North American T-28 Trojan

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The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a radial-engine military trainer aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation and used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, the T-28 was successfully employed as a counter-insurgency aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War. It has continued in civilian use as an aerobatics and warbird performer.

Design and development

On 24 September 1949, the XT-28 (company designation NA-159) was flown for the first time, designed to replace the T-6 Texan. The T-28A arrived at the Air Proving Ground, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in mid-June 1950, for suitability tests as an advanced trainer by the 3200th Fighter Test Squadron, with consideration given to its transition, instrument, and gunnery capabilities.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Found satisfactory, a contract was issued and between 1950 and 1957, a total of 1,948 were built.

Following the T-28's withdrawal from U.S. military service, a number were remanufactured by Hamilton Aircraft into two versions called the Nomair. The first refurbished machines, designated T-28R-1 were similar to the standard T-28s they were adapted from, and were supplied to the Brazilian Navy. Later, a more ambitious conversion was undertaken as the T-28R-2, which transformed the two-seat tandem aircraft into a five-seat cabin monoplane for general aviation use. Other civil conversions of ex-military T-28As were undertaken by PacAero as the Nomad Mark I and Nomad Mark II<ref name="IEA">The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft 1985, p. 2678.</ref>

Operational history

File:T-28A West Virginia ANG c1957.jpg
West Virginia Air National Guard T-28A in 1957

After becoming adopted as a primary trainer by the USAF, the United States Navy and Marine Corps adopted it as well. Although the Air Force phased out the aircraft from primary pilot training by the early 1960s, continuing use only for limited training of special operations aircrews and for primary training of select foreign military personnel, the aircraft continued to be used as a primary trainer by the Navy (and by default, the Marine Corps and Coast Guard) well into the early 1980s.

The largest single concentration of this aircraft was employed by the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida, in the training of student naval aviators. The T-28's service career in the U.S. military ended with the completion of the phase-in of the T-34C turboprop trainer. The last U.S. Navy training squadron to fly the T-28 was VT-27 "Boomers", based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, flying the last T-28 training flight in early 1984. The last T-28 in the Training Command, BuNo 137796, departed for Naval District Washington on 14 March 1984, in order to be displayed permanently at Naval Support Facility Anacostia, D.C.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Vietnam War combat

File:USAF T-28 VNAF colours 1962.jpg
RVNAF T-28Cs over Vietnam

In 1963, a Royal Lao Air Force T-28 piloted by Lieutenant Chert Saibory, a Thai national, defected to North Vietnam. Saibory was immediately imprisoned and his aircraft was impounded. Within six months the T-28 was refurbished and commissioned into the North Vietnamese Air Force as its first fighter aircraft.<ref>Toperczer 2001, pp. 8–9.</ref> Lt. Saibory later trained NVAF pilot Nguyen Van Ba in the operation of the T-28, where Nguyen flew the T-28 in its first successful interception against an RVNAF C-123 Provider on 15 February 1964, earning the NVAF its first-ever aerial victory.<ref>Toperczer 2015, pp. 18–19.</ref> The NVAF unit that operated the T-28 in the respective military operation has later evolved into the modern Vietnam Airlines.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

T-28s were supplied to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) in support of ARVN ground operations, seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War in RVNAF hands, as well as the Secret War in Laos. A T-28 Trojan was the first US fixed wing attack aircraft (non-transport type) lost in South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Capt. Robert L. Simpson, USAF, Detachment 2A, 1st Air Commando Group, and Lt. Hoa, RVNAF, were shot down by ground fire on 28 August 1962, while flying close air support. Neither crewman survived. The USAF lost 23 T-28s to all causes during the war, with the last two losses occurring in 1968.<ref>Hobson 2001, p. 12.</ref>

Other combat uses

T-28s were used by the CIA in the former Belgian Congo during the 1960s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The T-28B and D were the primary ground attack aircraft of Khmer Air Force in Cambodia during the war there, largely provided from the U.S. Military Equipment Delivery Team and maintained by Air America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On the night of 21 January 1971, PAVN sappers managed to get close enough to destroy the majority at Pochentong airbase. Replacements were quickly shipped in. On 17 March 1973 a pilot of a T-28, said to be Capt. So Petra, a common-law husband of one of the daughters of the overthrown Prince Norodom Sihanouk, machine gunned and bombed the palace of Lon Nol in an attempt to assassinate him, killing at least 20 and wounding 35, before defecting to Khmer Rouge held lands.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

France's Armée de l'Air used locally re-manufactured Trojans, T-28S Fennec, for close support missions in Algeria.<ref name="T-28 FENNEC History"/>

