The T-28 Trojan Redefined Counterinsurgency Warfare in Vietnam
As a proud alumnus of the University of Southern California, it was only a matter of time before I got around to writing about a warplane that bears the same name as the nickname of my alma mater’s sports teams (especially since several of our readers who are also USC alumni requested the topic).
Without further ado, say hello and “Fight On(!)” to the T-28 Trojan trainer and light attack (counterinsurgency) aircraft.
North American T-28 Trojan Initial History and Specifications
The T-28 Trojan made its maiden flight on September 26, 1949, and was officially adopted by the United States Air Force as its primary, or initial pilot training aircraft, in 1950, with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard following suit shortly thereafter. It was manufactured by the now-defunct North American Aviation, most famous for making the legendary P-51D Mustang fighter plane of World War II as well as another venerable training plane, the original T-6 Texan (the still-actively serving “sequel,” the T-6C Texan II, is built by Beechcraft).
The warbird had the following tech specs and vital stats:
-Crew: 2
-Fuselage Length: 32 feet
-Wingspan: 40 feet 7 inches
-Height: 12 feet 8 inches
-Empty weight: 6,424 lb.
-Max takeoff weight: 8,500 lb.
-Powerplant: one × Wright R-1300 Cyclone 7 engine bearing 800 hp (596 kW)
-Max Airspeed: 283 mph
-Cruising Speed: 190 mph
-Service Ceiling: 25,200 feet
-Range: 1,000 miles
-Armament: six x hardpoints with a capacity of 1,200 lbs (540 kgs) of ordnance (bomb pods, rocket pods, or .50 caliber machine gun pods)
A total of 1,948 T-28 airframes were built between 1950 and 1957. Besides the U.S. Armed Forces, approximately twenty-seven other nations’ militaries ended up using the plane, whether via official foreign military sales acquisition or via capture from adversaries.
Operational History and Combat Performance
Though the U.S. Air Force phased out the T-28 from primary pilot training (known nowadays as Undergraduate Pilot Training), relegating it to limited training of special operations aircrews and primary training of select foreign military personnel, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard continued to utilize the Trojan as a primary trainer well into the 1980s, finally retiring the plane in 1984.
As far as real-world combat performance went, the Trojan was first “blooded” in combat via the French Air Force in Algeria from 1960 to 1962 against insurgent rebels fighting French ground troops. But it was during the Vietnam War that the T-28 truly cemented its reputation as a fighting warbird. As noted by Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC):
“The T-28 was actively utilized in the Vietnam War by the U.S. and South Vietnamese Air Force as the T-28D Nomad, which was equipped to carry a variety of weapons ranging from bombs and rockets to napalm for use on counter insurgency missions throughout Southeast Asia. It was especially effective in night operations against targets not protected by radar controlled anti-aircraft batteries, and as armed escorts for A-26 attack aircraft and helicopters. They also operated in hunter/killer teams with observation aircraft equipped with Starlight scopes to locate enemy convoys.”
Ironically, it was a captured T-28 that enabled the enemy, i.e., the North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF), to obtain its first air-to-air kill of the Vietnam War, when, on February 15, 1964, NVAF Lieutenant Nguyen Van Ba downed a Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RNVAF) C-123 Provider.
In addition, a T-28 Trojan was the first American fixed-wing attack aircraft 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 antiaircraft artillery fire on August 28, 1962, whilst flying close air support mission; both men were killed in action. The USAF ended up losing a total of twenty-three T-28 Trojans to all causes during the war.
Trojans were also used by the CIA in the former Belgian Congo during the 1960s.
The Philippine Air Force was the last military entity to retire the T-28, doing so in 1994.
Where Are They Now?
Roughly fifty-five T-28 Trojans survive today, mostly as static displays, spread out across Argentina, Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among the stateside static display examples is Serial No. 49-1494, a T-28A at the Cold War Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio. Meanwhile, airworthy T-28s are kept flying by private entities such as the Trojan Phylers of Carrollton, Texas, and the Trojan Thunder demonstration team of Lake Wales, Florida.
Fight On, T-28 Trojans!
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: Ryan Fletcher / Shutterstock.com