Army T-6D (Delta!)

[ChuckMK23]

Doing the CFI thing this morning with my student and what pulls up on the ramp here at KHAO - a T-6! Maybe another AW dude. Maybe @Jim123 came for a visit!

As the crew disembarks I see the ARMY livery - and these two soldiers promptly set me straight that this is a T-6D, off the same Navy production line - but equipped with hard points and weapons management gear to drop bombs, and shoot rockets and guns!. Cool.

Brand new airplane (less than 100 hrs) - these guys are Navy TPS graduates from Pax and now fly flight test for the US Army - was satisfied to hear both these guys are long time H-60 drivers. Good to go.

 

[Jim123]

Looks like the Army doesn't get the external rescue handles either.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Dies the Navy T-6 have the cool splash/mud guard on the nose wheel ?

 

[Jim123]

Dies the Navy T-6 have the cool splash/mud guard on the nose wheel ?

The nose and mains look the same- I hope they don't take it on unimproved runways!

 

[xj220]

The T-6D is one sweet bird. The guy on the left was a TPS classmate of mine. Good to hear he’s doing well!

 

[andrewt]

That sounds a lot like the AT-6 Wolverine the USAF is supposed to be evaluating for a light attack plane. Wonder what the Army's interest is in it. Apparently they took delivery of 4 of em for training and mission support.

 

[ChuckMK23]

That sounds a lot like the AT-6 Wolverine the USAF is supposed to be evaluating for a light attack plane. Wonder what the Army's interest is in it. Apparently they took delivery of 4 of em for training and mission support.

The 2 pilots said they use theses T-6’s for flight test chase.

 

[Gatordev]

Were these guys out of Huntsville? They used to fly T-34Cs out of there. We had one gentleman that would always come down and fly with the FITU to get annual training. He was a GS (or maybe a contractor) at that point, but flew chase in the T-34 regularly.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Were these guys out of Huntsville? They used to fly T-34Cs out of there. We had one gentleman that would always come down and fly with the FITU to get annual training. He was a GS (or maybe a contractor) at that point, but flew chase in the T-34 regularly.

Affirmative, Huntsville/Redstone

 

[andrewt]

Were these guys out of Huntsville? They used to fly T-34Cs out of there. We had one gentleman that would always come down and fly with the FITU to get annual training. He was a GS (or maybe a contractor) at that point, but flew chase in the T-34 regularly.

"will be stationed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and will replace the Beechcraft T-34 aircraft currently in use at the facility."

Maybe they use the hard points for cameras. Seems like a nice weapons test platform but Im not sure if the Army has any armed FW aircraft

 

[Gatordev]

The T-34C had hardpoints, as well. I wouldn't put a lot of weight into whether what's coming off the line actually matches requirements, especially with Beech no doubt trying to simplify their production line.

 

[xj220]

"will be stationed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and will replace the Beechcraft T-34 aircraft currently in use at the facility."

Maybe they use the hard points for cameras. Seems like a nice weapons test platform but Im not sure if the Army has any armed FW aircraft

Most likely the photog is in the back seat while they fly safety chase.

 

[Pags]

"will be stationed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and will replace the Beechcraft T-34 aircraft currently in use at the facility."

Maybe they use the hard points for cameras. Seems like a nice weapons test platform but Im not sure if the Army has any armed FW aircraft

Plenty of uses for hardpoints in flight test especially when it comes to testing pods, etc

 

[ChuckMK23]

Here are the hard points on right wing...

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Looks like they could mount a rope to those hard points