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#1483

North American T-2 Buckeye

🇺🇸 United States ·first flew 1948· jet trainer

🎖️ military 2× jet ✓ still flying
North American T-2 Buckeye, photo 1 of 10
1/10 United States Navy, Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Daniel J. McLain· Public domain

what is it?

The North American T-2 Buckeye was a turbojet-powered intermediate training aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation. It was primarily operated by the United States Navy (USN). The T-2 was developed during the 1950s to introduce USN and United States Marine Corps (USMC) student naval aviators and student naval flight officers to operating jet-powered aircraft.

How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 11.6 m wingspan

base stats

  • speed 840 km/htop speed
  • range 1,683 kmwithout refuelling
  • size 5,978 kgmax take-off weight
  • built 529made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

  • First flew 78 years ago, in 1948.
  • Top speed is 6.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
  • Wingspan of 11.6 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
  • Range of 1,683 km: 9× Amsterdam to Brussels.
  • Can fly 1.4× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight
1948-01-31
introduced
2008
retired
2008
status
still flying
number built
529
role
jet trainer
origin
🇺🇸 United States
makers
North American Aviation
engines
2× General Electric J85-GE-4
crew
2
length
11.7 m
wingspan
11.6 m
height
4.5 m
max take-off weight
5,978 kg
top speed
840 km/h
range
1,683 km
ceiling
12,314 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

Sources: Wikidata Q966462, Wikipedia: North American T-2 Buckeye (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.

stan runge 704880d source