Texan OH-NAT
This Exact Texan left the production plant in 1942 as an SNJ-3. It served first in England, in US Air Force Base (BAD-2), in Warton Airfield. Before the end of the war, the aircraft was moved to Navy & Marine Corps, Air to Air Gunnery training Squadron, Naval Air Station, in Pensacola, Florida.
At the end of WWII, the aircraft was transferred to San Diego Naval Air Station. This individual aircraft has been flown by many fighter aces of which perhaps the most famous is Gregory “Pappy” Boyington (4th of Dec 1912-11th of Jan 1988). Mr Pappy Boyington became famous for his combat flights in the South Pacific with F4U Corsair. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.
In 1946 the aircraft was taken, with six other similar aircraft, to Paraguay Navy, after which it went to the Argentinian Navy, on the USA ”Lend-Lease” program. In 1991 two of those six aircraft came back to the USA. These two aircraft were taken to Mr Kermit Week`s Fantasy of Flight museum in Miami Tamiami Airport for storage. The other one was restored and it started flying in the Tampa area in Florida. The other one was bought by Mr Jerry Trachman. He decided to do a complete long-term restoration, but it took so long that Mr Trachman became too old to fly the plane. Then the aircraft was sold to Mr Gene McNeely and Mr Jeffrey C. Hathorn. These two gentlemen completed restoration and test-flew the aircraft, after which it was sold to Finland. Currently, the owner is a Finnish company, Oy Navy Wings Ltd. The aircraft is a fully restored Navy model SNJ-3 and it is the world`s least-flown Texan, with 3400 hours total.
North American SNJ-3 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1970s. Designed by North American Aviation, the T-6 is known by a variety of designations depending on the model and operating air force. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and USAAF designated it as the AT-6, the United States Navy the SNJ, and British Commonwealth air forces the Harvard, the name by which it is best known outside the US. Starting in 1948, the new United States Air Force (USAF) designated it the T-6, with the USN following in 1962. It remains a popular warbird used for airshow demonstrations and static displays. It has also been used many times to simulate various historical aircraft, including the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero. A total of 15,495 T-6s of all variants were built.