'White Rocket' To Go On Display At NGC Facility Near LAX

The first production-configuration T-38 pilot training aircraft built for the US Air Force by Northrop Grumman landed Monday at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and rolled to a stop for the very last time.

The sleek, white supersonic aircraft now sporting a NASA logo, a blue nose-to-tail racing stripe and tail number N963, came to rest on the tarmac outside the former LAX Imperial terminal -- now home to the Flight Path Learning Center & Museum -- where company executives, employees and aviation enthusiasts had been waiting excitedly to witness aviation history.

After 46 years of serving the pilot training needs of the Air Force, the US Navy and NASA, the Hawthorne, CA-built N963 and the oldest T-38 trainer still flying, was home.

"T-38 trainers, known to pilots as the 'White Rocket,' have been in service since 1961, preparing an estimated 80,000 military pilots to fly front line fighters and bombers," said George Vardoulakis, vice president of tactical systems for F/A-18 programs for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector. "They continue to be among the safest, most reliable and highest performing supersonic aircraft in service today, a testament to Northrop Grumman's enduring strength as a first tier designer, developer, producer and maintainer of manned military aircraft."

Approximately 700 of the 1187 T-38s built from 1959 to 1972 remain operational today, he added.

N963, which has spent its last 16 years training NASA shuttle pilots, was officially retired earlier this spring. The company plans to put the plane on permanent static display at Integrated Systems' sector headquarters in El Segundo.

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com, www.nasa.gov