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History:
Whether you called it the Texan,
Harvard, Yale, T-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 has been 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 II, 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...
Specifications:
Wingspan 42 feet 1/4 inch
Length 29 feet 6 inches
Height 11 Feet 9 inches
Empty weight 4158 pounds
Max weight 5300 pounds
Powerplant 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1
supercharged, air-cooled radial engine.
Performance
Never exceed 240 mph
Max level 208 mph
Normal cruise 160 mph
Max climb 1800 ft/min
Normal climb 700-1200 ft/min
Range 450-750 miles
Ceiling 24,500 feet
Fuel flow 72 Gal/Hr. Take off, 33 Gal/Hr. cruise
Armament 2 30-cal Browning machine guns,
1000 pound under-wing stores for
rockets bombs or machine gun pods.
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