North American T-28 Trojan

The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft 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 (COIN) aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War.

Design and development
On September 24, 1949, the XT-28 (company designation NA-159) was flown for the first time, designed to replace the T-6 Texan. 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

Operational history
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 out of 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 NAS 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, based at NAS 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 to be displayed permanently at Naval Support Facility Anacostia, D.C. Many T-28s were subsequently sold to private civil operators, and due to their reasonable operating costs are often found flying as warbirds today.

In September 2011 a T-28 Trojan stunt team lost one of its planes and pilots during an air show in Martinsburg, West Virginia. No other casualties were reported.

Vietnam War
In 1963, a Laotian 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.

T-28s were supplied to the South Vietnamese Air Force in support of ARVN ground operations, seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War in VNAF 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, lst Air Commando Group, and Lt. Hoa, SVNAF, were shot down by ground fire on August 28, 1962 while flying Close Air Support (CAS). Neither crewman survived. The USAF lost 23 T-28s to all causes during the war, with the last two losses occurring in 1968.

Other uses
T-28s were also used by the CIA in the former Belgian Congo during the 1960s. France used locally re-manufactured Trojans for close support missions in Algeria. 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.

AeroVironment has modified and armored a T-28A to fly weather research for South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, funded by the National Science Foundation.

Variants

 * XT-28
 * Prototype, 2 built.


 * T-28A
 * U.S. Air Force version with an 800 hp (597 kW) Wright R-1300-7 radial engine, 1,194 built.


 * T-28B
 * U.S. Navy version with 1,425 hp (1,063 kW) Wright R-1820-9 radial engine, 3-blade propeller, belly mounted speed brake, 489 built.


 * T-28C
 * US Navy version, a T-28B with shortened propeller blade and tailhook for carrier landing training, 266 built.


 * T-28D Nomad
 * T-28As converted for the counter insurgency (COIN) role. Fitted with six underwing hardpoints. Total 393 converted - 321 by Pacific Airmotive licensed by NAA, plus 72 by Fairchild Hiller.
 * T-28 Nomad Mark I - Wright R-1820-56S engines 1300 hp.
 * T-28 Nomad Mark II - Wright R-1820-76A 1425 hp


 * T-28 Fennec
 * T-28As converted for the counter insurgency (COIN) role. Fitted with six underwing hardpoints.Wright R-1820-76A 1425 hp.
 * 148 modified by Sud-Aviation in France


 * AT-28D
 * T-28Ds used for attack training by the USAF.


 * YAT-28E
 * Counter insurgency development of T-28D powered by 2,445 hp (1,823 kW) Lycoming YT-55L-9 turboprop, and armed with two .50 in machine guns and up to 6,000 lb (2,730 kg) of weapons on twelve underwing pylons. Three prototypes converted by North American from T-28As, with first flying on 15 February 1963, but project was canceled in 1965.


 * T-28R-1 Nomair
 * Ex-USAF T-28s refurbished for Brazilian Navy


 * T-28R-2 Nomair
 * Ex-USAF T-28s converted into two or five-place general aviation aircraft by Hamilton Aircraft Company with R-1820 engines.


 * RT-28
 * Photo reconnaissance conversion for COIN use with Royal Lao Air Force. Number of conversions unknown.

