(WARBIRD TECH 11) North American NA-16, AT-6.pdf

(72050 KB) Pobierz
ITI
5
nn,,,,
l
E
R
I
E
5
NORTH AMERICAN
I
VOLUME 11
I
-
-
...-~--
• NA-16 and NA-18:The Beginnings
• E rly Problems and Fixes
• World War Two Variants
• Foreign Models
• Guns, Bombs and Rockets
• Rare Photos, Great Detail!
WARBIRDTECH
5
E
R
I
E
5
VOLUME 11
NORTH AMERICAN
-
-
By
DAN HAGEDORN
.
j
j
I
~
Copyright
©
1997
Dan Hagedorn
Published by
Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers
11481 Kost Dam Road
North Branch, MN 55056
United States
of
America
(612) 583-3239
Distributed in the UK and Europe by
Airlife Publishing Ltd.
101 Longden Road
Shrewsbury
SY39EB
England
ISBN 0-933424-84-1
All rights reserved. No part
of
this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system,
without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Material contained in this book is intended for historical and
entertainment value only, and is not
to
be construed as usable
for aircraft or component restoration, maintenance or use.
Designed by Greg Compton
Printed in the United States
of
America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE NORTH AMERICAN NA-16/AT-6/SNJ
PREFACE ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
4
ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE
CHAPTER
1:
THE TEXAN DEFINED •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
6
AN AIRCRAFT FOR ALL SEASONS
CHAPTER
2:
TEXAN ANCESTORS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
8
PRE-AT-6 VARIANTS
CHAPTER
3:
DESIGN MATURITY
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
46
\ : AT-6
AND WORLD WAR
Two
VARIANTS
SPECIAL FULL COLOR SECTION: A WORLD OF COLOR•••••••••••••••••••••••
65
THE TEXAN SERIES PROVIDES INFINITE COLOR AND MARKING VARIATIONS
CHAPTER
4:
POST-WAR VARIANTS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
80
FINAL REFINEMENTS AND A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
SIGNIFICANT DATES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
100
KEY DATES IN THE HISTORY OF THE NA-16/AT-6/SNJ
WARBIRDTECH
..
-
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE
or readers familiar with my
previous works, which for
many years have focused
on the airplane and its use in Latin
America, this book on the details of
the North American NA-16, AT-6,
SNJ Texan and Harvard lineage may
at first blush appear to be a depar-
ture from the fold.
I
a life-long love affair with this
absolutely astonishing series of air-
planes, and when asked, I
unashamedly admit that they are
collectively, hands-down, my all-
time favorites.
This book, part of the innovative
new Specialty Press series, offers
you a look at the AT-6 series that
has not previously been available
between two covers. And while it is
customary to praise and give thanks
to the legions of fellow enthusiasts
who unselfishly gave of their time,
talents, collections and critical
review, this is also the place to pass
along kudos to some folks who sel-
dom get any press whatsoever.
Therefore, thanks first and foremost
to the North American employees,
managers and designers who lived
during the mid-1930s and literally
breathed life into what has become
However, the history of the NA-16
family of aircraft, from original con-
cept through the end of the line, is
inextricably linked to Latin Ameri-
ca. Much of the early export suc-
cess achieved by the series, which
enabled North American to prosper
and move on to other develop-
ments, is owed to the sales made in
starts and spurts to export cus-
tomers, a sizeable quantity of which
were to Latin America.
Besides these historical ante-
cedents, however,
I
must confess to
unquestionably the best piston-
engined military training aircraft of
all time. Thanks to the draftsmen
and unnamed NAA workers who
caused the engineering drawings
to be skillfully and beautifully pre-
pared, and for USAF's wisdom in
seeing that they were preserved on
microfilm.
I
felt obliged to review
these drawings in preparation for
.this book, and you will find selected
examples in these pages.
Thanks also to similar teams who
prepared the vital manuals, reports
and Technical Orders, which
dicta~
ed the day-to-day service lives of
the airplanes and are an absolute
gold mine of historical detail.
Excerpts from these also appear in
these pages.
Two other special collections
I
con-
sulted in preparing this book also
deserve mention, in addition to the
works noted below. These are the
little-known Sarah Clark Collection
held at the National Archives at
College Park, Maryland, and the
Wright Field Technical Documents
Library Collection, held by the
Archives Division of the National
Air and Space Museum at Silver Hill,
Maryland. These collections provid-
ed me with invaluable correspon-
dence and reports that proved to
be virtually a paper trail of the
teething problems, experimental
work and fielding of the NA-16
series in the
u.s.
Armed Forces, as
well as overseas. The folks at Col-
lege Park, especially the Military
Textual Reference Staff, went out of
their way to guide me through the
huge Clark Collection, while the
A virtually brand-new 8C-1 A is part
of
a California National Guard unit at
Oakland in July
1941. (Peter M. Bowers)
4
WARBIRDTECH
-
..

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin