U.S. Air Force and Civil Air Patrol The first flight of the Model 45 was on 2 December 1948, by Beechcraft test pilot Vern Carstens. When the U.S. Air Force replaced the last of their T-34As at the beginning of the 1960s (their role taken over by the propeller-driven
T-41 Mescalero and the
T-37 Tweet primary jet trainer in UPT), T-34As not allocated to USAF aero clubs or marked for foreign military sale/transfer were turned over to the USAF Auxiliary, the
Civil Air Patrol, for use as search and rescue aircraft. However, the T-34A's low-wing design limited its utility in an aerial search and rescue role. Compounded with maintenance issues, particularly expensive
wing spar repairs that became apparent between 1999 and 2005, the last of the former USAF T-34As were withdrawn from CAP service in 2003.
U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps The U.S. Navy kept the T-34B operational as a
Naval Air Training Command initial primary trainer at the former
Naval Air Station Saufley Field, Florida until the mid-1970s and as a
Navy Recruiting Command aircraft until the early 1990s when the last examples were retired as an economy move. Others continue to remain under U.S. Navy control as part of flying clubs at Naval Air Stations and Marine Corps Air Stations. Beginning in 1975, the turbine-powered T-34C Turbomentor was introduced as the Navy's new primary flight trainer for Student
Naval Aviators, and began replacing the North American
T-28 Trojan with training air wings at
NAS Whiting Field, Florida and
NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. In the mid-1980s, it also commenced service as a basic trainer for Student
Naval Flight Officers at
NAS Pensacola, Florida. The T-34C is no longer used as a primary training aircraft for
U.S. Navy,
U.S. Marine Corps and
U.S. Coast Guard Student Naval Aviators and various
NATO/Allied/Coalition student pilots training under U.S. Navy auspices. It has been replaced by the
T-6 Texan II.
Training Squadron TWENTY-EIGHT at NAS Corpus Christi's Training Air Wing FOUR was the last to retire the T-34C as a Naval Primary Training Aircraft according to the Chief of Naval Aviation Training (CNATRA) Public Affairs Office (PAO), joining Training Air Wing SIX at
NAS Pensacola, Training Air Wing FIVE at
NAS Whiting Field and Training Air Wing FOUR's Training Squadron TWENTY-SEVEN at
NAS Corpus Christi that had already transitioned to the T-6A and T-6B models. Several other T-34Cs also remain in service with the Naval Air Test Center at
NAS Patuxent River, Maryland and as aerial spotter aircraft with
F/A-18 Fleet Replacement Squadrons (FRS) and Strike Fighter Weapons and Tactics Schools at
NAS Oceana, Virginia;
NAS Lemoore, California; and
MCAS Miramar, California; and the
Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) at
NAS Fallon, Nevada.
U.S. Army Some time before 1990, the
United States Army received six ex-U.S. Navy T-34C, used as test platforms and
chase planes at
Edwards Air Force Base, California and
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
NASA NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly the Dryden Flight Research Center) at
Edwards, California has operated two T-34C aircraft. The first aircraft was previously flown at the
Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland, Ohio, where it was used for propulsion experiments involving turboprop engines. In 1996 this aircraft was moved Dryden as a chase aircraft. That aircraft was returned to the U.S. Navy in 2002. The second T-34C was obtained in early 2005 from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at
NAS Patuxent River, where it was due to be retired. At Armstrong, the T-34C is primarily used for chasing remotely piloted unmanned air vehicles which fly slower than NASA's F/A-18 mission support aircraft can fly. As a NASA mission support chase plane, the back seat would be occupied by a photographer or flight test engineer during research missions. It is also used for required pilot proficiency flying.
Non-U.S. military service As of 2007, Mentors were still used by several air forces and navies. From 1978, the T-34C Turbo-Mentor was the
Argentine Naval Aviation basic trainer used by the 1st Naval Aviation Force (Training), alongside 15 T-34C-1 light attack aircraft forming the Fourth Naval Air Attack Squadron. During the 1982
Falklands War, four T-34C-1s were deployed to
Port Stanley on 25 April 1982, primarily to be employed in a reconnaissance role. The main encounter with British forces occurred on 1 May 1982 when three Turbo-Mentors attacked a
Royal Navy Westland Sea King helicopter in the area of Berkeley Sound but were intercepted by Royal Navy
Sea Harriers flown by Lt 'Soapy' Watson and Lt Cdr
'Sharky' Ward of
801 Naval Air Squadron flying from
HMS Invincible, with one of the T-34Cs being damaged by cannon fire from Ward's aircraft. The four T-34C-1 Turbo-Mentors continued to operate, flying a few reconnaissance missions, but were redeployed to
Borbon Station where they were ultimately destroyed by the SAS
Raid on Pebble Island on 15 May 1982. Although all four hulks remained on the island for a considerable length of time, eventually, 0729/(1-A)411 was recovered on 10 June 1983 and stored for future display at the
Fleet Air Arm Museum.
Civilian use in the T-34 "Free Spirit" c. 2006 In 2004, due to a series of crashes involving in-flight structural failure during simulated combat flights, the entire US civilian fleet of T-34A/Bs was grounded by the
Federal Aviation Administration. The grounding has since been eased to a slate of restrictions on the permitted flight envelope. Via a series of Airworthiness Directives (ADs) established by or Alternate Methods of Compliance (AMOCs) negotiated with the FAA, including installation of certain, approved structural modifications to the wing spar and other repairs, the T-34A and T-34B fleet in 2011 has been restored to full flight status by FAA at the Mentor's originally designed limitations, provided each individual example is compliant with those ADs and AMOCs. In 2024,
Apollo 8 lunar module pilot
Bill Anders was killed in a crash near the US-Canada border while flying a T-34. ==Variants==