Further continuing our coverage of 'Old Station Fly-in & Heritage Show 2017', this post takes a look at the more prominate warbirds that attended the event at Old Station Farm, Raglan, Central Queensland.
A familiar attendee at Old Station Fly-in's is Warbird Aviation North American Aviation Corp T-28D-5 Trojan VH-TRO, and is always among the crowd favourites.
Manufactured in 1952 and powered by a Curtiss-Wright R-1820, 9-cylinder radial engine, this graceful 'ole lady of the skies served for a number of years with the United States Air Force (USAF) as 51-3722 before being converted to an AT-28D and transferred to the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF), and later onwards to the Philippine Air Force (PAF).
After military service, VH-TRO has been noted to have worn a number of civilian markings including operations with Air America in Laos.
Initially intended to satisfy the role as a trainer, the Trojan was also successfully employed as a Counter-insurgency aircraft, primarily during the Vietnam War.
Another common attendee at Old Station in recent years has been Beech 45 / T-34 Mentor VH-XUS.
The Beech T-34 Mentor was designed to satisfy the role as a military trainer, and while earlier models were powered by piston engines, the turboprop powered T-34C Turbo-Mentor eventually became the successor.
Arguably the crowd's favourite warbird was Grumman American Aviation Corporation TBM-3E Avenger VH-MML.
Of interest, the Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft assembled by General Motors) was a torpedo bomber developed for the United States Navy (USN) and Marine Corps, however, was also used by a number of allied naval forces including the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).
Also present was Warbird Aviation North American Aviation Corp Yakovlev Yak-52 VH-YNO. Manufactured in 1991, this Russian trainer is powered by an Ivchenko M-14P, 9-cylinder, air cooled, radial engine.
Last but not least, Amateur Built Supermarine Spitfire Mk26B VH-LZC was an equally welcomed sight. Assembled in 2010, this 90% replica Spitfire has a General Motors LS2 V8 petrol engine nestled under the cowls.
