FlyPast – August 2018

electronic warfare trainers. The

museum YS-11 served with the

Presidential Flight.

A twin of a very different layout

and purpose is the attraction’s

Grumman SA-16 Albatross flying-

boat. The Albatross was the

fourth, last and largest of a line of

amphibians from the Long Island,

New York-based manufacturer.

This machine is one of a dozen

operated by the PAF, having been

sourced from the USAF, US Coast

Guard or the US Navy, the last

being retired in March 1983.

Trainers

Of the 20 airframes at Villamor,

the majority are trainers,

including the oldest airframe

in the collection, a 1943 Boeing

PT-13D Kaydet, displayed within

the main hall. ‘Stearmen’ formed

part of the reconstituted PAF

from 1947, the last ones being

phased out in 1959-1960 in favour

of the Beech T-34 Mentor. Also

part of the inventory from 1947

was the T-6 Texan, and a G-model

remanufactured in 1951 sits in the

aircraft park.

Based on the Bonanza civilian

tourer, the private venture T-34A

Mentor first took to the air in

December 1948 at Wichita, Kansas.

It was used by the USAF and US

Navy, in both piston and turboprop

forms, and widely exported.

The type was licence-built by

Fuji from the late 1950s. The PAF

received 36 of these as part of

Japanese reparations following

World War Two. Mentors were

operated into the 1980s by the

105th Combat Crew Training

Squadron (CCTS) of the 5th Fighter

Wing at Basa, north of Manila.

North American’s successor to

the Texan was the T-28 Trojan,

which was also adaptable as a

light strike or counter-insurgency

(COIN) aircraft. The PAF became

a long-term operator of the T-28,

taking examples from the USAF,

the US Navy and stocks surplus

from the Royal Thai Air Force.

The museum’s Trojan was built

for the US Navy as a T-28C and

later upgraded to an armed

AT-28D. In December 1989, some

of the surviving PAF T-28s were

Pacific Gem

“This C-47B started life with the

USAAF and served nations across

the world including Spain, Bolivia,

Colombia, Japan and South Korea, as

well as the US”

August 2018 FLYPAST 111

Albatross 48607 is presented in a high

visibility air-sea rescue scheme.

Douglas C-47B 48301 joined the collection in

the early 1980s.