North American T-6 Texan / SNJ / Harvard

1935

Back to the Virtual Aircraft Museum
  TRAINERVirtual Aircraft Museum / USA / North American  

North American T-6 Texan / SNJ / Harvard

The first prototype NA-16 flew in April 1935. A total of about 17000 aircraft were built

AT-6

Specification 
 MODELSNJ-5
 CREW2
 ENGINE1 x Pratt-Whitney R-1340-AN-1, 410kW
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight2404 kg5300 lb
  Empty weight1886 kg4158 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan12.81 m42 ft 0 in
  Length8.99 m30 ft 6 in
  Height3.58 m12 ft 9 in
  Wing area23.57 m2253.71 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed330 km/h205 mph
  Ceiling6555 m21500 ft
  Range1200 km746 miles

3-View 
North American T-6 Texan / SNJ / HarvardA three-view drawing (674 x 878)

Comments1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101-120
Chris Stallings, e-mail, 19.03.2010 05:20

I appreciate everyone of you who have served in our military and "earned your wings" in the Pilot Maker. I earned my Private Pilot's license in the T-6G at 17 years old in 2003. My flight instructor owned the airplane, and I don't know if he was brave enough or dumb enough to let me fly it. Hardest part was finding a check pilot who was qualified to check me out. North American produced some great airplanes.

reply

Joseph Curry, e-mail, 17.03.2010 06:17

Class 50 G Perrin. 3rd hr in one when I was told to make an instrument take off, sheesh. I still have no idea why I didn't take out several runway lights. I must have bounced just right between them My Instructor had both feet on the cross bar with a cigar and was laughing his cottin pickin butt off while I was still wondering what had happened. sigh.

Incidentally, is anyone left from 50 G Perrin? If so contact me.

reply

Ted Chapman, e-mail, 05.02.2010 01:10

In 1943 I first flew the SNJ at Barin Field while in Pensacola, Fl. This was our first training with retractable gear after flying Vultee "vibraters" at Whiting. This was a versitile, very maneuverable, fun to fly plane. It is no wonder that so many are still flying today. I am jealous of you guys that own one.

reply

Tom Langhout, e-mail, 30.01.2010 05:17

I was a V5 Class 2B45 at Pensacola NAS in Feb 1945 - flew SNV Vultee Vibrators at Elyson Field,then flew the SNJ (Instrument flight training)at Whiting Field. Got my Wings of Gold & Ensign Bar after finishing advanced training in SNB2C A /C at Corey Field. I will never forget one "Unusual attitude" under the hood recovery on a SNJ flight at Whiting Field - the routine - first level your wings then stop the altimeter - I got the wings level but unknowingly I was upside down - ended up pulling thru the 1 /2 loop and tried to stop the altimeter - (almost did stop it) - but it sure took a lot of forward stick pressure. Flying the SNJ in the Volunteer Reserves after WWII at Port Columbus in Columbus, Ohio was great in 1946 and 1947 when many veterans returned to college - some great memories from long ago. Flew PBYs out of Bronson Field Seaplane base at Perdido Bay and then PB4Y1 and PB4Y2s at NAS Hutchinson, KS.
Yes, I well remember the tracks for our feet in those SNJs.

reply

Jack Guest, e-mail, 28.01.2010 21:16

I took my basic training in Cornell Chipmonks at Cap de Madelaine in Quebec in 1943. All of my fellow classmates were posted to western Canada to train on mutti engines. Though my marks were very good my name was missing and I thought I had flunked. One of the guys said " you lucky ....., you got the only posting to Borden". He was right, I had been posted to #1 SFTS Camp Borden north of Toronto to train on Harvards, the Canadian AT6...It was a great aircraft, I graduated in May 1944 as a Pilot Officer. As a staff pilot, and subsequent tranfer to the RCNFAA (Navy) I accumulated about 800 hours in this aircraft. If anyone should be reading this who was alive during that period, my nickname was Beau...

