North American NA 72 and T 6 Texans were the first batch of these versatile aircraft received by FAB. 125 of them were the bulk of intermediary fighter training of Brazilian Air Force. Brazil also produced 81 T 6 at the Lagoa Santa plant, state of Minas Gerais. Initially the private owned factory would assemble the aircrafts with supervision of the North American technicians and when with a rise in nationalization items. With the lack of interest demonstrated by the company, Brazilian Government acquired the facilities and transferred the same to the Air Force that produced the notorious Texan in its several versions until mid 50's. That legendary airplane also was distinguished until late 70's when served as a demonstration squadron affectionately named Esquadrilha da Fumaça (Smoke Squadron)  
Specifications:Dimensions: Span - 12.80m, length - 8.99m, height - 3.56m.Type: two-seat advanced trainer/dive bomber.Powerplant: one Pratt-&-Whitney R-1340-AN-1 Wasp engine. Performance: Max speed - 182 knotsCrusing speed - 126 knotsOperational range - 1014kmService ceiling - 24,000ft.Weights: empty - 1814kg, max takeoff - 2381kg.Armament: 2 * 0.5cm machine guns * 50kg bombs under the wings, or a single 0.303 machine gun with, 4 * 50kg bombs under the wings. 
The ramp and T-6 assembly line at Lagoa Santa. 
Brazilian T -6 seen during bombing drill. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 14 March 2011 )
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