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These 2 shots of me sitting in the Trojan were taken by the other part owner. In talking to this gentleman it turns out we went to the same high school, although he was a few years ahead of me. One photo with cap and one without.



Regards,
RHB.

Very cool mate. Great pics

Very cool Ross!!!
I need to get a "like" button installed for this friggen site
TOR

Very cool Ross! I think you've nailed the steely eyed grin of a typical Trojan driver perfectly! Have you had a chance to go for a blast in a T-28?

Many years ago I went for a ride in one of these beasties - an ex-Raven/RLAF T-28D version. Tragically, this aeroplane was destroyed along with the pilot and a paying passenger down in Tasmania a few months after my flight when the pilot attempted a low altitude roll on t/o.

Here it is down at Point Cook. To fly it was pretty heavy - when compared to the Decathalon I was flying at the time. I actually found the Decath far nicer to fly. It's all what you are used to I guess. It was great fun firing up the big R1820 which I had the pleasure to do - with a huge amount of smoke billowing over the top of the canopy!

Hi Adam. I haven't had a chacne to go up in a Trojan but I did go to high school with one of the co-owners of the Trojan. He was a few years ahead of me and also owns a V-tailed Bonanza which he has offered to take me for a ride in when he's down this way again sometime. Maybe then I could ask him for a ride in the Trojan when he was next going up in it alone. At the moment it's in the RNAC hangar with the prop removed.

Regards,
RHB.

Hey Ross

I'd say your ol' school chum is doing OK as owning a Trojan would require serious coin to keep airborne! Trojans are a pretty heavy and stable aeroplane - which is exactly what they need to be as a advanced trainer. I think they would have been a great bombing platform due to this stability. A great book to read is "The Ravens" and covers the secret missions flown by USAF FAC's in Laos from the then most secret base of Long Tieng. These "Ravens" flew T-28's and Cessna O-1's in support of the Hmong and Laotian forces fighting the Pathet Lao - it's a incredible story. Imagine flying and fighting a secret war wearing cowboy boots and t-shirts!

My next build after the 262 is a 1/48 T-28D that will have "Raven markings" - i.e with no USAF insignia. Photo below shows a Raven T-28D-5 with the 6 hardpoints and the "Yankee" extraction system for the crews.