reply

Verne Lietz, e-mail, 28.01.2010 05:28

Started flying the T-6 in 1949, class 50G, at Connally AFB, Waco, Texas, ended up after B-25 multi engine training as a basic instructor at Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo. 651 hours in the T-6 C,D, and G. Most memorable flight: student was having trouble with climbing turns on instruments in a T6G, so we got to 11,300 feet, then time to return to base. Told him to do a three turn spin and recover while still on instruments. He over corrected, spun the other way. Did another, same result. After third or fourth failure to come out we were getting down, so I said,"I've got it." My recovery attempt didn't work either, though I'd never had any problem previously or afterward. By then we were getting pretty low so I said, "Pop the (instrument) hood and if it doesn't come out, bail out." My next attempt worked, but we came out the bottom with about 300 feet to spare and somewhere around red line, pulled 6 Gs. My legs ached for about the next two hours. That summer we lost 7 planes,7 students and 4 instructors. A tech rep came from North American to give us a pep talk. Eventually there were no more accidents. Only one was ever accounted for, a Belgian student who a witness saw doing rudder controlled stalls, got into a dive and pulled the wings off. For my 60th birthday my kids hired a plane and pilot to give me a half hour ride. After about 10 minutes it seemed as though it hadn't been a day since the last previous flight. It was a great and rugged plane, just needed careful control on both take-off and landing. One of my buddies ground looped both left and right on his last flight during basic training and got both wing tips. The only one I damaged was from allowing a student to run a wing over an unlit boundary marker on a very dark night.

reply

Verne Lietz, e-mail, 28.01.2010 05:22

Started flying the T-6 in 1949, class 50G, at Connally AFB, Waco, Texas, ended up after B-25 multi engine training as a basic instructor at Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo. 651 hours in the T-6 C,D, and G. Most memorable flight: student was having trouble with climbing turns on instruments in a T6G, so we got to 11,300 feet, then time to return to base. Told him to do a three turn spin and recover while still on instruments. He over corrected, spun the other way. Did another, same result. After third or fourth failure to come out we were getting down, so I said,"I've got it." My recovery attempt didn't work either, though I'd never had any problem previously or afterward. By then we were getting pretty low so I said, "Pop the (instrument) hood and if it doesn't come out, bail out." My next attempt worked, but we came out the bottom with about 300 feet to spare and somewhere around red line, pulled 6 Gs. My legs ached for about the next two hours. That summer we lost 7 planes,7 students and 4 instructors. A tech rep came from North American to give us a pep talk. Eventually there were no more accidents. Only one was ever accounted for, a Belgian student who a witness saw doing rudder controlled stalls, got into a dive and pulled the wings off. For my 60th birthday my kids hired a plane and pilot to give me a half hour ride. After about 10 minutes it seemed as though it hadn't been a day since the last previous flight. It was a great and rugged plane, just needed careful control on both take-off and landing. One of my buddies ground looped both left and right on his last flight during basic training and got both wing tips. The only one I damaged was from allowing a student to run a wing over an unlit boundary marker on a very dark night.

reply

Dennis Simpson, e-mail, 22.01.2010 02:22

I was the owner of SNJ 5-B, N3689F.From 1973 to 1980,
I put 501 HR's on a nice SNJ.

reply

Dick Cottle, e-mail, 31.12.2009 21:35

Preflight at Malden MO in spring of '55. Apologies to the barge traffic at Cpe Girardo. It was early 'night owl' training for later duty in Nam.

reply

Jim Hall, e-mail, 23.12.2009 02:59

I flew AT6 Harvard Mk2's and Mk4's for total 7 years, (1961 to 1968), out of Calgary Alberta, Canada.
Harvards were just released from the RCAF and the company I flew for part time got a contract flying Hail-Suppression and purchased 4 MK2's and 3 years later upgraded to MK4's. The Harvard was strongly built and best suited for the turbulence associated with CB's that we flew close to while seeding.
Of the various aircraft I flew, I found the Harvard was the most challenging and fun to fly. One must be on top of it from start of taxi, to shut down at the end of the flight. If it got away from you on the ground, you were in for a ride of your life. (I speak from experience).
The batteries were old and we were continuously hand cranking them to get them started.
Aerobatics were part of the checkout and occasionally did them over the years to maintain our proficiency. Turbulence that we experienced would roll the aircraft and rather than fight it, just continue the roll.
The MK2's had rear seats removed and replaced with a gas tank. My longest flight was 6 hrs, 30 min. Thank heaven for the relief (pee) tube between your legs.
Our seeding pattern was a 50 mile track crawl, between slow flight and cruise, from west to east across the Province, following the forming and building of Thunderstorms.
The experience I acquired on the Harvard will never be forgotten and maybe some day write down my stories. I wonder if while sitting inside an AT6 today, if my memorized (RCAF) checklists would all come back to mind?
Jim Hall

reply

James Hall, e-mail, 24.08.2021 Jim Hall

Test

reply

Sam Herron, e-mail, 03.12.2009 00:18

I flew the T-6G for 119:50 hours at Columbus MS in Class 54-0. I had logged 20:10 hours in the PA-18, so could only log enough for a total of 140:00 in Primary.

