T-6 Texans
- Thread starter uniform7
- Start date
The Navy version of the AT-6 Texan was the SNJ. I don't think it was "based" on any carriers, but folks at NAS Pensacola converted about a hundred of them to have tailhooks to teach pilots landing and taking off from carriers. The student pilots would take off from one of the airfields around Pensacola, fly out to the USS Monterey, and do six landings and take-offs and then return to the land airfield. They'd then be considered carrier qualified.
The tailhook release was a clothsline attached to a latch that held the tailhook up. The pilot would pull the line and gravity would drop the hook. Once landed, the deckcrew would lift the hook back up and re-set the latch. When I built a copy of the SNJ-C for SkyUnlimited I was unable to locate any drawings of what this rope configuration looked like, but found a few stories from pilots telling about it. I met one Naval Aviator who had flown a SNJ-C for his carrier qualification, but he couldn't remember any details about the rope release for the tailhook. Today's private civilian versions of the SNJ usually have hydrolics to raise and lower the hook if they feature one.
The tailhook release was a clothsline attached to a latch that held the tailhook up. The pilot would pull the line and gravity would drop the hook. Once landed, the deckcrew would lift the hook back up and re-set the latch. When I built a copy of the SNJ-C for SkyUnlimited I was unable to locate any drawings of what this rope configuration looked like, but found a few stories from pilots telling about it. I met one Naval Aviator who had flown a SNJ-C for his carrier qualification, but he couldn't remember any details about the rope release for the tailhook. Today's private civilian versions of the SNJ usually have hydrolics to raise and lower the hook if they feature one.
Daveroo
Members +
this is Chuck Wulhs(spelling?)airplane out of Cameron Park, California..this is (according to him) a SNJ-5C,if you look at the tailwheel you can see a "fender" which he said is stock,and this planes is original and is dented up when you look close,the tailhook is also operational.
