Boeing T-43

The Boeing T-43 is a retired modified Boeing 737-200 that was used by the United States Air Force for training navigators, later called USAF combat systems officers, from 1973 to 2010. Informally referred to as the Gator (an abbreviation of "navigator") and "Flying Classroom", nineteen of these aircraft were delivered to the Air Training Command (ATC) at Mather Air Force Base, California during 1973 and 1974. Two additional aircraft were delivered to the Colorado Air National Guard at Buckley Air National Guard Base (later Buckley Space Force Base) and Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, in direct support of cadet air navigation training at the nearby U.S. Air Force Academy. Two T-43s were later converted to CT-43As in the early 1990s and transferred to Air Mobility Command (AMC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), respectively, as executive transports. A third aircraft was also transferred to Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) for use as the "Rat 55" radar test bed aircraft and was redesignated as an NT-43A. The T-43A was retired by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) in 2010 after 37 years of service.

Design and development

On 27 May 1971, the United States Air Force (USAF) placed an order for 19 T-43s, modified versions of the Boeing 737-200 as a replacement for the USAF's aging fleet of Convair T-29 navigation trainers, as part of the Undergraduate Navigator Training System. The Boeing aircraft was selected in preference to a trainer based on the Douglas DC-9.

From its entry into service in 1974 until the mid-1990s, the T-43As were used for all USAF Undergraduate Navigator Training. Starting in the mid-1990s, the T-43As were used for USAF Undergraduate Navigator/Combat Systems Officer training with the exception of those USAF navigators/CSOs slated for the F-15E and B-1B.

In 1976, with the U.S. Navy's retirement of its T-29 aircraft and deactivation of its associated Training Squadron Twenty-Nine (VT-29) at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, those student naval flight officers destined for land-based naval aircraft such as the P-3 Orion, including its EP-3 variant, and various versions of the C-130 in U.S. naval service, began training in USAF T-43s at Mather AFB under a program known by USAF as "Interservice Undergraduate Navigator Training" (IUNT) and by the U.S. Navy as the NAV pipeline for training student naval flight officers slated for eventual assignments to land-based naval aircraft.

Externally, the T-43A differs from the civilian Boeing 737-200 aircraft by having more antennas and fewer windows, and lacking the left aft and right forward cabin doors.