Trojan horse almost made it as Unlimited racer

Tributes to the North American T-28 Trojan trainer in its 75th anniversary year included placement on the Warbirds in Review ramp at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024, where a rare experimental Unlimited air racing version from the past was on display and in discussion.

Dan Kirkland said his red-white-and-blue T-28, bearing air race number 28 on the tail and the wingtips, began life as a lower-horsepower T-28A. The A-model used an 800-horsepower R-1300 engine. Starting around 1959, a number of T-28As, including this one, were upgraded with R-1820 engines of 1,200 horsepower.

Following two years of T-28 class demonstration races at Reno, Kirkland said the owner of his T-28 at the time, Wayne Brooks, decided to enter this T-28 in the Unlimited Class where the fighters roamed saying, in effect, “I’m going to make a 28 that will beat a Mustang around the pylons.”

Kirkland said other pilots pretty much figured it couldn’t be done.

Brooks operated JE Engineering, a piston maker, and had special pistons installed in his T-28’s engine to boost power. He also stripped 400 pounds of wiring from the airframe. Three square-tipped Hamilton-Standard propeller blades of the type used on a Grumman S-2 Tracker twin-engine patrol aircraft grace this T-28, according to Kirkland.

“They give you more bite,” he explained.

Water injection further enhanced its chops as an air racer.

The T-28 racer, with its high canopy and blunt frontal countenance, hardly looked like a contender in the Unlimited race category that showcased streamlined and modified P-51 Mustangs and other high-powered piston-engine fighters at Reno every September.

According to Kirkland, the plan was to qualify the T-28 in the Unlimited category as close to the cutoff speed as possible to avoid giving away clues to the lightened and souped-up Trojan’s actual top speed, possibly 50 miles faster than that.

Sure, a chugging T-28 would not be expected to challenge the top Mustangs and Sea Furies, but it could pick off some of the slower fighters in the pack.

When qualification runs were over, the official timing speed for the T-28 was reported as lower than what the pilot and crew believed they had achieved, and T-28 Unlimited racer Number 28 was disallowed at the races, Kirkland said.

Wayne Brooks took his Trojan home and it remained a largely forgotten anecdote in the history of air racing at Reno.

At AirVenture 2024, current owner Kirkland flew this same T-28, sharing its near-racing past. He said it had only seven hours on it since its rebuilding for air racing when he bought it from Brooks. Kirkland now has about 700 hours on it.

Kirkland was told that the team that originally tried to race his T-28 could do 348 mph around the pylons at Reno, sufficient to outpace the P-40s and Wildcats.

“They’d beat a lot of the stock Mustangs as well,” he said, had the T-28 flown in Unlimited competition.

In fact, when Kirkland arrived in Wisconsin in preparation for AirVenture formation flying, he had to learn formation work alongside stock T-28s because his racer-modified Trojan was so much faster.

“When I would fly in formation I would be somewhere 300 to 400 rpm less than the other guys,” he said.

Kirkland stands out as an all-civilian-trained warbird pilot. He does not have a military background.

“What I’m here to tell you is that if you want to invest the time and the financial resources, anybody can do this,” he told the Oshkosh crowds. “Anybody can buy these planes, anybody can learn.”

He added the North American Trainer Association (NATA) will help you train.

According to Kirkland, learning to fly the T-28 airframe is easy. It’s mastering the big R-1820 engine that’s the hard part.

Others in the T-28 discussion said a good quality T-28 can be purchased for around $200,000. While that may sound like a lot of money, it compares favorably with a number of general aviation aircraft prices, although long-term cost of ownership (operation and maintenance) was not discussed.