The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported:
New Training Plane Tested
LOS ANGELES, Sept 27. (AP) The Air Force’s first postwar training plane—North American’s T-28—has tried her wings and found they work very well.
The company announced that the twin cockpit craft—designed to train pilots for advanced high speed fighters and bombers—flew 45 minutes yesterday. Said test pilot Skip Ziegler, “It handles more like a fighter than a trainer.” He termed the flight, “completely satisfactory.”
The T-28 has a ceiling of 29,800 feet and can move 288 miles an hour. The T-6, present Air Force trainer, ceilings at 22,000 and travels 205 m.p.h. top.
—Long Beach Press Telegram, Vol. LXII, No. 240, Tuesday, 27 September 1949, Page A-5, Column 1
The XT-28 was developed from an earlier North American Aviation project for the United States Navy. In 1946, NAA proposed their Model 142, as a replacement for the World War II SNJ/T-6 Texan, a trainer which had also been built by North American, and used by both the Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces. The Navy designated the proposed airplane XSN2J-1. Two were built and assigned Bureau of Aeronautics serial numbers (“Bu. No.”) 121449 and 121450. 121449 was the first to fly, 15 February 1947.
The Navy tested both aircraft, but did not order them into production.
A year later, NAA made a similar proposal to the United States Air Force. The Air Force wanted a trainer to transition pilots into turbojet-powered aircraft. Similar to the XSN2J-1, the XBT-28 was changed to tricycle landing gear, a first for a miltiary trainer. The prototype’s two cockpits were laid out very similar to the new, swept-wing North American XP-86 Sabre. The Air Force ordered the airplane into production as the T-28A. The first T-28A arrived at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 15 June 1950, where it would tested for suitability as a flight trainer.
The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is an all-metal, two-place airplane with retractable tricycle landing gear. The dual cockpits are arranged in tandem. The T-28A was used by the United States Air Force as a primary training aircraft, while the more powerful T-28B and T-28C were employed by the U.S. Navy. The airplane was noted for its stability and handling qualities, its easy recovery from stalls and spins, and its excellent visibility.
Initially, the T-28 was built at North American Aviation’s Downey Division, in Downey, California, which at the time was primarily a farming community about 13 miles (21 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, California. Production was shifted to North America’s Columbus Division in Columbus, Ohio.
The XT-28 and production T-28As were 32.0 feet (9.754) long with a wingspan of 40.6 feet (12.375 meters), and overall height of 12.7 feet (3.871 meters). The wing had an angle of incidence of 2° with 3° of negative twist, and 8° dihedral. The total wing area was 268.0 square feet (24.9 square meters). The vertical fin was offset 1° to the left of the airplane’s centerline. The prototype and early production T-28As had an empty weight of had an empty weight of 6,909 pounds (2,998 kilograms). This was increased in later aircraft to 7,282 pounds (3,303 kilograms). The Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) was 7,751 pounds (3,516 kilograms).² The two prototypes had a belly-mounted speed brake. All T-28As had provisions for this installation.
The XT-28 had a maximum fuel capacity of 125 gallons (473 liters), carried in two wing tanks. Two additional tanks were added to later production T-28As, increasing the capacity to 177 gallons (670 liters).
The T-28A had a cruise speed of 165 knots (190 miles per hour/306 kilometers per hour, and maximum speed of 247 knots (284 miles per hour/457 kilometers per hour) at 5,800 feet (1,768 meters). VNE varied from 190 knots (219 miles per hour/352 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) with external load, to 340 knots (391 miles per hour/630 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, clean. The airplane’s best power off glide speed was 105 knots (120 miles per hour/194 kilometers per hour).
The T-28A could climb at a maximum rate of 1,870 feet per minute (9.5 meters per second). Its service ceiling was 24,000 feet (7,315 meters). The maximum range was 720 nautical miles (829 statute miles/1333 kilometers) in early production models, or 880 nautical miles (1,013 statute miles/1,630 kilometers) in aircraft with increased fuel capacity.
For training purposes, the T-28A could be armed with one detachable gun pod under each wing. Each pod contained a .50-caliber AN-M3 Browning Aircraft Machine Gun. These had a rate of fire of approximately 1,100 rounds per minute. Each gun was supplied with 100 rounds of ammunition. The trainer could also be equipped with a removable bomb rack for a 100-pound (45 kilogram) bomb. Three 2.25 inch (5.7 centimeters) Sub-Caliber Aerial Rocket (SCAR)—Rocket, 2.25-Inch Practice—rockets could be carried on pylons mounted to hardpoints under each wing.
A total of 1,948 T-28s were built from 1950 to 1957. 1,194 of these were T-28As. The Air Force retired its T-28As by 1959. Many USAF T-28As were pulled from storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, and were converted to the T-28D configuration for combat operations during the Vietnam War. Others were converted to the AT-28D attack variant, which included an ejection seat.
XT-28 48-1371 was sent to “The Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona, 23 January 1961, and to reclamation, 18 June 1965. In 1974, it was observed, disassembled, at the Hamilton Aviation Company yard in Tucson. (Hamilton produced modified T-28s: the military T-28R-1, and the civilian T-28R-2 Nomair.)
¹ For biographical information about Skip Ziegler, please see “This Day in Aviation” for 12 Nay 1953 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/12-may-1953/
© 2025, Bryan R. Swopes