Bacon Super T-6

The Bacon Super T-6 was a North American AT-6F Texan that was modified during the mid 1950s by the Erle L. Bacon Corporation in an attempt to interest foreign air forces in an upgrade for their T-6 fleets. The aircraft did not receive sufficient interest for production, and only the single conversion was produced.

Super T-6
The Super T-6
Role	Trainer aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Erle L. Bacon Corporation
First flight	April 1957
Number built	1
Developed from	North American T-6 Texan

History

Produced in 1944 and operated by the United States Army Air Forces alongside its brethren, following the end of World War II AT-6F Texan 44-82028 was sold on the civilian market, operating in Iceland for a time before being acquired by Bacon for conversion. Described as appearing "like an illicit hangar affair between a T-33 and a T-6",^[1] the conversion consisted of adding the canopy, tip tanks, and tricycle landing gear from a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star;^[1] streamlining of the cowl and wings including jet stack exhaust, augmenter cooling, and a 4-foot (1.2 m) reduction in wingspan compared to the standard T-6; in addition, the cockpit was upgraded with a revised instrument panel and modernized avionics, and the aircraft's brakes were upgraded.^[2]

Bacon hoped to sell the conversion to foreign air forces, many of which operated large fleets of T-6 aircraft;^[2] after taxi trials at the end of 1956, it first flew in April 1957, and flight testing was considered generally successful.^[2] No interest from its intended customers materialized and the aircraft was sold on the civilian market; it eventually received a paint scheme, believed to have been intended for a role in a movie, resembling that of a Russian fighter aircraft.^[1] It was stored at Whiteman Air Park in California, and allowed to deteriorate in the elements, with its registration being cancelled in 2013.^[3][4]

Specifications

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1958–59^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
• Wingspan: 38 ft 6 in (11.73 m)
• Height: 11 ft 8.5 in (3.569 m)
• Fuel capacity: 100 US gal (83 imp gal; 379 L) in two tip tanks
• Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 600 hp (450 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed variable-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 225 mph (362 km/h, 196 kn)
• Cruise speed: 215 mph (346 km/h, 187 kn) at 64% power
• Rate of climb: 1,750 ft/min (8.9 m/s) at sea level

Armament

• .30-inch (7.6 mm) machine guns, underwing bomb racks or rocket launchers optional

See also

• North American T-6 Texan variants

Related development

• North American NA-16
• North American BT-9
• North American T-6 Texan
• North American A-27
• North American P-64
• CAC Wirraway

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• North American T-28 Trojan
• PZL TS-8 Bies
• Soko 522
• Yakovlev Yak-18

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States