The North American Harvard was designed in the late 1930's after a cry for a trainer aircraft. A of more than 17,000 Harvard's were built to train military pilots all over the world. There was an increasing number of combat pilots and during the 1940's the total training hours had been cut to only 200 hours and of that time 75 hours were in the T-6.
The T-6G (1946) model was better than the previous designs because there was an increased fuel capacity, a more user friendly cockpit layout and, a tail wheel that could be steered by the pilot. The T-6 was being used as a basic pilot trainer right up into the 70's and there are many that are airworthy today but only used in general aviation.
VH-HAJ was acquired in the early 1980's by Pay's Air Service after living in California since 1976. |
