Red Knight takes Rounds places — and at 580 mph
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Rounds recently upgraded his piloting skills to flying a jet similar to training jets once used by the Royal Canadian Air Force. Known as the Red Knight, it had not been in circulation for almost 10 years.
And after flying around the country for various aviation shows and returning to Tennessee from Michigan in just an hour, it is a passion that is not only taking him places, but taking him there fast.
The jet is one of 656 Canadian-built Lockheed T-33 planes powered by a Rolls Royce Nene 10 engine, which goes 580 mph.
The history of the original Red Knight planes, as they are called, dates to the 1950s. They were initially used as military jet trainers for Canada before the training program was canceled in 1969.
Rounds’ Red Knight, built in 1953, is the result of a couple of Americans individually purchasing a Lockheed T-33 built in Canada and asking permission to use the Red Knight name.
“They purchased one and I believe they had some negotiation with the Royal Canadian Air Force to find out if they could paint it red and call it the Red Knight that originally belonged to the Royal Canadian Air Force and they were given permission to do so,” according to Rounds’ publicist, L.M. Sawyer.
He purchased the jet from the widow of its last pilot, air race pilot Rick Brickert, who was one of the people who came up with the idea to copy the Red Knight name. Rounds said Anne Brickert had kept the jet stored in a hangar in Houston, Texas after her husband’s death in 1993.
Even though he is an experienced pilot who started flying when he was 11, Rounds said once he acquired the jet, he had to receive special training in order to be able to fly it.
Since learning how to do that with the help of an accomplished race pilot, he has been taking the Red Knight across the country for various aviation shows, drawing attention with the jet’s bright color. It is the only T-33 painted red and the only one with smoke generators on the wings.
“It’s definitely a hit wherever we go,” Sawyer added. “The kids love it because it’s bright and it’s not your standard gray, silver or camouflage-colored plane or jet sitting on the sidelines.”
Rounds returned to his business, Rounds Aviation, in Warren County this week after an event in Michigan and the international Experimental Aircraft Association show in Oshkosh, Wis., before that.
This year, there were 25 appearances scheduled for the jet and Rounds plans to fly it 100 hours every year, adding he hopes to add a full aerobatics routine next year. He is planning to take the Red Knight to another show in Sparta Aug. 21 before participating in other aviation events across the country.
Rounds said he was attracted to the plane because of its uniqueness and the history of the T-33 in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The center of gravity on a jet is different and it goes a lot faster – 400 mph versus 150 or 200 mph.
“It was something different and had a name associated with it. It was not just another T-33 or another war bird. It was something that had some history to it,” Rounds said.
The best thing to come out of the purchase of the jet is to help pass on a love of aviation to future generations.
“There are no Neil Armstrongs anymore,” Rounds added. “It’s kind of neat to see the kids’ faces. Kids are all fired up about it and they get all excited, so it’s kind of neat to see that.”
To see the Red Knight, visit a fly-in at the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport in Sparta next weekend from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.