweet complete: T-37 retires after 39 years of service

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman John Parie
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  After 39 years of service as the gateway to the sky for more than 10,000 Columbus AFB-based Air Force aviators, the T-37B Tweet formally retired Thursday from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training.

Columbus AFB was the last SUPT base flying the T-37. Vance AFB, Okla., and Laughlin AFB, Texas, phased out the T-37 from their pilot training programs in 2007. The T-37 will continue to be used at Sheppard AFB, Texas, in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program.

"If you are a flier or a maintainer of any airplane there is an emotional attachment," said Maj. Gen. Irving L. Halter, 19th Air Force commander. "The T-37 is a part of the fabric of Air Force aviation as well as American aviation."

The first T-37 arrived at Columbus AFB in 1969 in preparation for the base's realignment from Strategic Air Command to Air Training Command in 1970.

In 1970, Columbus AFB undertook the undergraduate pilot training mission, utilizing the T-37 for its primary training, and the T-38 talon for advanced training.

T-37 tail number 68-8068 arrived at Columbus AFB from the Cessna factory in Wichita, Kan., Sept. 25, 1969, with a grand total of 9.1 flight hours to its credit.

Thirty-nine years later, on March 31, 68-8068 was flown for the last student training sortie in the T-37 at Columbus AFB. Instructor pilot, Maj. Robert McGrath, and student pilot, Capt. Jay Labrum, flew the aircraft's 10,351st sortie.  The trainer jet ended its service to Columbus with 16,637.6 flying hours.  

With the completion of his training sortie, Captain Labrum was the last SUPT student to utter the time honored words of "Tweet Complete," signifying his completion of Phase II of the Air Force SUPT program and the T-37B Tweet.

"The T-37 has been a symbol of Air Force pilot training for half a century," said Lt. Col. David Johnson, 37th Flying Training Squadron commander. "While getting newer aircraft is always a good thing, the Tweet was a living, breathing piece of pilot training heritage being used on a daily basis to train our young men and women."

The retirement ceremony culminated with a four-ship T-37 fly over by members of the 37th Flying Training Squadron.

"Goodbye, old girl -- we are going to miss you," General Halter said, as he concluded his speech. "You have done much for this nation and have made dreams come true."