T-28 A

Nice shot of Weitzman's A by Van Gilder

You can see more and buy his photos at http://vg-photo.smugmug.com/

New photo of Tim Berry

New photo of Tim Berry over the Jungle Down Under

Tim Berry in Toowoomba

Tim wrote to me looking for ideas on the automatic primer and here he describes his A model.

On my local airport here there are another 4 T28 B and D models. We have only 16 Trojans in Australia and we have 5 based here in Toowoomba. I am always on the hunt for good parts. Here in Australia we have no suppliers of any T28 parts at all and we import everything except basic everyday items.
 
I have owned my T28A for a year now. I purchased it via Courtesy Aircraft sales (Mark Clark). It has been registered NX3336G/NX221LH and now VH-VBT. I was initially looking for a Vultee BT-13 (thats why my callsign is VBT) and had put a deposit on one only for the deal to fall over at the last minute. I had been looking for a BT for over a year with no luck. Christmas 2010 I was looking at various T6's in the US when N221LH caught my eye.  No one here in Australia had ever flown behind an R1300 or an "A" model before. After much research and emails, I purchased the aircraft late Jan 2011. Cliff Wileski at Heritage Aero Services, Rockford, Illinois conducted the pre-purchase and then the dis-assembly and containerisation of the aircraft and organsied the shipping to Australia. Cliff did a fantastic job.
After a massive sea voyage via the atlantic ocean, suez canal, singapore, hong kong and taiwan (twice),eventually she arrived in Brisbane, Australia about 85 days later.

Australian Customs won't inspect aircraft in a container so we had to go to the port and unload her at the dock. We were unable to re-load back into the container so we loaded fuselage and wings onto flatbed semi-trailers, with tailplanes, fin and rudder on the back of my ute.
Aerotec Toowoomba re-assembled the aircraft over a two month period. Eventually on November 3 2011 I flew her for the first time in Australian skies.
We have so far done 20 hours and had one airshow appearance.

I have no military history at all on the aircraft and don't know where to start looking. On the net is a court transcript where T28A 50-221 NX3336G was "stolen" and sold and flown illegially to Haiti in the 60's with all being arrested. If you search NX3336G you will see it. When I was repainting the registration I was rubbing back the paint and NX3336G clearly came through the old paint. So I sort of have a bit of history.

T-28's around the Tucson Boneyard

Last week my mom, nephew and I made a road trip to Tucson to help move a friend. I was excited to visit the Pima Air Museum and the famous Davis Monthan Air Force Base, temporary home to the projects we are working on. I was half hoping that I could find some affordable spares for the T-28 but most of the parts are gone. There were two projects in storage and one B model under restoration, owned by Chuck Wooton. Chuck is the yard manager for a S-2 Tracker parts yard, he and his pup drive around in a pickup and gather parts for customers all over the world. The Pima museum had more airplanes than you can see, 300? They have a baked B model and and A model rumored to be in the restoration shop.

Scott McLain arrives for breakfast!

Keesler Military Assistance Program Training

This is a post card I found on eBay. On the back it says, North American T-28 Trojan aircraft are used to train pilots from foreign countries in the USAF Pilot Training School at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Miss. It looks HOT! The 0- numbers mean they had been rebuilt? 51-7674 and 51-7729

Diego's takeoff and landing

Diego taking off and freaky landing in Okeechobee Florida. With the rough running this was when a piece of the flex coupling between the warm air mixing box and the carb broke open, leaning the engine out on approach. It is repaired and running as of last week.

Thunderbird A model

Just getting caught up on movies. Here is a nice video of a T-28A in a Thunderbird paint scheme, a very clean pre 51-3563 tall canopy, not sure of the number or home. Check out all the videos offered on their travels.

Cement Mixer run up

Nice documentation on cockpit layout and preparation for takeoff of an A model.

F-86 comes along side

Here the North American F-86 catches up to the North American T-28