Village idiot tranforms a T28 Trojan fuselage into a car

[carlisle1926]

I couldn't wait any longer. I went out and hit each connecting rod on the end with a 10lb sledge hammer. All but one of the pistons moved! They are all still pretty tight and I will continue to let them soak. The three jugs with Diet Coke moved the easiest! I think since they were so badly corroded, that the phosphoric acid must have eaten away some of the thick corrosion. I'll give them another full day to "cook". Now that the pistons have moved slightly, I'm hoping that will allow more fluid to pas into the rings. The one cylinder that didn't move had Diet Coke in it, but only a small amount, because the piston had rotted through the top and most of the Coke leaked into the combustion chamber.

[Santini]

Greetings,

Look what I found...



and I happened to know the pilot who's name appears on the airplane.. Wait until I tell him what I ran into hehe

This T-28 in its better days in the MAF; I would love to find more information about any exMAF T28, maybe I have some material lying around (same goes for AT6s). My grandfather flew this things as an officer and I love to reconnect with the past, its always nice to know what happened to the airframes after so long...

Where were all the people who wanted to save Mexican Air Force T-28s when I had 5 of them. Rare I saw over 20 of them, all corroded to pretty much the same condition as yours. Like you said parts aren't even worth much. Had one US engine pickled that didn't even bring much. Got servicable cylinders if anyones interested.

Do you happen to have any pictures of these a/c maybe I have some stuff of when they were operational..

If anyone has pictures of any exMAF aircraft I will do my part to help preserve the history...


Could you please tell me more about where you found these airframes?

Cheers!!

S.

[carlisle1926]

Now that is impressive! I never thought I would see a photo of this plane in happier times.

[carlisle1926]

Here is a photo that someone took of the T28 that was sitting in the pasture next to the plane I have now. This was taken in the Vintage Flying Museum in Ft.Worth after it was pulled out of the pasture and put on a trailer. It is also an ex Mex plane.

[Santini]

Hey Jason,

I am glad I could help... Here is another one of it in another times; this is one I can tell you is from when the ac was based in La Paz BCS in the 203 squadron. Awesome squadron my father flew in it on the 80's (PC-7s) its hard to tell but your airframe is the leader in this shot wearing a big 77.

Here is a photo that someone took of the T28 that was sitting in the pasture next to the plane I have now. This was taken in the Vintage Flying Museum in Ft.Worth after it was pulled out of the pasture and put on a trailer. It is also an ex Mex plane.

About this other one... Look what I also found



C'mon you have to admit there is a nice feeling to finding a bit of the past...

How did you come across this fuselages? what do you know about them?

Let me know if you have some more... I'll try to find more pics I have to ask around but the old timer will sure love to know I found out what happened to one of this birds...

Cheers,

[Chris Brame]

Hope you don't mind me fixing up the color on this one:

I'll bet Subteniente Wong Barrios (sp?) has some interesting stories about it!

[carlisle1926]

That looks great Chris!

[Santini]

Fantastic Chris!!! thanks

[stevedarke]

Trying to sort out which T-28A's went to Mexico.

I thought T28-903 was ex 49-1670 and was sold to the USA as N8156Y, which is shown as active on the FAA website.

Is this really the one being used for the 'car' conversion?

Steve Darke
www.thai-aviation.net

[carlisle1926]

Trying to sort out which T-28A's went to Mexico.

I thought T28-903 was ex 49-1670 and was sold to the USA as N8156Y, which is shown as active on the FAA website.

Is this really the one being used for the 'car' conversion?

Steve Darke
http://www.thai-aviation.net

At this point, I'm fairly certain that the tail is off of T28-903, but the fuselage is a completely different plane. I should be down at the hangar tomorrow and I'll right down the serial number that is on the data plate.
Jason

[stevedarke]

Thanks. I suspect the fuselage is from Mexican #77.

A photo of any dataplate would be great, thanks.

Steve

[carlisle1926]

Thanks. I suspect the fuselage is from Mexican #77.

A photo of any dataplate would be great, thanks.

Steve

My fuselage does clearly have a huge 77 on the side of it. The data tag reads T28A 49-1560 AC 21800

[stevedarke]

49-1560 became N3226G in 1958/59, then was 'lost'. Now it seems to have been one of the many unidentified ones which went to Mexico.

Thanks for this. Another brick in the T-28 wall

Steve Darke
www.thai-aviation.net

[Chris Brame]

My fuselage does clearly have a huge 77 on the side of it. The data tag reads T28A 49-1560 AC 21800

Aha. So that faded buzz number on the tail must be TL-560. Have you ordered the record card yet?

[stevedarke]

Yep, just ordered the FAA file for N3226G. I'll dig out some more pre-Mexican military history too.

Looks like you really have Mexican s/n T28-977, with the tail from T28-903.

Steve