Nicaragua replaced its fleet of 30+ ex-Swedish P-51s with T-28s in the early 1960s,<ref>Hagedorn 1993, p. 41</ref> with more aircraft acquired in the 1970s and 1980s.<ref>Hagedorn 1993, pp. 42–43</ref>

The Philippines utilized T-28s (colloquially known as "Tora-toras") during the 1989 Philippine coup attempt. The aircraft were often deployed as dive bombers by rebel forces.Template:Citation needed

Civilian use

AeroVironment modified and armored a T-28A to fly weather research for South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, funded by the National Science Foundation, and operated in this capacity from 1969 to 2005.<ref name=weath>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=nsf>Template:Cite web</ref> SDSM&T was planning to replace it with another modified, but more modern, former military aircraft, specifically a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This plan was found to carry too many risks associated with the costly modifications required and the program was cancelled in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

MicroProse purchased a T-28B in 1988 for use in marketing their flight simulator video games, and named it "Miss MicroProse". USAF reserve pilot Bill Stealey would fly with games journalists for this purpose, and ran a competition called I Cheated Death with Major Bill which selected three fans to fly with him on a "stunt-filled flight lesson". The plane was later sold to a flight school in Cincinnati.<ref name=MeierMemoir>Template:Cite book</ref>

Aerobatics and warbird display

Many retired T-28s were subsequently sold to private civil operators, and due to their reasonable operating costs are often found flying or displayed as warbirds today.

