OFFICIAL Texan (AT-6, SNJ, Harvard) Thread

It's really hard to go way wrong with a T-6; it is the wicket for anything WW2 that is any bigger. Right now the big issue for owners is a recent AD on the wing attach angles after a air combat ride plane lost a wing in flight presumably hard maneuvering. Very sad.

The AD calls for an inspection for corrosion of the wing attach angles. I know that he North American Trainer Association (NATA) is working hard to put some sense into the AD.

 

Since this is the "official" T-6 thread and folks might want to know a bit more about them, I will occaisionally post a few T-6-isms and invite the others here (with far more experience than me) to post T-6 fun facts and comments.

Tonight, I'll just say a bit about tailwheels. With the fleet in service now there are basically three types in use with a couple of different tires:

1. Navy (SNJ) style: To best simulate a carrier deck aircraft, the SNJ series came with a two position tailwheel - locked straight forward for take off and landing, and unlocked non-steerable free swivelling for taxiiing (deck handling). The J birds had a lever on the upper left side of the cockpit which locked and unlocked the tailwheel. While it does not matter too much on take-off and all, it is my personal experience that when unlocked, and especialy with wind, a free swivelling tailwheel is a challenge to taxi: when unlocked, you have differential braking and prop blast off the rudder to steer. Some folks lock the wheel for taxi, and unlock for turns, but this is hazardous as you cannot S turn taxi to see over the nose.

2, Early steerable style. I've not flown this type, but it is essentially similar to a Cub or Champ in operation. The tailwheel is steerable within an arc of travel, but can be 'popped' out of a detent into free swivel by hard rudder and a jab at the brakes for tight parking. The challenge with this one is on landing if you get ( or need to get) a bit aggressive with the rudder and brakes on roll out. The dang thing may go into free swivel if you are hard countering a swerve and then, well... it's whoopsie doodle time. There is them that have and them that will. It's why these planes have removable wing tips.

3. "P-51" type: This is a wildly popular STC conversion, and for damn good reason. Many if not most AT-6 and SNJ aircraft have been already STC converted to this style, and boy is it worth the $$. The tail wheel is steerable throught the arc of the rudder, and is unlocked for tight steering by the pilot through pushing the control stick far forward to unlock a pin in the steering mechanism. This really eases the ground handling and safety as you have full steering , and must manually unlock the tail if you need to pivot turn. This gives less likelihood of a ground loop on landing and you can s-turn while taxiing. I cannot tell you what a wonderful difference this set-up is; I initially learned old school on the SNJ style, and going to the P-51 variant made taxiing and landing SOOOOO much easier.

 

Zombie thread recovery..... Just picked on of these up.. What a great airplane...

 

Yeah she's quite a beast to fly well, scheduling a bunch of dual from a couple of old instructors that still know them. Really smooth controls and actually pretty fast at altitude,,150 knots,,, if you want to take it cross country (not sure why).

Landings manners, er, well......

 

Actually the word is in the warbird crowd you learn to fly the P-51 so you can handle the the T-6!

 

Went out for my first dual instruction today.... got my ass handed to me! Was fun though!

BTW if you are going to McKinney airport (KTKI) please be aware of the new NOTAM there of the 10 or 12 new giant dents in the runway

 

That is a beauty! I always thought a T-6 would be a lot of fun. Congratulations on the purchase!

 

Dad said it was a big improvement over the Vultee Vibrator BT-13.

 

a friend of mine restores vintage aircraft for a living and he asked if I wanted to help him put a new cylinder on an AT-6. Hell yes! I said.

it was a great day. We got the cylinder put on, fill the engine with surprisingly thick engine oil (don’t remember the weight) and then got the cowling on and then Buzx took the plane for a test flight before him, and I went up in it.

he knew my background in RC aircraft and flying a couple 152s and 72’s so, he let me take the controls for a while.

I was shocked at how nimble it was. Buzz’s immediate response was well this is what you train in to fly P51’s. He did a couple of loops and 0G barrel rolls. It was a really fun time.

it is a gem of an airplane.

 

Beautiful airplane! Congrats.

 

Safe and sound in the hangar tonight…