North American Aviation AT-6C
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The AT-6C is the 1942 Texan built with low-alloy steel and plywood in place of aluminium in the rear fuselage and other parts to save strategic materials; 2,970 were built, many for Britain as the Harvard IIA. Like every Texan it carries a 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340, two tandem seats, 111 gallons and a 5,300 lb civil gross weight.
A C-model is the Texan most likely to have been rebuilt, re-skinned or re-serialled since the war, and the plywood-era structure is the first thing a pre-buy should establish has gone - most survivors were converted back to metal. Beyond that it is the T-6 proposition: a 1,340 cubic inch radial that drinks 30-plus gallons an hour, a tailwheel aeroplane with a long nose and a reputation for ground loops, several one-time ADs tied to the original civil approval, and a type-club and parts network better than for almost any other warbird. Fewer than 500 Texans of all marks still fly; prices for sound examples sit in the mid-to-high six figures and an airframe's history matters more than its letter.
Variants of the North American T-6 Texan / SNJ / Harvard
- AT-6C · 1941 · 42 active · this page
- AT-6G · 1941 · 37 active
- SNJ-6 · 1941 · 31 active
- SNJ-4 · 1942 · 50 active
- AT-6 · 1943 · 28 active
- AT-6D · 1943 · 87 active
- SNJ-5 · 1943 · 121 active
- SNJ-5B · 1943 · 4 active
- SNJ-5C · 1943 · 11 active
- T-6 · 1949 · 1 active
- T-6G · 1949 · 103 active
- Harvard Mk IV · 1951 · 53 active
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 3.6 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 (radial) |
| Horsepower | 600 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | military-surplus |
| Production start | 1941 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel;complex;high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 126 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | 652 nm |
| Service ceiling | 21,500 ft |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | — |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,142 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 5,300 lb |
| Empty weight | 4,158 lb |
| Usable fuel | 111 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 89 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 42 |
| Median year built | 1943 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 23.81 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 23.81 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 1 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 2.38 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 2 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 42 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 42 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 42 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 0.3 of 103 |
| Support | 3.2 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 0.1 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 3.6 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
These record scores treat North American Aviation AT-6C as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 1 aircraft registered under NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION INC; includes the record of aircraft once registered under NORTH AMERICAN/BUEHN. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 8 · scores Sep 30