Arthur Eggers Art Collections

Snj-5

The North American SNJ is most famous as an advanced trainer during WWII. It also served in a variety of roles during and after the war, including forward air control in Korea. The designation AT-6 was used by the Army Air Corps, but it had other names as well. The Air Force designated it the T-6, the Navy called the aircraft an SNJ, and the Commonwealth Air Forces referred to it as a Harvard. The aircraft has a 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial engine and carried armament of three .30 caliber machine guns and a 400-500 pound rocket or bombload. Over 15,000 T-6s of all variants were produced between the mid-1930s and the mid-1950s. A tremendously versatile aircraft, the SNJ can be easily looped from cruise flight and is an outstanding platform for formation flying. The North American "Texan" was first produced in 1938 and was known as the BC-1 (Basic Combat). The designation was later changed to AT-6 (Advanced Trainer). The Navy version was known as the SNJ, while the RAF and RCAF called it the "Harvard." More than 10,000 of these aircraft were built during WWII. Practically all Air Force and Navy pilots received their training in this type of aircraft.