5 Fast Facts On The T-6 Texan II US Air Force Trainer

“Don’t Mess With Texas,” goes one of the slogans (or “boasts,” if y’all prefer) of the State of Texas, AKA The Lone Star State. Though United States Air Force pilots and US Naval Aviators, have, needless to say, historically hailed from all 50 states of the Union, the fact that so many generations of these badass fighting fliers have cut their proverbial teeth in a military training aircraft with the name “Texan,” I suppose (or, “Ah reckon,” if y’all prefer) you could just as easily say “Don’t Mess With Texan Pilots.”

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Simple Flying now takes a quick look at the second generation of U.S. military training planes bearing the Texan moniker, the Beechcraft (Textron Aviation)/Raytheon T-6 Texan II.

1

A Hollywood star’s namesake (in a manner of speaking)

An all-American plane that portrayed an enemy nation’s warbird in several WWII movies and TV shows

Besides the legacy of training America’s real-life military pilots, “Texan” is a proud name in aviation history for its contributions to World War II-related cinema and television, both on the “big screen” and the “small screen” alike.

The original T-6 Texan, namely the North American Aviation T-6 Texan (made by the same manufacturer that produced the legendary P-51D Mustang fighter and B-25 Mitchell [AKA PBJ] medium bomber) was mocked up to portray the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane in the Pearl Harbor films “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970) and “The Final Countdown” (1980) as well as the 1976-1978 TV series “Baa Baa Black Sheep” AKA “Black Sheep Squadron” (which, as I note on my author bio page, is the show that made me fall in love with military aviation in the first place). See the resemblance? (Real Zero on the left, Texan role player on the right)

Why not use the real thing? After all, real American Vought F4U Corsairs were used to play the part of the American warbirds in “Baa Baa Black Sheep.” However, there were (and still are) too few bona fide airworthy Zeros left to risk for Hollywood productions, whilst there were (and still are) plenty of original T-6s Texans to go around (with 15,495 built).

2

A joint manufacturing effort

“Teamwork makes the dream work.”

The Texan II name notwithstanding, the current Warbird trainer is actually *not* a direct descendant of the original…at least not from a manufacturer’s standpoint. The original T-6 was made by North America (as already noted); that company was later superseded by Rockwell International (makers of the B-1B Lancer AKA the “Bone”), which in turn became part of Boeing. Meanwhile, the Texan II is manufactured by Textron Aviation Defense, which in turn owns Beech Holdings (i.e. Beechcraft)…but Raytheon also has a major part in the project…in case you were wondering why I included all three entities’ names during the introductory section of this article.

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The ever-handy official U.S. Air Force Fact Sheets explain Raytheon’s role in the corporate partnership behind the Texan II:

“Produced by Raytheon Aircraft, the T-6A Texan II is a military trainer version of Raytheon’s Beech/Pilatus PC-9 Mk II… Before being formally named in 1997, the T-6A was identified in a 1989 Department of Defense Trainer Aircraft Master Plan as the aircraft portion of the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System, or JPATS. The system includes a suite of simulators, training devices and a training integration management system…On Feb. 5, 1996, Raytheon was awarded the JPATS acquisition and support contracts.”

3

The silver anniversary has already been celebrated.

The Texan II is almost 26 years old.

To be more precise, this plane made its maiden flight on July 15, 1998, which means that its 26th birthday is less than a month away as I type these words.

From there, quoting the USAF Fact Sheets again:

“The first operational T-6A arrived at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, in May 2000. The full rate production contract was awarded in December 2001. Air Force production of the aircraft was completed in 2010.”

“Instructor pilot training in the T-6A began at Randolph AFB in 2000. JPPT began in October 2001 at Moody AFB, Ga., and is currently at Columbus AFB, Miss., Vance AFB, Okla, and Laughlin AFB and Sheppard AFB in Texas. ”

4

Yes, it has an ejection seat

As well as some other commonalities with high-speed jet fighters

Generally, one associates ejection seats with jet fighters and bombers (Goose’s tragic death scene from the original “Top Gun” immediately comes to mind), whilst escape from propeller-driven airplanes during an in-flight emergency is carried out the old-fashioned way, i.e., physically clambering out of the cockpit, jumping out of the plane, and manually deploying the parachute.

Yet, even though the Texan II is a turboprop job, it does its best to mimic military jets to the maximum extent possible. A prime example of this is the ejection seat, namely the Martin-Baker Mark 16 ejection seat and a canopy fracturing system.

But that’s not the only feature of the T-6 that gives future aspiring jet jocks an idea of what they look forward to. As noted by Textron Aviation Defense‘s official info page:

5

A truly international trainer

With 13 international customers at last count

Given the Texan II’s track record of successfully training USAF and USN pilots alike, it should come as no surprise that so many foreign air forces have decided to purchase the plane to train their pilots as well. The T-6’s veritable laundry list of foreign customers reads as follows:

• Argentine Air Force
• Royal Canadian Air Force
• Colombian Aerospace Force
• Hellenic (Greek) Air Force
• Israeli Air Force
• Iraqi Air Force
• Royal Moroccan Air Force
• Mexican Air Force and Mexican Navy
• Royal New Zealand Air Force
• Royal Thai Air Force
• Tunisian Air Force
• United Kingdom Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
• Vietnamese People’s Air Force (pending)