Variants

File:T-28B US Navy in flight c1954.jpeg
An early-production U.S. Navy T-28B in 1954
File:T-28C after landing on USS Tarawa (CVA-40) 1955.jpeg
A tailhook-equipped T-28C after trapping aboard Template:USS, in 1955
File:North American T-28D Trojan.jpg
T-28D at Degerfeld <ref name="dgfld">See German Wikipedia Flugplatz Albstadt-Degerfeld</ref> airfield in 2017
File:YAT-28E NAN9-64.jpg
A turboprop-powered YAT-28E in 1964
XT-28
Prototype; two built.
T-28A
U.S. Air Force version with an Template:Cvt Wright R-1300-1 radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller; 1,194 built.<ref name="ginp6">Ginter 1981, p. 6</ref><ref name="abmw13p147">Darke 2013, p. 147</ref>
T-28B
U.S. Navy land-based trainer version with Template:Cvt Wright R-1820-86 radial engine driving a three-bladed propeller and fitted with a belly-mounted speed brake; 489 built from new and 17 converted from T-28.<ref name="ginp27">Ginter 1981, p. 27</ref><ref name="abmw13p147"/>
T-28C
U.S. Navy version, a T-28B with shortened propeller blades and tailhook for carrier-landing training; 299 built.<ref name="abmw13p147"/><ref name="ginp53">Ginter 1981, p. 53</ref>
T-28D Nomad
T-28Bs converted for the USAF in 1962 for the counter-insurgency, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and forward air controller roles in Vietnam. Fitted with two underwing hardpoints. The later T-28D-5 had ammo pans inside the wings that could be hooked up to hardpoint-mounted gun pods for a better center of gravity and aerodynamics; 321 converted by Pacific Airmotive (Pac-Aero).
T-28 Nomad Mark I - Wright R-1820-56S engine (Template:Cvt).<ref name="IEA" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
T-28 Nomad Mark II - Wright R-1820-76A (Template:Cvt)
T-28 Nomad Mark III - Wright R-1820-80 (Template:Cvt)<ref name="courtesyaircraft.com">Template:Cite web</ref>
Fairchild AT-28D
Attack model of the T-28D used for Close Air Support (CAS) missions by the USAF and allied Air Forces in Southeast Asia, which were nicknamed "Tangos" by their pilots.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was fitted with six underwing hardpoints and the rocket-powered Stanley Yankee ejection seat;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 72 converted by Fairchild Hiller.
YAT-28E
Experimental development of the counter-insurgency T-28D. It was powered by a Template:Cvt Lycoming YT-55L-9 turboprop, and armed with two Template:Cvt machine guns and up to Template:Cvt of weapons on 12 underwing hardpoints. Three prototypes were converted from T-28As by North American, with the first model flying on 15 February 1963. The project was canceled in 1965.<ref name="AE99 p58-9">Tate Air Enthusiast May/June 1999, pp. 58–59.</ref>
T-28S Fennec
Ex-USAF T-28As converted in 1959 for use by the French Armée de l'Air, replacing the Morane-Saulnier MS.733A. It was flown by their Escadrilles d'Aviation Légère d'Appui (EALA; "Light Aviation Support Squadrons") in the counterinsurgency role in North Africa from 1959 to 1962. Fitted with an electrically powered sliding canopy, side-armor, a Template:Cvt Wright R-1820-97 supercharged radial engine (the model used in the B-17 bomber),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and four underwing hardpoints.<ref name="aerostories.free.fr">Template:Cite web</ref> It is referred to as the "S" variant because its engine had a supercharger on it; it has also been referred to as the T-28F variant – with the "F" standing for France.Template:Citation needed
For fire support missions it usually carried two double-mount Template:Cvt machine gun pods (with 100 rounds per gun) and two MATRA Type 122 6 x Template:Cvt rocket pods.<ref name="aerostories.free.fr"/> It could also carry on paired hardpoints a Template:Cvt HE or GP "iron" bomb, a MATRA Type 361 36 x Template:Cvt rocket pod, a SNEB 7 x Template:Cvt rocket pod, or a MATRA Type 13 single-rail, MATRA Type 20 or Type 21 double-rail, MATRA Type 41 quadruple-rail (2 x 2), or MATRA Type 61 or Type 63 sextuple-rail (3 x 3) SERAM T10 heavy rocket launchers.<ref name="aerostories.free.fr"/> Improvised napalm bombs (called bidons spéciaux, or "special cans") were created by dropping gas tanks loaded with octagel-thickened fuel inside, then later igniting or detonating the spilled fuel with white phosphorus rockets.<ref name="aerostories.free.fr"/>
Total 148 airframes bought from Pacific Airmotive (Pac Aero) and modified by Sud-Aviation in France. After the war the French government offered them for sale from 1964 to 1967.<ref name="T-28 FENNEC History">Template:Cite web</ref> They sold most of them to Morocco and Argentina.<ref name="T-28 FENNEC History"/> Template:Citation needed span Argentina later sold some to Uruguay and Honduras.<ref name="T-28 FENNEC History"/>
T-28P
T-28S Fennec aircraft sold to the Argentinian Navy as carrier-borne attack aircraft. They were given shortened propeller blades and a tailhook to allow carrier landings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
T-28R Nomair
An attempt by Hamilton Aircraft Company of Tucson, Arizona to make a civilianized Nomad III-equivalent out of refurbished ex-USAF T-28As. It had a Wright Cyclone R-1820-80 engine to make it fast and powerful, but had to lengthen the wingspan by seven feet to reduce the stall speed to below a "street-legal" 70 knots.<ref name="courtesyaircraft.com"/><ref name="1000aircraftphotos.com">Template:Cite web</ref> The prototype flew for the first time in September 1960, and the FAA Type Certificate was received on 15 February 1962.<ref name="1000aircraftphotos.com"/> At the time, the T-28-R2 was the fastest single-engined standard category aircraft available in the United States. It had been flown to a height of Template:Cvt.
T-28R-1 Nomair I
A military trainer that had a tandem cockpit, dual instrumentation and flying controls, and hydraulically-actuated rearward-sliding canopy.<ref name="courtesyaircraft.com"/><ref name="Flying Magazine 1962, p. 3">Flying Magazine, April 1962, p. 3.</ref> Six were sold in 1962 as carrier-landing trainers to the Brazilian Navy and were modified with a carrier arrestor hook. They were later transferred to the Brazilian Air Force.<ref name="1000aircraftphotos.com"/>
T-28R-2 Nomair II
Modified to have a cramped five-seater cabin (one pilot and two rows of two passengers) that opened from the port side.<ref name="courtesyaircraft.com"/><ref name="Flying Magazine 1962, p. 3"/> Ten aircraft were modified in all; one was sold to a high-altitude photographic company.<ref name="1000aircraftphotos.com"/>
RT-28
Photo reconnaissance conversion for counter-insurgency use with Royal Lao Air Force. Number of conversions unknown.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
AIDC T-CH-1
A derivative of the T-28 developed by AIDC in Taiwan, the AIDC T-CH-1 was powered by a Template:Cvt Avco Lycoming T53-L-701 turboprop engine. Fifty aircraft were produced for the Taiwanese Air Force between March 1976 and 1981. The type has since been retired.Template:Citation needed
B.F.13
(Template:Langx) Royal Thai Armed Forces designation for the T-28D.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
B.JF.13
(Template:Langx) Royal Thai Armed Forces designation for the AT-28D.<ref name=":2" />

