The Aerotec A-122 Uirapuru was a Brazilian military trainer aircraft. It was a low-wing
monoplane with tricycle
undercarriage
Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include:
*The landing gear of an aircraft.
*The ch ...
that accommodated the pilot and instructor side-by-side. It first flew on 2 June 1965.
Design and development
In October 1967, the
Brazilian Air Force
"Wings that protect the country"
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, march = Hino dos Aviadores
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, anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...
ordered 30 aircraft to replace the obsolete
Fokker S.11s and
S.12s (T-21s and T-22s) that were operating in the Air Force Academy.
Later, they ordered another 40, and then 30 more. These were designated T-23.
The
Bolivian Air Force ordered 36 examples in 1974, which flew until 1997, and in 1975 the
Paraguayan Air Force bought eight aircraft to replace the Fokker T-21 (S.11). In 1986, six more were donated by the FAB. Most of them were withdrawn from service in 1992, replaced by the Enaer T-35 Pillán. As of 2009, only one T-23 is in flying conditions. Thirty others were sold in the civilian market.
A total of 155 were built including prototypes by the time production finished in 1977.
The T-23 suffered fatal accidents during
spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
training. The problem was solved after a crash in which an instructor described his stricken aircraft's responses to his control inputs all the way to the end. Uirapurus then received a ventral
fin under the rear
fuselage to correct the issue.
In
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
interest by the airforce in an improved version led to the development of the Uirapuru II, later known as the
A-132 Tangará.
Variants
* A-122A Uirapuru – T-23 – Military trainer
* A-122B Uirapuru – Civil version
* A-122C Uirapuru – T-23C
* A-132 Uirapuru II – enlarged version with improved canopy and larger vertical tail surfaces.
Operators
;
*
Bolivian Air Force – 18 A-122A purchased in 1974.
;
*
Brazilian Air Force
"Wings that protect the country"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = Hino dos Aviadores
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...
;
*
Paraguayan Air Force – 14 aircraft (8 in 1975 and 6 in 1986)
* Escuela Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil – 1 aircraft (early 70s)
Specifications (T-23)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{FAB aircraft designations
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
1960s Brazilian military trainer aircraft
1960s Brazilian civil trainer aircraft
Uirapuru
Aircraft first flown in 1965