The Pilot Maker
by Christopher James
Title
The Pilot Maker
Artist
Christopher James
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The North American T-6 Texan was known as "the pilot maker" because of its important role in preparing pilots for combat. Derived from the 1935 North American NA-16 prototype, a cantilever low-wing monoplane, the Texan filled the need for a basic combat trainer during WW II and beyond. The original order of 94 AT-6 Texans differed little from subsequent versions such as the AT-6A (1,847) which revised the fuel tanks or the AT-6D (4,388) and AT-6F (956) that strengthened as well as lightened the frame with the use of light alloys. In all, more than 17,000 airframes were designed to the Texan standards.
North American's rapid production of the T-6 Texan coincided with the wartime expansion of the United States air war commitment. As of 1940, the required flights hours for combat pilots earning their wings had been cut to just 200 during a shortened training period of seven months. Of those hours, 75 were logged in the AT-6.
U.S. Navy pilots flew the airplane extensively, under the SNJ designation, the most common of these being the SNJ-4, SNJ-5 and SNJ-6. Marine pilots SNJ-7
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September 13th, 2016
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Comments (118)
Rick Hansen
Extremely COOL!! L/F Pinterest @ https://www.pinterest.com/r3hansen/favorites-from-fine-art-america/
Brian Tada
Beautiful image and awesome tribute to those who served! Thank you for your service, Christopher! F/L
Christopher James
One of your peers nominated this image in the 1000 views Groups nominated images by your fellow artist in the Special Features #16 promotion discussion. Please visit and pass on the love to another artist.....L/F/Tw