Any T-28 owners?

Have you flown a T-6? I was amazed at the extremely light control forces on the T-6. Was told that the T-28 was even better. NA had their **** together back then.

 

Don. Looks like the rules vary according to how the planes are certified. In our case it won’t be an issue. I’ll just take a commercial flight check in it and done.

 

Jim. Never flown the T-6. The IP I flew with today had hours in the T-6 and called it “relatively boring” and vowed to never go back. That surprised me a bit. I assumed they were more similar. The Trojan flies like a cream puff of a jet...that shakes a bit more. And, the nose is very heavy. 200 KIAS and 30 degrees NH to start an aileron roll and even though it’s pretty quick, you end up about 20 degrees NL at the finish. Was a blast.

 

Yeah, I could understand that sentiment. Was just commenting on the nice controls. One thing the T-6 has is the 'nose' gear on the proper end.

 

I completely agree. T-6 is a proper man’s airplane...no question.

 

Hi - I had an three bladed A model for a few years and just absolutely loved it. No prop airplane flies any better, is more comfortable or has better viz. Like any airplane, the key is just getting it right initially, maintaining it and flying it BY THE BOOK. Once set up, the plane was quite reliable and a joy to fly. Plan on 40 gph with an A model and 170-180 kts. So very much fun, VERY easy to fly and land.

 

Russ- Welcome back. Are you still practicing medicine or really retired?

 

I remember seeing some early artist's conceptions of what became the T-28. It began as basically a P-51 with an enlarged two-seat cockpit and a lower-powered radial engine, still a taildragger - similar to how Yakovlev developed the Yak-11. While the aircraft changed a lot after that, you have to admit it still has some P-51 DNA in it.

On the other hand, the R-1820 installation is identical to that on the S2F Tracker and SA-16/HU-16 Albatross, which is why all these airplanes sound the same, and very different than B-17s with the same engine. (Must be the exhaust pipes.)

 

Taz - doing what a lot of docs do - transition to teach young docs. I'm the course director for the USAF flight surgeon course at WPAFB.
Building a Gnome rotary Camel now, and improv a bit. Still also have an L-3. Last fun car was a Euro 3.0 CSI. Let me know if you get to Dayton.

 

The B-17 engines are turbosupercharged which changes the sound a lot.

 

Russ, welcome back! I was going to pick your brain on the T-28 before I jumped in...but now I've jumped in and very happy about it so far. Your plane sure was beatiful!

 

The original T-28 prototype was a tail-dragger. The B/C have a single stage/two-speed supercharger which may change the sound? Also, didn't the B-17 have a really long set of stacks running the length of the nacelles aftward? The Trojan's stacks are puny...in fact they are designed to contribute some thrust!

 

Kinda cool...
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Russ- A Gnome rotary with 160 hp will be a real hot rod. Fred Murrin and I wrote an article on that engine for Over the Front. That cylinder skipping device made it much easier to fly than one with just a throttle and coupe switch, too. Most of the old timers said nothing outperformed a Nieuport 28, and that was mainly due to the engine. One of the loudest things I have ever heard, too.

 

The B-17 exhaust ran back to the rear of the nacelle where the turbocharger was located. The turbocharger acted like a muffler, so it did not have open stacks.

http://www.airpages.ru/eng/mn/b17_169s.jpg

 

When I was stationed at Langley Field during the war we had two squadrons of bombers, maybe a bit more. One was B-24 and one was B-17. I flew on both. I made money on betting with the other guys what was flying over at night based on the sound. Even though both of the airplanes exhaust ran through turbo super chargers I could detect the slight popping sound of the R1820 on the B-17's . The B-24's R1830's had a smooth liquid sound to them and the B-17 did not. The S2F and the T-28 have 4 stacks on one side and 5 stacks on the other , giving them the rat-ta-tat sound that I always like to hear. The few times that I flew the PT -22 were not comfortable behind the big Kinner. They never sounded right to me....only running on 5 and not turning up to full power. Two of my friends who owned the Ryan's had the number one cylinder let go and fly over their heads. Then there was Harrison Ford. I always liked the 200 Lycoming and the 220 Continental....and the PT13-17 Stearman.