Operators

 * Argentine Air Force - 34 T-28A
 * Argentine Naval Aviation. 65 Fennecs ex French Air Force. Last nine transferred to Uruguayan naval aviation in 1980.
 * Bolivian Air Force at least six T-28Ds.
 * Brazilian Navy - 18 T-28C
 * Cambodian Air Force operated 47 T-28s in total in service.
 * Congolese Air Force
 * Cuban Air Force - 10
 * Dominican Air Force
 * Ecuadorian Air Force - 9 T-28A
 * Ethiopian Air Force - 12 T-28A and 12 T-28D
 * French Air Force - T-28A Fennec 148 units modified in France (1960)
 * Haitian Air Force - 12 ex-French Air Force
 * Honduran Air Force - 8 former Moroccan Air Force Fennecs. One delivered, 7 others impounded in Fort Lauderdale
 * Japanese Air Self-Defense Force
 * Laos
 * Royal Lao Air Force - 55 T-28D
 * Mexican Air Force - 32 T-28A
 * Royal Moroccan Air Force - 25 Fennecs
 * Nicaraguan Air Force - 6 T-28D
 * $\phi$
 * Philippine Air Force - 12 T-28A
 * Republic of Korea Air Force
 * Royal Saudi Air Force
 * South Vietnam
 * Vietnam Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force - Fennec
 * ROC Air Force
 * Royal Thai Air Force - 88 T-28Ds delivered.
 * United States Army
 * United States Air Force - 1194 T-28A, of which 360 converted to "D"
 * United States Navy - 489 T-28B and 299 T-28C
 * Uruguayan Air Force - Fennec
 * Vietnam People's Air Force
 * Zaire Air Force - 16 T-28D
 * Nicaraguan Air Force - 6 T-28D
 * $\phi$
 * Philippine Air Force - 12 T-28A
 * Republic of Korea Air Force
 * Royal Saudi Air Force
 * South Vietnam
 * Vietnam Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force - Fennec
 * ROC Air Force
 * Royal Thai Air Force - 88 T-28Ds delivered.
 * United States Army
 * United States Air Force - 1194 T-28A, of which 360 converted to "D"
 * United States Navy - 489 T-28B and 299 T-28C
 * Uruguayan Air Force - Fennec
 * Vietnam People's Air Force
 * Zaire Air Force - 16 T-28D
 * United States Army
 * United States Air Force - 1194 T-28A, of which 360 converted to "D"
 * United States Navy - 489 T-28B and 299 T-28C
 * Uruguayan Air Force - Fennec
 * Vietnam People's Air Force
 * Zaire Air Force - 16 T-28D
 * Vietnam People's Air Force
 * Zaire Air Force - 16 T-28D
 * Zaire Air Force - 16 T-28D

Survivors
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.

Australia

 * On display
 * T-28A
 * 49-1583 - Australian Aviation Museum, Bankstown Airport, New South Wales, Australia.

Philippines

 * On display
 * T-28C
 * 140533 - Villamor AB in Manila, The Philippines.

Taiwan

 * On display
 * T-28A
 * 51-3664 - Chung Cheng Aviation Museum, Taipai Airport, Taiwan.

Thailand

 * On display
 * T-28A
 * 49-1538 - Prachuap Khiri Khan AFB in Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 49-1601 - Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 49-1687 - Loei Airport, Loei Province, Thailand.
 * 51-3480 - Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.
 * 51-3578 - Chiang Mai AFB, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 51-3740 - Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 153652 - National Memorial, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * T-28B
 * 137661 - Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 138157 - Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 138284 - Royal Thai Air Force Museum, Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 138302 - Lopburi AFB, Thailand.

United Kingdom

 * On display
 * T-28C
 * 146289 - Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum, Flixton, The Saints, United Kingdom.

United States

 * On display
 * T-28A
 * 49-1494 - National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft is painted as a typical Air Training Command T-28A of the mid-1950s. It was transferred to the museum in September 1965. It is on display in the museum's Cold War gallery.
 * 49-1663 - Hurlburt Field, Florida.
 * 49-1679 - Reese AFB, Texas.
 * 49-1682 - Laughlin AFB, Texas.
 * 49-1689 - Vance AFB, Oklahoma.
 * 49-1695 - Randolph AFB, Texas.
 * 50-0300 - Dakota Territory Air Museum, Minot, North Dakota.
 * 51-3612 - Museum of Aviation, Robins AFB, Warner Robins, Georgia.
 * 51-7500 - Olympic Flight Museum, Olympia, Washington.
 * T-28B
 * 137702 - Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, Edwards AFB, California.
 * 137796 - NAS Anacostia, Washington, DC.
 * 138144 - NAS Whiting Field, Florida.
 * 138247 - War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
 * 138326 - National Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida
 * 138339 - Air Combat Museum, Springfield, Illinois and performs with the Trojan Horsemen.
 * 138353 - on a pole at Milton, Florida.
 * 140048 - National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
 * T-28C
 * 140454 - Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.
 * 140481 - Pima Air & Space Museum adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona.
 * 140557 - Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, Cape May Airport, Rio Grande, New Jersey.
 * 140659 - Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama.