The history started with a project to answer a request of the USAAC in 1934 for a new aircraft of transition between the basic training planes and the fighters. The General Aviation company designed a monoplane with low wings of metal structure. The wings are cloth-lined and the aircraft was equipped with a Wright Whirlwind engine. The pupil was seated in front and the instructor in the back seat. Both were installed in a cockpit in tandem. A little later General Aviation changed of name and became the North American company. The forerunner of the T6 made its maiden flight in April 1935 and was ordered by the US Army to 42 specimen. This first production version had a fixed undercarriage and an Pratt Whitney R-1340 engine.

France which was in search of a modern training airplane bought some exemplars. China made in the same way. Sweden bought the production rights like Japan. In 1938, the United Kingdom received the first aircraft from an order of 400 Harvard as the T6 was named in the R.A.F. The Royal Air Force will receive more than 2000 T6 for its schools. The T6 was also adopted by the American Navy for the training of its pilots. Several companies in the United States, in Australia and in Canada produced the aircraft under license. Australia developed from the T6 (the only plane produced in this country on the spot at the time of the beginning of the conflict in the Pacific) an attack aircraft and a fighter. Employed massively for the training of the Allied pilots, the Harvard was also used by the Germans who captured many specimens in France and by Japan which produced its own version. After war, the T6 was delivered in large quantities to European aviations which are reconstituted.

During the war in Korea, the T6 was armed and used to mark the objectives for the bombers. The aircraft was used intensively by the Frenchs at the time of the war of Algeria as ground attack plane. British and Portuguese made in the same way during the colonial conflicts in Africa. From the beginning of the Sixties, Harvard was replaced in its training missions by new machines better adapted to the transition towards the jet fighters (in Belgium it was the Fouga Magister which replaced T6). At the roll out from the factory of the last T6, in the middle of the years Fifties, it was nearly 260 versions and under versions in 15094 specimens which were produced..

The T6 in Belgium

Some pilots of the Belgian section of the RAF were trained on T6's during the war. The Belgian Air Force received 47 T6 (version AT-6C) coming from stocks of the RAF with deliveries starting in 1947. These planes were used on the base of Brustem to ensure the pilot conversion of the pupils from the Tiger Moth or SV-4B to the Spitfire IX.

Some planes were also used for liaison tasks within the operational squadrons. 10 additional specimens (AT-6D) were acquired in 1949. It was finally 154 T6 which will be used by the Belgian Air Force. From 1953, the training school was transferred to Kamina in Congo where the climatic conditions were more favourable. Part of the fleet of T6 was transferred in Africa and new planes were bought or delivered by the USA within the framework of the military aid programs. At the time of the events of the independence of Congo, some T6's were armed and used for counter insurgency tasks. The last T6 of the Belgian Air Force were withdrawn from the service in 1965.

AT-6D/Mk.3 88-15950 42-84169/EZ256 ex-7630(South African AirForce)

26/02/1947    Delivered (95.25 hrs) at 3 Air E.Depot - Brooklyn - Cape -South Africa + engine P & W R 1340 ZP 100400 (95.25 hrs)
11/03/1947    Reception en Belgium, put In storage.
../11/1947      2Sq/161 Wing
……..            2Sq/2 Wing with the code UR
                     to flying school at Brustem
28/02/1949    Accident at Brustem
16/05/1949    Transport from Brustem to Fairey (Gosselies) for repairs & inspection
16/06/1950    To depot at Wevelgem
26/06/1950    To flying school at Brustem
12/11/1951    To Sabca
22/12/1953    Transfer to 13 Wing
04/11/1955    To Sabca for repair & Inspection
17/09/1956    To depot at Wevelgem.
……./1956     Listed for transfer URMA via the OMA 56/724. }
…………..     To Kamina (Congo) via the note OMA 56/725. }
                    Back to URMA via the note OMA57/549. }
25/06/1957    To Fairey
07/08/1957    To Sabca (installation of grenade launcher)
03/02/1958    To depot at Wevelgem.
….07/1958    Selected to be sent to BAKA (Base Kamina in Congo)
                    Noted at the depot of Wevelgem
18/11/1959    Transported to the Royal Army Museum
24/01/1959    Officially withdraw from service
1975             Painted in fake katangese colours
1976             Restored in its original colours and displayed at the Museum

From information provided by Daniel Brackx

If you flow T6 with the Belgian Air force, your testimony about this aircraft can be published here 

North American AT6D Harvard

Engine Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp 

Maximum Speed 338 Km/h
Endurance : 1191 km or 8 hours
Weight 1823 kg
Maximum weight at takeoff : 2381 kg
Wingspan : 12.81 m
Length : 8.8 m
Height : 3.57 m

Alain Delannay Alain Delannay is the crewchief of the T6. Alain is voluntary within BAMRS for more than ten years. Its mission consists to inspect the plane regularly, and propose repairs if necessary.

Alain Delannay - Daniel Brackx

IPMS Kit N°86 The Belgian Harvard T6 Story – Walter Verstraeten BAHA

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