| Don't forget about T6 Archimedes. The plane proudly finished 4th in the Bronze in 2006. The whopping $1,782 prize check makes Archimedes the clear money maker for the family :-). |  |
 | Archimedes gets its name from Merlin's (the wizard) apprentice. It is one of the most "stock" T6's in the field (unfortunately, making it one of the slower racers). But in stock condition, it is always available for some great evening flights at the end of each race day - check out the article written by Bill Paxton which describes a typical sunset flight. |
Be sure to check out the qualification and race speeds going back to 1994 when the plane was first entered.
Below is an overview of the T6 and the story behind the successful trainer.
North American T6 / SNJ
AIRCRAFT NAME | T-6/SNJ "Texan…the aircraft that taught the world to fly." Known as the "PILOT MAKER" |
MANUFACTURER | North American. |
MODEL # | "G" |
DATE OF MFG | 1943. Built at LAX Inglewood. |
DATE RE - MANUFACTURED | 1951 (converted to "G" model) |
WEIGHT | 5000 LB |
ENGINE MAKE / MODEL | Pratt & Whitney (9 Cylinder) |
HORSEPOWER | 600 (Take-off Power) |
RATE OF CLIMB | 1350 FPM |
RANGE | About 500 Miles |
OWNER | Marilyn Eberhardt |
PILOTS | Jim Eberhardt & Bill Eberhardt |
HISTORY | Served in the US Army. Surplussed from US Navy at Grosse Point Michigan in 1957. Purchased by Marilyn Eberhardt in 1992. |
Racing the T-6
| At race power, the T-6 becomes a very different airplane. The plane becomes very noisy and engine heat pours into the cockpit. And hopefully the airspeed increases. The following table illustrates the difference between cruise settings and racing. | |
| Speed | Manifold Pressure | RPM | Fuel Consumption | |
| Normal Cruise | 150 M PH | 24" | 1850 | 30 gal/hour |
| Race Power | 210 MPH | 36" | 2450 | 60 gal/hour |
The T-6 Story.
During 1933, North American Aviation was reorganized and a new president was appointed. The new president was James "Dutch" Kindelberger who had previously been the Chief Engineer at Douglas Aircraft Corp. He brought with him John Leland "Lee" Atwood. Together they created the manufacturing division of North American Aviation with production facilities located in Dandalk, Maryland. |  |
Kindelberger and Atwood decided to try to win the 1934 Army Basic Trainer contract. This aircraft would be the first to carry the North American Aviation name. The North American trainer design, factory coded NA-16, was a blend of the traditional, and the innovative. The all-metal, stress-skin wing bore a great resemblance to the wing found on the DC-2 airliner (this was understandable since both men had formerly worked for Douglas). The NA-16 was rolled out and flew for the first time on April 1, 1935 at Dandalk, Maryland. This first flight was made just six weeks after the initial design specifications were submitted to the Army and had received its approval. The Army Basic Trainer Competition was held at Wright Field, Ohio, later that same month and the NA-16 easily won the competition.
The T-6 is an outgrowth of the NA-16. Over the years, a larger engine, enclosed cockpit canopy, retractable landing gear, squared wing tips, an angular (versus rounded) rudder, longer all metal (versus fabric) fuselage, and some overall systems changes were made to the NA-16 to create what we know today as the T-6.
Why was the T-6 / SNJ known as the "Pilot Maker"?
There were 17,096 Texans built by North American Aviation and the foreign companies that built them under license. The Texan was widely exported and served with at least 55 air forces throughout the world.
AT-6 Costs The unit costs of AT-6s ran from a high of $31,258 to a low of $22,651. Costs were of two kinds - those charged by the manufacturer and those for equipment furnished by the government, referred to as GFE. Following is a condensed cost table for a AT6-C. |
Grand Total $27,996 |
Where did the name "TEXAN" originate?
Faced with a need to expand production, Kindelberger decided to build a North American plant in Dallas, Texas. This plant would be devoted to building T-6 / SNJ trainers. The Dallas plant would be the prime contractor for the T-6 series from this point forward. This is where the aircraft’s name TEXAN originated. Of 14,970 T6 / SNJ's built from June 1940 to war's end, 1,912 were built in California and 13,058 in Texas. Perhaps it was also a coincidence that a large number of Army and Navy training airfields were also in Texas, simply adding to the growing Texan legend.
"AT-6", "T-6", "SNJ", "Harvard"…which is it?
The Army Air Force designated the trainer "AT-6" (Advanced Trainer). In 1947 when Congress created the U.S. Air Force, the designation was changed to "T-6" (Trainer). Both basic and advanced trainers were designated with a "T".
The Navy designation for the trainer was "SNJ" – S for "Scout", N for "Trainer" and J for "North American". The SNJ and T-6 were essentially identical and the Air Force often took delivery of SNJ’s.
The British designated the trainer the "Harvard" which was essentially a T-6 outfitted with British specified equipment. In the late 1930’s, the British relocated the majority of its training units to the US and Canada. Most of the Harvards were delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force. Later, the Harvard was built under license by Noorduyn Aviation in Montreal, Canada. These aircraft were built to RAF specification. [One of the primary identification features of the Harvard is their extended exhaust shroud on the starboard side of the fuselage which routes warm air in to the cockpit.]
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T-6G
From 1949 through 1953 a total of 1,802 wartime AT-6's were rebuilt and extensively modernized for continuing use as trainers. This program put the Air Force in an embarrassing position. It no longer had the desired number of T-6 airframes on hand, so had to buy some back from civilian owners, paying up t $8,000 for planes that had sold as surplus for as little as $400.
During the re-manufacturing process, several modifications were made including:
- raising the rear seat 6 inches
- addition of a P-51 stearable/lockable tail wheel system,
- elimination of several of the canopy metal frames for better visibility from the cockpit
- updated radios
- hydraulic systems changes
- all provisions for internal machine guns were eliminate
- and the aircraft were fitted with fifteen-gallon bladder type fuel tanks in the outer wing panels.
All the aircraft bore entirely new Air Force serial numbers with the suffix letters indicating where they had completed the re-manufacturing program:
NI (for Fresno, CA) / NH (for Long Beach, CA) / NA (for Columbus, OH) / NF (for Downey, CA)
T-6 Retirement
The T-6G was finally phased out of the Air Force inventory during 1958. The final training flights for Navy SNJs occurred March 14, 1958 at Barrin Field, Alabama.
OK, after all that, I have to throw in a link to the Make a Donation page.