T-6 Texan file photo [4451]

AT-6 Texan

CountryUnited States
ManufacturerNorth American Aviation
Primary RoleOther
Maiden Flight1 April 1935

Contributor:

ww2dbaseThe AT-6 Texan single-engine trainer aircraft entered production in 1937 after the United States Army Air Corps made an order for 180 aircraft and the British Royal Air Force for 400. The USAAC designated their aircraft as BC-1, while the RAF called theirs the Harvard I. The US Navy received 16 modified aircraft, which they designated SNJ-1, and then 61 more as SNJ-2. As the war began in Europe, a total of 1,173 were contracted to be given to the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force via Lend Lease; these were the AT-6 Harvard II variants with squared-off wingtips and straight-edged rudders. As the United States geared for war, the US Army Air Force received 1,549 AT-6A aircraft and the Navy 270 SNJ-3 aircraft, which were trainers equipped with the more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-1340-49 Wasp radial engines. To boost production, North American Aviation gave Canadian firm Noorduyn Aviation the license to build R-1340-AN-1 powered version of the AT-6A variant, which were sold back to the USAAF as the AT-16 aircraft and the RAF and RCAF as the Harvard IIB aircraft. Several more variants entered production as the war progressed. The AT-6 Texan design was so successful that new variants continued to be built after the war. In 1948, they were redesignated T-6. In the 1950s, Canada Car and Foundry continued to build aircraft based on the T-6 Texan design, and supplied the finished products to the RCAF, RAF, and the German Bundeswehr. During the design's production life, 15,495 were built. They served during the Korean and Vietnam Wars in the rear as trainers and in the front as forward air control aircraft. Many countries used them as counter-insurgency aircraft well into the 1970s.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Revision: Aug 2007

SPECIFICATIONS

T-6G
MachineryOne Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp radial engine rated at 600hp
ArmamentProvision for 1×7.62mm machine gun
Crew2
Span12.81 m
Length8.84 m
Height3.57 m
Wing Area23.60 m²
Weight, Empty1,886 kg
Weight, Loaded2,548 kg
Speed, Maximum335 km/h
Speed, Cruising233 km/h
Rate of Climb6.10 m/s
Service Ceiling7,400 m
Range, Normal1,175 km

Photographs

Secondary training aircraft at Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas, 1940. Foreground: Vultee SNV-1 Valiant; Background: Beech SNB-1 Kansan and two North American Texans, one Navy SNJ and one Army AT-6Navy SNJ-1 and NJ-1, early variants of the North American Texan, lined up at NAS Pensacola, Florida, United States, 1941.Drayton uderway at sea, off the west coast of the United States, circa Oct 1941; note starboard wing of US Navy SNJ aircraft from which the photo was takenUS Army Air Force pilot Captain Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. climbing into a Vultee AT-6 Texan aircraft, Tuskegee, Alabama, United States, Jan 1942
See all 57 photographs of AT-6 Texan



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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. kirby says:
14 Oct 2013 05:59:31 AM

AT-6 trainer was the body all alumiun??

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AT-6 Texan Photo Gallery
Secondary training aircraft at Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas, 1940. Foreground: Vultee SNV-1 Valiant; Background: Beech SNB-1 Kansan and two North American Texans, one Navy SNJ and one Army AT-6
See all 57 photographs of AT-6 Texan


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