
It
all starts in 1950 when when the US Air Force
decides to replace its T-6 harvard fleet of trainers
and place orders to North American for a total
of 1200 T-28A. That model is equipped with a 800 Hp,
7 cylinders radial engine, Wright R-1300 Cyclone
fitted with a 2 blades propeller.
The
design is so successful that in 1952 the US Navy
requests NA to develop a new version with a more
powerful engine. The T-28B will receive the 9
cylinders, 1425 HP version of the Cyclone with a 3
blade propeller and a belly mounted airbrake.
(Full size picture from "Jet Alpine Fighters")
Delighted once again by the result, the Navy decides
to adapt the aircraft for carrier landing training
and adds a tail hook, creating the T-28C. Note that
so far, none off those versions is fitted to receive
any weaponry .
This
T-28C is located on the Belgian Mons-Saint
Ghislain (EBSG) airfield. Full size picture
available at
Airliners.net
In 1958/9,
the "Armée de l'Air française" is engaged in a
counter insurgency war in Algeria and wishes to
replace the aging T-6 which she uses as observation
and ground forces support. Aware of the T-28
success in the US, she decides to buy a few T-28B's,
but the Navy has no surplus. In the meantime, the
Air Force has begun to get rid of its A models and a
company called Pac-Aero sells them to civilians
after converting them by installing either a 1300 Hp
or 1425 Hp engine (Nomad 1 and 2). Based on
that experience, the French army purchases 150 T-28A
airframes.
These
frames will be delivered to Sud-Aviation which
adapt them by installing the B model 1425 Hp engine
(coming from surplus B-17) and 3 blades
propeller, but
also adds
weaponry anchor points under the
wings, and of course some crew combat protection
plates. The new model, called "FENNEC" (desert fox)
by the French's, and sometimes referred to as T-28S in
Us literature, can then be armed with four 250 lbs
bombs, or two pods containing each two .50 machine guns
and ammunitions, or two rocket launchers, or any
possible combination of those.

Here is a picture of the Fennec #67 over the
Algerian djebel armed with one small 6 rockets
cluster and a larger rocket ramp launcher. (Click
the picture to enlarge)
You
can see a good picture of the Fennec armament
possibilities on
this site :
T-28 Fennec des ailes pour un renard.
(text in
French). Another document explains the
organisation of the EALA's
(Light aircrafts ground supprt squadrons)
In 1962, the US Air Force being also involved in
counter insurgency wars in SE Asia and in Africa
will follow the French idea and modify some of its
T-28B to a new T-28D or AT-28D version.
This probably
explains why some of the warbirds exhibited today in
the US as FENNEC have an airbrake, which, to my
knowledge, the Fennec
never had. I strongly suspect they are
repainted T-28D's . Click on the picture for more
details about that T-28. exhibited as Fennec # 1,
airframe s/n 51-7632. If you know something about
that, be kind to let me know and I will adapt my
comments.
Picture
courtesy of Brian Lockett at the
Goleta Air-and-Space Museum
If you understand
French, pay a visit to that site
for more details :
Georges Kern's Fennec #82
, or
this one
Today there are 250 to 300 airworthy T-28
throughout the world.
As far as the Fennec's are concerned, the French air
army offered them for sale from 1964 thru 1967, the
two major buyers being Argentina and Morocco, who
have later sold a few of them to Uruguay and
Honduras; a few
others have been purchased by US traders, some of
which being used in Haiti for a while before coming
back to the States. Some others were finally
purchased by private owners who provide in-flight
shows during air meetings.
Part of the 65 aircrafts delivered to Argentina
(Navy) has been fitted with a tail hook and used as
attack planes operating from the sea carrier "25 de
Mayo" as T-28P. If you
understand a bit of Spanish, click
"HERE", anyhow,
there are some very interesting pictures.
All
those steps are compiled in
a table describing the last
known situation of each airplane
, as well as her intermediate registration
number. Part of these informations come from the individual records published by the "Warbirds
Registry".
You can access those records by clicking on the last
four digits of the airframe #. You can
also see more pictures (when available) by clicking
on the registration #. The French publication "Le
Trait d'Union",
www.histarmar.com.ar
Argentina's webmaster have also provided
useful information.
Most of the pictures are displayed thru a link to
external sites and are the property of their owner.
They may therefore not be copied or used without
their permission.
If ever you have pictures or documents showing of a
Fennec showing both the airframe and Fennec number,
please mail me that information or, if you have that
possibility, send me a copy of the document (picture
size 600 x 450 pixels mini if possible))
Although I missed it during my quest for
information, you can find confirmation of my story
on that site :
http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/T28_prof.htm