Warbird Information Exchange

Greeting, all. My quest for a definite answer has led me here. Was there some story to the spacing of the red/green/amber lights on the bellies of these airplanes as they left the factory? From the extremely few photos I've found of the bottoms of these machines, I've seen three lights evenly spaced, three with the forward light noticeably ahead of the other two, or the more typical restored job with the three of them skinned over. Lotta help there. Nowhere have I found one of those classic, clear shots of an in-service bird (T-6, SNJ OR Harvard) banking away from the camera and revealing all her secrets.

I've got a set of Paul Matt drawings showing three evenly spaced, but way too tightly grouped compared to what I see in the rare photos.

Just curious. Thanks for any insight!

They are evenly spaced on my SNJ-5 / T-6D (BuNo 91077, AAF serial = 44-81371).
Red light forward, amber light center, green light aft. When I get home this evening,
I'll measure how far apart they are and I'll post back here.

Bela P. Havasreti

Mine are evenly spaced as well...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28042007@N07/4246765933/in/pool-420707@N22/

Thanks for the replies! This kind of spacing (see image) has me scratching my head. There's also the center-spread drawing in Len Morgan's "AT-6 Harvard" that shows (my mistake) the back light slightly further aft than the others, and all slightly forward of where they appear on "standard" (?) machines. Wonder if it was a Canadian built thing?

The aircraft in that picture may be licensed as an SNJ-5, but it has a Harvard rear fixed canopy (and likely a Harvard rear monocoque fuselage assembly). Different animal than an Inglewood, CA or Dallas, Tx built machine....

Bela P. Havasreti

The IFF light fixtures on the bottom of a T-6/SNJ tailcone are 15 inches apart. My Harvard II / AT-6A doesn't
have any IFF light fixtures on the bottom of the tailcone. I have a spare Harvard IV tailcone, but I can't get to
it right now without moving a *whole bunch* of stuff....

Bela P. Havasreti

snj-5 wrote:The IFF light fixtures on the bottom of a T-6/SNJ tailcone are 15 inches apart. My Harvard II / AT-6A doesn't
have any IFF light fixtures on the bottom of the tailcone. I have a spare Harvard IV tailcone, but I can't get to
it right now without moving a *whole bunch* of stuff....

Bela P. Havasreti

The Harvard Mk 4 doesn't have an IFF light setup.
All it has is a single white marker light (non recessed) on the upper hatch and on the bottom just behind the rear bulkhead of the baggage compartment.
Both are hooked up to the ID light switchbox in the cockpit with a morse key.

And our Mk IIs have a single recessed downward marker light where one of the IFF lights would be on a T-6.
They also were fitted with two flare chutes from the factory but these were plated over after the war.

Sorry this doesn't help any with IFF light details but I just wanted to point out that AFAIK Harvards didn't have the multi-coloured IFF lights.



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rcaf_100 wrote:The Harvard Mk 4 doesn't have an IFF light setup.
All it has is a single white marker light (non recessed) on the upper hatch and on the bottom just behind the rear bulkhead of the baggage compartment.
Both are hooked up to the ID light switchbox in the cockpit with a morse key.

And our Mk IIs have a single recessed downward marker light where one of the IFF lights would be on a T-6.
They also were fitted with two flare chutes from the factory but these were plated over after the war.

Sorry this doesn't help any with IFF light details but I just wanted to point out that AFAIK Harvards didn't have the multi-coloured IFF lights.



::

Thanks for that rcaf_100. The Harvard II (RCAF 3134) has a couple of patches on the tailcone belly (was wondering what those were all about!).

Bela P. Havasreti

rcaf_100 wrote:

snj-5 wrote:The IFF light fixtures on the bottom of a T-6/SNJ tailcone are 15 inches apart. My Harvard II / AT-6A doesn't
have any IFF light fixtures on the bottom of the tailcone. I have a spare Harvard IV tailcone, but I can't get to
it right now without moving a *whole bunch* of stuff....

Bela P. Havasreti

The Harvard Mk 4 doesn't have an IFF light setup.
All it has is a single white marker light (non recessed) on the upper hatch and on the bottom just behind the rear bulkhead of the baggage compartment.
Both are hooked up to the ID light switchbox in the cockpit with a morse key.

And our Mk IIs have a single recessed downward marker light where one of the IFF lights would be on a T-6.
They also were fitted with two flare chutes from the factory but these were plated over after the war.

Sorry this doesn't help any with IFF light details but I just wanted to point out that AFAIK Harvards didn't have the multi-coloured IFF lights.



::

Well this just deepens the mystery for me. Many thanks for the info!

Did the T-6G retain any sort of ID lights?

Different topic, I know it has a red "passing light" in the left wing. The T-37 also retained a red "passing light".

Before I type something wrong from memory, here's the reference from page 1-42 of the T.O. 1T-37B-1 dated 1 Apr 1990: "The anti-collision light and passing light are controlled by a switch ... the red passing light, located in the nose section, indicates the position of the landing gear and also operates as a frontal anti-collision beacon when the landing gear (and speedbrake; my addition) obscures vision of the lower anti-collision beacon. If the landing gear is down and locked, the passing light will be flashing. If the landing gear is not down and locked, the passing light will be steadily illuminated."

IIRC, the T-6G has an individual passing light switch that controls the red light, off & on. Can anyone shed light on its use?

BTW, in this ever changing world of ours, I just want to say how much I like the USAF -1 series. The fonts, pictures, phrasing, etc are all quite standardized. In doing some web searching in WWII PIF volumes and also the "G", they are quite similar. I found a class yearbook from Marana, circa 1952. The sights, scenes and humor looked exactly like 1991 to me - and I suspect they look a lot like 2012. You can change the planes and the training aids, but the school, IPs, and students, I suspect, are timeless. And I like that.

Ken

geeteesix wrote:Greeting, all. My quest for a definite answer has led me here. Was there some story to the spacing of the red/green/amber lights on the bellies of these airplanes as they left the factory? From the extremely few photos I've found of the bottoms of these machines, I've seen three nice led lights evenly spaced, three with the forward light noticeably ahead of the other two, or the more typical restored job with the three of them skinned over. Lotta help there. Nowhere have I found one of those classic, clear shots of an in-service bird (T-6, SNJ OR Harvard) banking away from the camera and revealing all her secrets.

I've got a set of Paul Matt drawings showing three evenly spaced, but way too tightly grouped compared to what I see in the rare photos.

Just curious. Thanks for any insight!

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geeteesix wrote:Greeting, all. My quest for a definite answer has led me here. Was there some story to the spacing of the red/green/amber lights on the bellies of these airplanes as they left the factory? From the extremely few photos I've found of the bottoms of these machines, I've seen three led lights evenly spaced, three with the forward light noticeably ahead of the other two, or the more typical restored job with the three of them skinned over. Lotta help there. Nowhere have I found one of those classic, clear shots of an in-service bird (T-6, SNJ OR Harvard) banking away from the camera and revealing all her secrets.

I've got a set of Paul Matt drawings showing three evenly spaced, but way too tightly grouped compared to what I see in the rare photos.

Just curious. Thanks for any insight!

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