Photo: Adam Estes
Is it a T-33 Shooting Star with collagen injections, as the US Air Force equivalent of a restomod, or something in between? Whatever the case, the Boeing Skyfox was an advanced jet trainer prototype quite unlike any built before or after it. Over a quarter century after its retirement, the old bird's looking pretty worse for wear. Now, as a long-term resident of the Palm Springs Air Museum, it's time for Skyfox to get a new lease on life through a comprehensive restoration.
Located on the grounds of Palm Springs International Airport, the Palm Springs Air Museum is one of the most prolific and visually impressive air and space museums in the State of California. With dozens of famous warbirds preserved under its roof, the Boeing Skyfox might be one of its greatest curiosities. Built and first flown in 1983 by the now-defunct Skyfox Corporation, the Skyfox project intended to take a bare-basic Lockheed T-33 airframe and comprehensively upgrade it to fit more in line with the flight performance of modern jet military aircraft.
Gone was the anemic Allison J33 turbojet that powered the T-33; in its place was a pair of two Garrett TFE731-3A turbofan engines, which, while not really increasing flight performance, were far more efficient than what the old Shooting Star had to work with. Outside of the engines, the Skyfoox had a radically redesigned exterior that was more reminiscent of a light fighter than a trainer. With this in mind, it also sported multiple under-wing hardpoints to carry up to 6,000 lbs of rockets, bombs, or missiles in simulated attack exercises.
So the story goes, Skyfox's upper management consisted largely of ex-Lockheed employees, many of whom worked directly under the leadership of their larger-than-life leading man, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. With the express interest of competing with other international jet trainers like the BAe Hawk and Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet, the Skyfox at least looked competitive on paper, if even a bit more sustainable, owing to the shared DNA with an already existing jet airframe.
But this alone wasn't enough to secure funding for more prototypes, nor was a financial investment from Boeing, who rebranded it the Boeing Skyfox. Palm Springs is the only place in the world where you can see the sole Skyfox ever built up close and in the flesh. But before it goes up on display, the museum's group of expert volunteers have some work ahead of them, restoring the exterior to look the same as it did the day it first flew in 1983. By the time it's all said and done, the museum will have the sole Skyfox looking ready to fly again. It's just another feather in the cap of one of the coolest aerospace museums on the West Coast.
Gone was the anemic Allison J33 turbojet that powered the T-33; in its place was a pair of two Garrett TFE731-3A turbofan engines, which, while not really increasing flight performance, were far more efficient than what the old Shooting Star had to work with. Outside of the engines, the Skyfoox had a radically redesigned exterior that was more reminiscent of a light fighter than a trainer. With this in mind, it also sported multiple under-wing hardpoints to carry up to 6,000 lbs of rockets, bombs, or missiles in simulated attack exercises.
So the story goes, Skyfox's upper management consisted largely of ex-Lockheed employees, many of whom worked directly under the leadership of their larger-than-life leading man, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. With the express interest of competing with other international jet trainers like the BAe Hawk and Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet, the Skyfox at least looked competitive on paper, if even a bit more sustainable, owing to the shared DNA with an already existing jet airframe.
But this alone wasn't enough to secure funding for more prototypes, nor was a financial investment from Boeing, who rebranded it the Boeing Skyfox. Palm Springs is the only place in the world where you can see the sole Skyfox ever built up close and in the flesh. But before it goes up on display, the museum's group of expert volunteers have some work ahead of them, restoring the exterior to look the same as it did the day it first flew in 1983. By the time it's all said and done, the museum will have the sole Skyfox looking ready to fly again. It's just another feather in the cap of one of the coolest aerospace museums on the West Coast.
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