Warbirds Flock To Oshkosh

The North American T-28 Trojan was adopted throughout the U.S. armed forces as a training aircraft. It entered service in the early 1950s;  between 1950 and 1957, a total of 1,948 were built. Dozens of them visit Oshkosh every year.

Although the U.S. Air Force phased out the aircraft from primary pilot training by the early 1960s, continuing use only for limited training of special operations aircrews and for primary training of select foreign military personnel, the aircraft continued to be used as a primary trainer by the Navy, the Marine Corps and Coast Guard well into the early 1980s.

Even more popular than the T-28 in private ownership is the North American T-6 Texan trainer, used in many countries around the world in and beyond WWII through to the 1960s. More than 100 will likely be seen at Oshkosh, not just as trainers but also (as shown here) converted into fake Nakajima bomber and Zero fighter aircraft for the movies.

Not to be outdone, aficionados of the Beechcaft T-34 Mentor tri-service trainer bring their privately-owned aircraft to Oshkosh. And like the Texans and Trojans, they too will fly by in massed formations.

Only at Oshkosh, and in the movie Catch 22 , can one see so many B-25 Mitchell bombers in one place. More than half a dozen will attend this year’s show.

The Fairchild C-123K Provider came to the fore in Vietnam with its ability to operate out of short unprepared fields; if it couldn’t land it could drop parachutes or carge from its rear loading ramp.  Hot-and-high performance was improved by the addition of two GE J85-GE-17 turbo jets under the wings to assist its two 2 – P&W R-2800-99W “Double Wasp” 18 Cyl. radial engines. This C-123k, named “Thunderpig,” is restored and operated by the Air Heritage Museum of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

Living up to its name “Thunderpig,” the C-123K shows off its squat, fat body. It can carry up ti 24,000 lbs of  cargo. Its appearance is dedicated to all of those who served in South East Asia during the time of the Vietnam War. 

The Valiant Air Command, of Titusville, Florida, is showing off its North American F-86F Sabre, real serial #52-4959 but appearing as 31201/FU-201 as flown by the USAF Skyblazers. The F-86 was the first U.S. swept wing fighter, At least three privately-owned examples flew into Oshkosh this year.

Two North American F-86 fighter jets are accompanied by an Italian-built SIAI-Marchetti S.211 light jet trainer on an aerial photo mission over Oshkosh. Nearly 60 S.211s were built, serving with the air forces of Singapore, the Philippines and Hawaii in the 1980s/1990s before mostly being sold to private users. Twelve are listed on the FAA civil register; no fewer than three of them appeared here at EAA AirVenture.

Two McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighters roared into Oshkosh on Monday evening, flying here from Holloman AFB, New Mexico, where they belong to a group that operats QF-4 target drone aircraft. Whether these two will be converted into target drones and shot down as well remains to be seen.  They are among the very last of the F-4 Phantoms to be flown by the U.S. Air Force.