North American T-6 Texan
Trainer aircraftWikipedia
24
MENTIONS
6
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 24 mentions across 6 episodes found for "North American T-6 Texan".
Sep 8, 2026
Ryan Vande HeiGUEST
But yeah, I was, I was there for about a year and a half it took me to go through flight school.
Ryan Vande HeiGUEST
Uh, and you start flying Cessnas, and then you roll into flying T-6s, the T-6 Texan, and then when I was there, the TH-57, but they just upgraded the helicopter.
Ryan Vande HeiGUEST
Uh, I forget the model exactly that they're flying now, but they just upgraded the helicopter that they're flying for flight school now.
Halsey SchiderHOST
And so the TH-57 is like, that was like a, is that a, like a Bell 206 equivalent?
Bill KlaersGUEST
Well, that started from there was a gentleman by the name of John Barone.
Bill KlaersGUEST
We were at Rialto Airport because that's where Larry had the T-6.
Bill KlaersGUEST
And then we bought the Speech 18.
Bill KlaersGUEST
It was weird because you had nothing but ramp.
6 MINS LATER
Bill KlaersGUEST
And, uh, Alan was flying Dale's Stearman, and that's how I met Dale.
Bill KlaersGUEST
And we just started having a ball doing stuff.
Bill KlaersGUEST
And then Alan was tied in with Dale, and he built an NA-50 out of a T-6.
Bill KlaersGUEST
And so Alan being the sheet metal guy that he is, he was doing a lot of the sheet metal.
Tail DraggerHOST
They went to North American Aviation, a company they already knew.
Tail DraggerHOST
North American had been building the Harvard trainer for the Royal Air Force, the airplane Americans would call the T-6 Texan.
Tail DraggerHOST
Good airplane, reliable manufacturer.
Tail DraggerHOST
The commission had a simple proposal, would North American build the Curtiss P-40 under license? More fighters faster into British hands.
Carl BestGUEST
There was a BT-13, BT-14, and then you finished in the AT.
Carl BestGUEST
Here, they started you in the Stearman, finished you in the T-6, and off you went to an operational training unit, and there you'd convert to, you know...
Carl BestGUEST
They could finish you up in an Avro Anson or an Airspeed Oxford if you're going to go multi-engine and fly Lancasters, Halifaxes, that sort of thing.
Carl BestGUEST
But from this AT-6, you went right into a Spitfire, Hurricane, Tempest, Typhoon, went to an operational training unit.
Carl BestGUEST
They threw you the handbook, and you went out and did it.
Steve BussHOST
That must have been quite a jump to graduate from the Stearman to the AT-6.
Carl BestGUEST
Yeah, not to get off subject, I know a lot about T6s because I'm an idiot on four of them, but I think this is important to put things in context.
Carl BestGUEST
The T6 was used by the Air Corps and a bunch of people from 1938.
JBHOST
So all right, so your, what is your warbird resume, Melissa?
Melissa FowlerGUEST
Um, so I started out in the T-6, and then I have, I'm type-rated in the DC-3, C-47, B-17, and I have my SIC in the B-25.
Melissa FowlerGUEST
And a couple-
JBHOST
Man
Ray FowlerGUEST
Um, great airplane and, you know, everyone that's been to an airshow still sees them do, uh, do that great Tora! routine where they do the Pearl Harbor attack.
Ray FowlerGUEST
So in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, which was actually filmed before I was even born, that, uh, they built over 100 airplanes for that.
Ray FowlerGUEST
And the Japanese Kate is a T-6 and a BT-13 that's stretched about 10 feet, and, uh, he owned one of those airplanes.
Ray FowlerGUEST
And I'm like, "I will clean every piece of dirt-