Posted on 10/03/2019 4:48:55 PM PDT by pfflier
I am doing a model of the T-28B circa 1970's for a friend's family (He died about three years ago). He was a rear seater at NAS El Centro running instrumentation for parachute testing.
His recollection was that his plane was all white. This is uncommon for a navy trainer of the era. Usually they have a red or orange cowling, tail and wing colors.
If anyone has any recollection of this type of plane at NAS El Centro could you please tell me the color scheme?
Also a general question for all color schemes that were white and red. What was the color of the rear deck? Was it interior gray or anti-glare black?
Internet searches haven't provided the answers. I'm sure a FREEPER out there will.
Isn’t their nickname “cement mixer”?
Go to that bases Facebook(or have someone do it for you) and they will probably provide a picture.
Turns out the planes were all white with a fin flash. Now I've got to figure out yellow or red for the flash. Your pictures show both.
His notes said there were also Army T-28s there in all white.
Yup.
Rear Deck? As in floor of the rear cockpit? I flew T-28B/C at NAS Pensacola in 1974 and I seem to remember the cockpits being good old "battleship gray". 45 years ago and the mind is fading...
Fun bird to fly, though. I really liked formation and Running Rendezvous. Acro was great, too.
If you go to the link I provided above the pic, you will see several different types of aircraft at NAS El Centro, and they all have yellow tail flashes.
I believe the other pic with red flash is a civilian-owned aircraft because of the very small N registration on the rear fuselage. So the colors may not be period correct for the time frame you're looking at.
Here's the FAA registry: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N223E
The area I was trying to find information about was the area behind the back seater and under that massive canopy. Looks like it included a strobe light or position light dome but that would be strange.
Nice, and it looks like youre getting lots of good info.
A close friend of a close friend owns one. Through a lucky series of events, I got a nice ride for 30-40m. It was great!
For those who may not know, that black stripe down the fuselage is to hide all the oil from the exhaust that streaks aft from that Wright Cyclone.
I worked with a WW2 aviator several years ago. He said one of the jokes back in the day is if you flew in formation, the aircraft in the back didnt need oil because the ones in front threw enough oil to lubricate the ones following.
There was also a company that made very detailed decals, for just about any aircraft one could think of. Can't remember their name right now.
Does the name Microscale “ ring a bell? There are many more now but they led the way.
I think that’s it!
First plane I ever flew and first plane I solo-ed in. I had no idea what I was doing. Good thing I had two great instructors; Tom Padden and J.P. Giguere (who was KIA 2 yrs later in Grenada).
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