Warbird Information Exchange

anyone have an idea of how many T-6 airframes survive and how many are flying still? I dont have time to go through the registry and count them all.

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

I've heard either 300 or 600, I wonder if anyone would know?

Rough count I heard quite a few years ago was around 600. I look forward to owning one of those at somepoint!

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Blue Skies,
Dan
http://www.flytoanothertime.com

You should get one before the prices go up any more. I cant believe the current selling price of them now.

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

Hi Chuck:

I don't think the prices will go up any more. It looks like they've stayed the same for the past 10 years. Also, I think the demand for them is not high either. If you look at Courtesy Aircraft, they've had some of their current T-6s for almost a year.

Chris

It seems to me that the prices have increased by $20,000 on average in the last year.

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Live to fly, Fly to live.....

There's some movement in prices in the last year. I would expect them to move up some this year. From looking at controller and elsewhere, there's starting to be a whole lot of T-34's for sale. Those guys might be shopping for a different kind of no type rating needed kinda airplane this year.

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DEEP THOUGHTS BY KIDS:
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. Age 15 "


Deep Thoughts,
Jack Handy

The prices will continue to go up, as they have done all along. Remember that the market had to absorb a large number of T-6s from SAAF in the 1996-1998 period. This kept the price stable for a while, but there has been some movement to the upside again. Also, remember that the airline economy has not been great the past few years, so a lot of airline pilot T-6 owners are getting out of the market. I have a number of friends who are airline pilots who have sold their aircraft in the last year. That, connected with the economic downturn in 2001-2003 and you had lower prices last year. The prices have rebounded considerable since that period. I have to take issue with the comment about the T-6s that Courtesy has had for sale. Last spring he had a whole bunch they all sold, the ones that are on the market are aircraft relatively new to the market (couple of exceptions). A couple of the aircraft on their are Harvard IVs, which do not seem to gather the same momentum in the US because they are experimental...even though they are the most advanced airframes.

I bought my T-6 in 2000. I couldn't buy one today for what I paid for mine. Prices are definately not static.

I am sure that Mark Clark could elaborate further on the factors in the warbird market, but the bottom line is that the T-6 market is sound.

T-6 prices have gone up in the last year. I dont ever see them making a huge jump but they will always increase. I also dont see that much T-34 to T-6 movement. The T-34 guys will want to find another "sissy" I mean nosewheel airplane.

Were you afraid to say "Nanchang CJ-6"? Well, I think the T-34 blokes won't jump ship, because if flown with care they will be alright.

Chris

I would agree with that figure, and also with everything that Tim had to say about the current status of the T-6 market. Harvards are not going to be as desirable in the US because of their Experimental certification.

One other point to make is that the new FAA training requirements for both initial and recurrent checks are seeing the T-6 thrust back into its favorite role as "The Pilot Maker". I'm sure you are going to see plenty of guys taking the new "Warbird Bi-Annual" in T-6's.

The next few years will see nice T-6s hit $200K, with flyers being $150K.

Steve

The Cost of maintenance, parts, overhauls, insurance, hanger or rent, etc. Even if your doing the work yourself and are qualified, its not going to get cheaper to buy and own a T-6, Stearman, PT-22, L-5, etc. One of the reasons for particiapting in air shows is to try a recoup some of your expences!

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John Lane, Jr.

I swear I heard somewhere that you can convert a Harvard with some mods (landing gear and the exhaust pipe, I recall) to register it as a T-6 and therefore not as an Experimental aircraft. Is that correct? Does it not apply to the Harvard IVs?

Also, why is an Experimental Harvard less desirable than , I assume, a Standard T-6? How does the registration effect day to day flying operations?

Sorry if these are dumb questions...

Thanks,

Jim

Harvard IVs were never type certificated when the T-6 series was (in the late 40's) because they hadn't been built yet. The Harvard IV's were built in '51 and '52 I think. Since they were built/assembled on foreign soil, they qualify the same way for airworthiness as would a Sea Fury for instance.

AFAIK, the Harvard II's were built in the US and can be certified in the Standard Category.

You can physically modify a Harvard IV into something looking like a T-6 (some parts and systems are in fact unique to the Harvard IV), but the fact remains that some of the parts were not built in the US (although most were) and captured by the original T-6 type certificate. Of course you could swap dataplates with a T-6 scrapped in days gone by- Banaire used to sell data plates with registration, but those were sold out years ago.

Experimental Exhibition is less desirable than Standard Category because you are subject to operating limitations when you get your airworthiness certificate. You can't give dual instruction like you can with your Cessna 150 for instance and you can't use your aircraft to commute.

With some of the changes going on with respect to Experimental Exhibition aircraft, you may be required to send the FAA a list of venues you will attend each year or may need to give 2 weeks notice prior to leaving your home airport for anything but a local recurrency flight. I'm not sure if any of this is still required though.

All this being said, the Harvard IV is the best of the T-6 series mechanically. They came with all the latest systems and structural mods and were not remanufactured from worn out trainiers. They typically have much less total time as well.

My guess is about 1000 T-6s worldwide with about 700-750 flying, we have about 500 flying in NATA with more as projects.