FlyPast – August 2018

(John Hannent) #1
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.
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