reply

Jock Williams, e-mail, 08.04.2009 00:06

I didn't train in the Harvard myself -we in the RCAF had the Tutor by that time -but I got the chance to "check out" about a dozen pilots of various experience levels at the Canadian Warplane Heritage in Hamilton Canada in about 1999.
By then,almost all of my students were tricycle gear pilots -even those who had flown the Harvard previously -and I was delighted that the lowest time guy of all -my own son Paul -who was an experienced Tiger Moth pilot was head and shoulders better than the rest although he had a fraction of their flying time. The reason? He had no "theory of his own" -and therefore did exactly as his instructor (and father) told him! I learned a lot during that process -and was pleased to introduce him to this classic but demanding aircraft. Many would say that the Harvard /Texan won WW2 in the air. It would be hard to debate!

Jock Williams

reply

Bill Harrison, e-mail, 07.03.2009 09:23

First SNJ flight on 29 April 1949 out of S. Whiting field. Instructor was Currie. Soloed 14 June 1949. Instructor was Hudspith. Completed 6 landings in the J aboard USS Cabot (CVL 28), in Pensacola Bay, on 23 February 1950. Bureau No. 51863. Shipboard Navy photographer took picture after last landing. Just like graduating from HS. A really sweet little plane. Very stable, very forgiving. Wish I had one now to fly around in. Regards, wph

reply

robert kirkpatrick, e-mail, 16.08.2008 21:32

Flew the Harvard at #2SFTS,RCAF Uplands, Ontario. Feb 1943 - May 1943.142 hrs. Great a /c. Going upside down brought many suprises from the a /c belly but a convenient way to occasionally retrieve something inadvertently dropped there.

reply

Fritz Bott, e-mail, 14.08.2008 21:47

Learned to fly in the SNJ at South Whiting Field in 1955. Loved the aircraft, particularly after I had enough practice taxiing, doing S-turns down the taxiways. Did my 6 carrier qualifications after FCLPs at Barin Field in 1956. It is still a great aircraft.

reply

Hank Hoey, Lt.Col USAF Ret, e-mail, 12.08.2008 00:20

Loved the T-6. First airplane I ever flew at Bartow AB, FL.. for 6 mos. Class 53-G (the last class to start out in the T-6) then on to Vance AFB, OK. with 40 hrs in T-28 and then up to north stage and the B-25. I don't understand Weathersbee's comment about not flying B-25 in Class 52-B at Reese AB, TX. I loved the B-25, only thing, a noisy cockpit. Would give anything to fly one again.

reply

Mike G, e-mail, 14.07.2008 17:28

Just read all the entries on this page and loved the history lesson from the guys who flew the T-6 in the 40's and 50's. I own one today, have about 300 hours in it, and it is still a sweet airplane. To answer the previous notes:
1) Yes - there are still tracks for your feet behind the rudder pedals, and if you drop anything - it still goes to the bottom of the fuselage!
2) Still fun to fly information - 50 of these great airplanes will converge in Dubuque, Iowa on July 24th, 2008, for 4 days of intense formation practice and to celebrate the 70th year of this great airplane. Then we will all fly up to Oshkosh for the big airshow.
3) Last I hear, there are about 400 still airworthy and flying.
Still a great aircraft!

reply

Marv Garerison, e-mail, 20.06.2008 05:45

The SNJ was my primary trainer at Pensacola. My log book indicates I flew it 222 hours. It was the first aircraft that I took aboard ship. I have the same number of take offs and landings.

reply

Jim Bo, e-mail, 17.06.2008 17:22

How about a word from the boys who kept them flying>>>.

reply

Jim Bo, e-mail, 17.06.2008 17:21

How about a word from the boys who kept them flying>>>.

reply

1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101-120

Do you have any comments?

Name    E-mail


COMPANY
PROFILE


All the World's Rotorcraft


All rhe World's Rotorcraft AVIATION TOP 100 - www.avitop.com Avitop.com