Operators

File:T-28Ds operating in Laos 1964-73.jpg
T-28Ds used in Operation Barrel Roll in Laos
File:NA T28 Fennec.jpg
A former French T-28 Fennec
File:7625 TA-625 a T-28A Trojan, RoKAF (3225455742).jpg
RoKAF T-28A
File:Airforce2-saudi-engineering-kau.jpg
Derelict Royal Saudi Air Force T-28A at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, one of four acquired in the 1950s
File:F-4D with T-28 at Ubon RTAFB 1972.jpg
Royal Thai Air Force T-28D is waiting for takeoff.
File:North American T-28S Fennec.jpg
Uruguay Naval Aviation T-28S Fennec
File:JASDF T-28B(63-0581) at Hamamatsu Air Base Publication Center 20141124-01.JPG
Japan Air Self-Defense Force T-28B
Template:ARG
Template:BOL
  • Bolivian Air Force at least six T-28Ds.<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi">Krivinyi 1977, p. 178.</ref><ref name="Militair28" />
Template:BRA
Template:Flagicon Democratic Republic of the Congo
Template:CUB
  • Cuban Air Force - 10 T-28As were ordered by the Batista regime but were never delivered owing to an arms embargo,<ref name="Cuba">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Hagedorn 1993, pp. 22, 27</ref> although at least one T-28 seems to have been acquired at some stage which was put on display at a museum at Playa Girón<ref>Hagedorn 1993, p. 27</ref><ref name="Airliners.netCuba">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:DOM
Template:ECU
Template:ETH
  • Ethiopian Air Force - 12 T-28A and 12 T-28D<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair62" />
Template:FRA
  • French Air Force - 148 T-28A airframes modified in France (1959) to make the T-28S Fennec COIN model.<ref name="Fitzsimons" />
Template:HAI
Template:HON
  • Honduran Air Force - eight former Moroccan Air Force Fennecs. One delivered, seven others impounded at Fort Lauderdale<ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair97" />
Template:JPN
Template:Flag
  • Khmer Air Force operated 47 T-28s in total in service.<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons">Fitzsimons 1988, p. 137.</ref>
Template:Flag
  • Royal Lao Air Force - 55 T-28D<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair146" />
Template:MEX
  • Mexican Air Force - 32 T-28A<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair156" />
Template:MAR
  • Royal Moroccan Air Force - 25 Fennec aircraft <ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair97" />
Template:NIC
Template:Flag
  • Philippine Air Force - 12 units T-28A,<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair181" />

,32 units T-28D<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:KOR
Template:SAU
Template:Flag
Template:TUN
Template:TWN
Template:THA
  • Royal Thai Air Force - 88 T-28Ds delivered.<ref name="Taylor1973" /><ref name="Krivinyi" /><ref name="Fitzsimons" /><ref name="Militair223" /> Retired 1984.<ref>Pocock 1986, p. 115.</ref>
Template:USA
Template:URU
Template:VIE
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Surviving aircraft

File:North American T-28A Trojan USAF.jpg
A T-28A of the USAF Museum
File:T28Trojan HBRCT.jpg
T-28B BuNo 138266 in 2008
File:YAT-28E.jpg
YAT-28E 0-13786

Many T-28s are on display throughout the world. In addition, a considerable number of flyable examples exist in private ownership, as the aircraft is a popular sport plane and warbird.

Argentina

On display
T-28A

Australia

On display
T-28A

Germany

Airworthy
T-28A
T-28D
  • 49-1742 - constructed in 1951 as T-28A, and remanufactured as T-28D. Currently located in Baden-Württemberg at Degerfeld (EDSA).<ref name="dgfld"/> Owned by Guido Voss and registered as N1742R.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
File:North American T-28 '49-1742' at Degerfeld during Degerfeldfest 2024.jpg
T-28D 49-1742, based in Bitz, in 2024

Philippines

T-28A
AT-28D
  • 137701 - Major Danilo Atienza Air Base, Cavite City, Cavite, Philippines.
  • 114645 - Clark Air Base, Angeles City, Pampanga PhilippinesTemplate:Cn
  • 100310 - Edwin Andrews Air Base, Zamboanga City, Philippines.

South Korea

On display
T-28A

Taiwan

On display
T-28A

Thailand

File:T-28 at the Udon Royal Thai Air Force Base.jpg
T-28 at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
On display
T-28A
T-28B
T-28D

United Kingdom

On display
T-28C

United States

On display
T-28A
T-28B
File:North American T-28B Trojan Cavanaugh Flight Museum-2007-06-30.jpg
T-28B at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum
T-28C
YAT-28E

Specifications (T-28D)

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See also

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References

Notes

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Bibliography

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Further reading

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