Keeping the Memory of an Airplane Alive: RT-33A SILVERSTAR

During the period of General Ergin CELASIN, one of the Commanders of the Turkish Air Forces (1999-2001), it was decided to write a book about the airplanes that have been used in the Turkish Air Force since 1911, the year it was founded. In this context, I also took part in the team created.

As felt by all Air Force personnel, I was honored to be a part of this team, to be included in this team, and as such, as part of this honorable mission, I flew the T-33 Silver Star aircraft (at that time, at the 2nd Main Jet Base Flight Training Central Command). I was serving as a teacher pilot and at the same time, being one of the few pilots to teach on the T-33 aircraft, I was among the experienced pilots in these aircraft).

In fact, our Air Force, which has been one of the greatest guarantees of the unity and solidarity of our nation and the indivisible integrity of our homeland since its foundation, and its distinguished personnel, shared the rightful pride of being "Atatürk's Soyak Sons", on an anniversary (2001), where they left behind 90 years of writing this book. It was initiated by General Celasin. In these 90 years, as a necessity to be and remain a modern air force in the military field, the Turkish Air Force has constantly followed modern technology and reached the proud level of that day (as it continues today).

As our commanders often reiterated to us, and we truly felt that way, the Air Force was acting as a “Big Family with Past, Present and Tomorrow”. The scope of this family was broad to include not only the personnel who gave life to it, but also all aircraft that had entered its inventory and were to enter it. This has become a tradition from the past to the present. It became part of the personality and culture of the aircraft, of the Air Force, and was accepted as such. The personnel, from private to full general, had a habit of seeing the aircraft of the unit they served as a part of their identity. It was impossible to forget the planes, which directly contributed to the successful fulfillment of the Air Force's main mission function, and which had motifs that wrote the "Machine-Man" harmony in history with golden letters. However, it became a necessity to book these planes and pass them on to future generations. In this context,

T-6 Harvard

T-11 Beechcraft

T-33 Silver Star, Shooting Star

F-84 Thunder

F-86 Sabre

F-100 Super Sabre

F-102 Delta Dagger

F-104 Starfighter

F-5 Freedom Fighter

F-4 Phantom

….

Separate books were started to be prepared about their planes. Based on this idea, this documentation work, which was carried out for the first time and considered as a debt of loyalty, is to keep alive the memories of Air Force retirees and commanders who prepared us today; In order to present them as an expression of respect to the cherished memories of our deceased members and martyrs, the books describing these planes have been prepared and published as a result of the voluntary labor-intensive work of the assigned personnel.

The T-33 Silver Star, Shooting Star book that I wrote was prepared within this framework. According to our known history, the first motorized flight was carried out 300 years after Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi, the first person to fly in the world. This flight was only possible with 3 meters of ascent and 12 seconds of stay in the air. By establishing the aviation organization only 8 years after the "first powered flight", which has a great place in Aviation History, the Turks became one of the first few nations to establish the aviation organization in the world.

From 1911 to 1951, the Turkish Air Force had success with propeller planes in the Balkan War, the Cairo Campaign, the Caucasus, Palestine, Iraq and Çanakkale fronts. He made a great contribution to our independence. Starting from 1951, the Turkish Air Force started to be modernized with jet planes, and T-33A/MK III planes, for which Jet Adaptation Training was given, entered our inventory for the first time.

When I took the task of preparing the history of SILVERSTAR, which has a legendary place in Turkish Aviation History with its 46-year history and thousands of pilots it has trained, the great leader Atatürk said, “Writing history is as important as making history. If the writer does not remain faithful to the creator, the unchanging truth takes on a nature that will surprise humanity.” Based on his maxim, I have endeavored to fulfill this task as a result of long research and self-sacrificing work. With this study, I enlightened the history of the 114th Tactical Jet Reconnaissance Squadron Command and the history of 22 RT-33A aircraft belonging to this fleet, and I experienced the joy and pride of this.

Believing that loving our airplanes as well as aviation, seeing them as retired members of the Turkish Air Force family even though they are out of our inventory, is one of the ways to protect our aviation history, I evaluated every detail I could find and tried to reflect it in the best way possible by filtering it.

The prepared book was published in August 2001. I have completed my book study with the pleasure and pride of presenting the book "SILVERSTAR FAMILY", which covers a very important part of the history of the Turkish Air Force, to the benefit of aviators and aviation enthusiasts.

This study was also an important starting point for my later books. It increased my love and passion for writing. In my next articles, I will continue to share with you what I wrote about aircraft and aviation.