AT-6 Texan South African Air Force (1:72)

North American Aviation won a competition to build a basic trainer that would prepare pilots in over 50 countries for over 50 years. The design known as the T-6 has a variety of designations depending on the country that owned them and the model variant. The USAAC referred to them as AT-6 (Advanced Trainer) while the USN designated them SNJ. The British Commonwealth countries referred to them as Harvards. In all their variants there were 15,495 aircraft built.

February 1, 1920 was the official birth-date of the South African Air Force. The official designation of South African Air Force took place on February 1923.

After the UK and Canada the South African Air Force (SAAF) was the largest user of the Harvard. Also the SAAF used these aircraft longer than any other country. Harvard 7072 belongs to the Air Force Museum and has been made airworthy and painted with the 1950s scheme. This aircraft started life in North American's Dallas plant on April 10 1941. Built as AT-6C-1-NT for USAAF as c/n 88-9868, serial 41-33308, re-allocated to RAF as a Harvard MkIIA EX335. On November 2, 1942 the aircraft arrived in Cape Town South Africa for use with the SAAF as part of the Joint Air Training Scheme (JATS). It was assigned the registration 7072. It flew for 2 months and went into storage for almost 29 months. In April 1948 the aircraft was re-activated until its military retirement in 1995 and finally in 1996 it went to the Air Force Museum. 7072 and a few other SAAF Harvards are used in memorial fly pasts to commemorate such events as the Battle of Britain. 7072 stands out from the other Harvards because of its mid-1950's paint scheme.

T-6G TEXAN (HARVARD)

Powerplant: 1 x 550 hp P&W R-1340-AN-1 piston engine
Speed: 341kph, 212mph
Range: 1,400km, 870miles
Seats: 2
Length: 9.00m, 29ft 6in
Span: 12.90m, 42.32ft
Empty Weight: 1,886kg, 4,158lb
Max T/O Weight: 2,550kg, 5,617lb
Period of Service with SAAF: 1942 - 1995