Bob Knight is a patient man. As chairman of the board of SUN ‘n FUN, he’s accustomed to long-term planning and delayed gratification.
In his business, Knight Industrial Equipment, he oversees the design and construction of bulk material handling equipment, like conveyor systems for cement plants.
And two years ago, Knight bought a 1951 T-28A Trojan (N145DK) he has yet to fly.
After purchasing the T-28A, he had it modified into a T-28B with a 1,425 horsepower engine, replaced the wheels, brakes, battery boxes, and prop.
Then he had it repainted by Foster’s Aircraft Refinishing, based in Lakeland.
“We put a Teflon coat to make it easy to clean,” he said. “If you look at other T-28s they usually have an oil stripe down the side.”
Knight’s T-28 has a Trojan helmet painted on the tail, in homage to the logo for his company, which has a logo of a knight’s helmet.
The T-28 holds 87-1/2 gallons of fuel per side.
“It burns 50 gallons an hour, 40 at cruise and it goes 300 knots, 260 at cruise,” said Knight as he gazed up at the gleaming aircraft, which was parked for display on the south side of the Warbird area at this year’s SUN ‘n FUN.
“Link Dexter is in charge of all the maintenance on this,” he said. “We just got it finished in time to show at SUN ‘n FUN. I don’t have any time in it. I’ll have to log 20 hours in it with Link Dexter to activate the insurance, to get a Letter of Authorization, kind of like a check ride. I want to fly in it the week after SUN ‘n FUN.”
When asked who he plans to fly with, Knight said, “My wife doesn’t think she can climb in and out. I will probably get ‘Lites’ checked out in it,” he said, referring to SUN ’n FUN President John “Lites” Leenhouts. “I fly to Oshkosh each year in my Bonanza with Lites.”
Knight said he bought the T-28 because “as chairman of the board, I wanted to build strong ties with the warbirds, so becoming one of them worked out.”
He bought the plane at an auction. The plane’s N-number includes his wife’s initials, he said, “So she’ll stop asking me how much we’re spending.”
In the manner of a Southern gentleman, he apologized for the “dirty tennis balls” stuffed in the exhaust stacks on both sides of the nose.
While posing for a photo between the prop and the leading edge of the wing, he said, “I probably should have gotten more tennis balls, but I ran out of money.”
With 5,500 flying hours behind him, Knight seems eager to add more in his new plane.
Outstanding aircraft, it has always been one of my favorite aircraft, and probably always will..
Just a note on a somewhat unique aerodynamic characteristic of the T-28. If one should venture into a spin in the T-28 either intentionally or inadvertently beware of pro-spin rudder lock in a steady state spin i.e. rudder pedals will remain in a pro-spin condition requiring more than the usual leg force to reverse the deflection to full opposite rudder for recovery. Been there done that.
Must admit I’m envious. I’ve always wished I had the bucks to own and fuel the gas guzzler. Though I never saw it personally it was my understanding from sea stories that early Vietnamese students in the T-28 crashed on wave offs (Navy term for go arounds) from approaches for lack of leg length in applying sufficient rudder to counter the torque roll if power was applied too abruptly.
My most favorite-est stiff wing aircraft of all time. Many hours at VT-3 (Basic), Whiting Field, VT-5 (carrier quals), Barron Field, AL, and VT-2 (Instruments), NAS Pensacola. As SNAs (Student Naval Aviators, though some substitute “Stupid”), we took off at 52 inches and 2700 RPM, if the gray matter still works, climbed out at 36/24, and cruised at 20/20, for 170 Kts. During instrument training, we had to do one hop where we were required to shift the supercharger from low-blower to high, while climbing at a constant airspeed and doing standard-rate turns 30 degrees left and right of course, all under the bag (a real bag that completely sealed out the outside). And the same thing on the way down. The interesting thing about the supercharger change was that it had to be “smooth” and involved retarding the throttle to some nominal setting, changing the blower lever, and then smoothly adding the throttle back to climb power. The throttle had one helluva lot more oomph after shifting into high blower!
There was a throttle stop set with a little tab and a set screw, which kept the throttle from being advanced past 52.5″ during normal operations. We were scolded if it got moved while we were flying. I don’t know of anybody who came back from carrier quals with that thing not at 56″! Looking down the flight deck for a deck launch before letting off the brakes is enough to make any pilot question the laws of physics.
But I sure enjoyed flying that thing. It was a beast and a pleasure to fly. On cross-countries, we used to jokingly ask the line guys to fill up the oil and check the gas.
I was a dental officer at NAS Whiting Field from March 1969 to March 1971 so saw a lot of action from the T-28’s and logged a few hours with one of the instructors who was a patient of mine. In those days the Viet Nam War was in full swing so the squadron commanders wanted a student in the T-28 if it was airborne, due to monetary concerns. However, after one of the squadron commanders had an after hours dental emergency that was taken care by me while the duty dental officer, he authorized the instructor to take me for a spin. The instructor was LT Kevin Butler and I’ve often wondered what became of him? I’ve got a number of photos taken during the flight over to Mobile and out over the Gulf of Mexico, and one of me standing in my flight suit beside the plane we took on the flight. Prior to flying in the T-28 I was required to take training in the Kiwi, the bird that didn’t fly; a T-28 tethered to the deck with the engine at full throttle to train for bailing out in case of an emergency. I recall that Kevin told me if he said “bail out” I better go right then or I’d find myself riding alone!! It was my understanding that no matter how you executed the exit you were going to hit the elevator, however, it was my good fortune not to have to determine if that were the case. Those were some wonderful days and an experience I’ll never forget.
What a gorgeous specimen of aeronautical engineering. I’ll certainly keep an eye on the sky when I hear a round engine go by. Congratulations to Bob, and to those of us in this corner of the world who will get to see and hear it zip through the sky above Polk County and beyond.
I love it!