|
|
T-6 Texan II Returns Home to Pensacola,
|
|
|
T-6 Texan II Returns Home to Pensacola,
|
Naval flight training took a step towards the future this November with the arrival of its latest trainer aircraft. The legacy of the T-6A Texan II began in the early ears of World War II when the aircraft became the primary training platform for aviation cadets headed to the campaign. Over 15,495 Texans were built between 1938 and 1945-- one of the most widely used aircraft in history. Also known as the SNJ-3 by the Navy and the Harvard by our British allies, the aircraft is now returning to action in a technological reincarnation by Raytheon Aircraft Company. The T-6A returns to Pensacola NAS and Whiting fields to be the primary training platform for naval aviators. But it is not returning fast enough to satisfy legislators that want to ensure all of the training facilities are working at full capacity and out of the sights of Base Realignment and Closure proceedings (BRAC) slated for 2005.
|
|
The T-6A Texan is
scheduled to replace the Navy’s aging T-34 Meteor as its primary trainer.
"When the T-6A completely replaces the T-34 as our initial training
aircraft, we will have close to 1,300 students per year completing T-6A
pilot training," according to an article written for the summer issue
of Wings of Gold magazine by Rear Admiral John E. "Pappy"
Boyington, chief of naval air training, adding "If the Texan stays
active for about 30 years, as the T-34 has, these Navy student aviators will
be the first of about 40,000 pilots who will complete T-6A training in the
Navy system alone."
One of the first pilots to fly the T-6A aircraft was Major Dan "D.K." Pence, USMC of VT-4 Training Squadron at Pensacola NAS. He had flown one of the aircraft directly from the Raytheon plant in Wichita, Kansas and stood along side the aircraft at the Blue Angels homecoming show in November. The shiny sleek aircraft had barely five hours of flight time logged. Major Pence had spent four weeks at Randolph Air Force Base undergoing a 10-flight check-out program to learn the aircraft. With over 1,000 hours logged in the T-34 Major Pence beamed with pride over the aircraft and its capabilities as the new trainer. When asked about the most significant difference between the two aircraft he didn’t equivocate, "safety," he noted. "It has significant performance enhancements as well." |
Indeed, fledgling T-6A aviators will have amenities not found on the T-34C: air conditioning, a pressurized cockpit and an ejection seat. But they will have to contend with a more powerful aircraft and a more sophisticated array of instrumentation, similar to that found in modern combat aircraft.
The Navy’s plans call for 320 T-6As by 2012 with 80 of them earmarked for Pensacola and 160 to Whiting Field and Corpus Christi. However, due to funding priorities the rate at which the aircraft are delivered is competing and losing against other Navy priorities. In an Associate Press interview RADM Boyington stated "The Navy made a decision in the (2002) budget to stop buying T-6s because we had so many other things that we needed to buy in naval aviation training."
Notwithstanding the sluggish delivery schedule, training is scheduled to begin next spring. In the meantime Senator Bill Nelson is pressing a campaign to accelerate procurement of the T-6A for Whiting Field in the interest of naval aviation training modernization, more effective training, safety and supporting the communities--including making sure they are not affected by BRAC proceedings, which typically target excess capacity for realignment or closure.
Bill Sutey, Military Advisor to Senator Nelson says the Senator adopts a strategic view of naval aviation training. "We have argued that the key to NAS Pensacola and NAS Whiting Field is that the Navy recognize that these installations and all of the outlying fields throughout West Florida and South Alabama represent the Naval Aviation Training Complex—an extremely valuable and irreplaceable resource for aviation training at all levels." Procurement of the T-6A is key to this strategy. Moreover, it is a strategy that once developed could create a gravitational pull on the naval flight training in Corpus Christi towards West Florida. "There is plenty of room for them to move to Florida," says Sutey, "but you could not move the same training from Florida to Texas—there is not enough space or outlying fields to support the throughput requirements and quality of training."
Indeed the "Cradle of Navy Aviation" will welcome the latest bird to the nest.
| Scott Jackson MindLace Media scott@mindlace.com 850-217-7994 |
 |
click on logo to get subscription information
