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Whether you called it the Texan, Harvard, Yale, I-Bird, Mosquito, or simply the T-6 or SNJ, the North American T-6 trainer was one of the most important aircraft designs of the Second World War era - perhaps of all time! The North American Texan was built in greater numbers than most of the aircraft that it trained pilots for, or against! There were 17,096 Texans built by North American Aviation and the foreign companies that built the Texan under license overseas. This figure does not count the aircraft that were re- manufactured from existing airframes, or aircraft that used T-6 technology (P-64, NA-50, Boomerang) as their basis. Although designed as a basic training aircraft the T-6 would be used extensively in a number of other roles including: advanced trainer, fighter, interceptor, fighter-bomber, forward air control aircraft and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft. The Texan was widely exported and served with at least fifty-five air forces throughout the world. In civilian hands it was used as a pylon racer, sport aircraft, mail carrier, and even as an air- liner. The Texan served in all three of the modern era conflicts - World War 11, Korea, and Vietnam. The Texan also saw action in dozens of brush-fire wars around the world including Algeria, the Congo, Biafra, the Middle East and throughout Latin America. Despite its impressive war record, the Texan is best known as a trainer. There have been a great many other aircraft developed for the trainer role; however, only the T-6 Texan is known by the name, PILOT MAKER...
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