In the heart of Pictou, Nova Scotia — here’s a T-33 Shooting Star (CT-133 Silver Star), a.k.a. a “T-bird”:
The CT-133 is the Canadian license-built version of the T-33, which itself was essentially the trainer version of the P-80/F-80 Shooting Star. From the P-80, the T-33 has a stretched fuselage (to allow for a second seat) and additional instrumentation and flight controls. Since the T-33′s trainer days are largely over, and the model only occasionally was used in combat (key exception: the Cuban Air Force during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961), you’ll find T-33s on static display in a large number of places.
From the placard:
CT-133 Silver Star. Built in the 1950′s, the T-Bird is the oldest aircraft in service in the CF. A total of 656 Lockheed CT-133 were built under license by Canadair for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Until 1974, the Silver Star was Canada’s primary jet training aircraft. Until 2002, T-birds were used to provide electronic warfare and target / adversary training for the RCAF’s CF-18 Hornet fighters and the Navy’s and Army’s defense systems.
