Hagedorn, Dan/Lijf, Rob van Shooting Stars in Southern Skies

The Lockheed F-80 and T-33 in Latin American Service

While it is true that the highly successful Lend-Lease Act of the Second World War fundamentally changed military aviation in Latin America, the bold decision by the American leadership to equip almost all major air forces with state-of-the-art jet trainers and fighter-bombers just eight years later was nothing short of sensational. In retrospect, the introduction of smaller packages of the exceptional T-33A jet trainer in no fewer than seven of the 21 traditional Latin American republics and the accompanying missions of the US Air Force not only led to the rapid modernisation of these institutions, but also to a targeted regional alignment of armaments as a calculated by-product. After the T-33s were integrated, the key players were followed by refurbished F-80C fighter-bombers, which were valued by their recipients as unparalleled status symbols in a region where such instruments of diplomacy and national importance were cause for celebration. Ultimately, all but six of these 21 nations deployed T-33s, with Argentina and Venezuela coming close but opting for other platforms instead, which in hindsight provided much food for discussion. But just as in the United States and other parts of the world, the reliable, robust T-33s far outlasted their F-80 siblings, and as most Latin American operators soon discovered, the T-Birds could do everything the F-80s could do and more. Several books have dealt with the advent of jet fighter aircraft in Latin America, but they have failed to describe in detail their actual contributions and, indeed, their combat missions. Here, for the first time, is a coherent, authoritative review of these aircraft.