Wyoming News Exchange
1950s jet put on display at Air Guard Museum
By Tom Coulter
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange
CHEYENNE — After sitting in a hanger for decades, a jet used in the mid-20th century was moved Friday morning to the Wyoming National Guard Museum.
The T-33 aircraft, which previously sat in a Wyoming Air National Guard hangar at the Cheyenne Regional Airport, was lifted by a crane over a fence dividing the airport grounds from the museum. The jet was then lowered onto a trailer and driven over to the museum on Pershing Boulevard.
Museum Director John Woodward said the goal of the project was to improve public access to the aircraft.
“Where it’s been located, very few people have been able to see it except during the airshows and during public access times to the Air Guard area,” Woodward said. “This is a good way to showcase the Air Guard’s history in a more public setting.”
The T-33, first used by the U.S. Navy in 1949, was mainly used by the Wyoming Air National Guard in the 1950s and 1960s. Woodward was unsure of the exact commission date for the plane being moved Friday, though he said the museum will do research to dig up its history.
Along with its contribution, the Air Guard refurbished the plane with new paint and tires. Some Guard members and airmen from F.E. Warren Air Force Base helped with the move on their day off.
“We are very fortunate and thankful for their time, their experience and their use of the equipment to move the aircraft,” Woodward said.
Bob Born, a former National Guardsman who helped coordinate the move, said the project has been in the works for about three years.
“It’s the first large Air Guard piece of equipment to be moved over to the museum,” Born said. “It will be absolutely awesome. It’s a big boost for the military museum.”
The Wyoming National Guard Museum, located at 624 E. Pershing Blvd., is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The plane weighs about 7,000 pounds and is 341/2 feet long, with a 39-foot wingspan. As it was lowered onto the truck trailer, several National Guard members and museum workers took pictures with their phones and admired the machinery.
“That’s flippin’ neat,” Born said as he looked on.