Warbird Information Exchange

paper on the fuselage? looks like they are getting ready to re stencil the fuselage numbers to me. since the numbers in the black and white parts shot do not match up to the shot with 2 guys in it assuming both sides are identical.

They seem to be taped over USAF lettering--TA-69Y?.

The float as seen in the B&W photos doesn't look like Kingfisher to me (tto pointed in the front)...wonder if it was Japanese..or locally made?
I'd bet there was still wartime wrecks lying around then...and I'm not sure where they would have found a Kingfisher float at that late date.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
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I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

I remember reading about this a few years ago; the center float was Japanese in origin, and in the color close up you can see what look like doublers for spreader bars so I'm guessing "Jake" maybe, and the tip floats were ex P-80 tip tanks. Apparently it flew pretty well.

Dan

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Defending Stearmans on WIX since Jeff started badmouthing them back in 2005.

Well you certainly can learn something new everyday.

Personally, I think it looks better with floats than it does with wheels.

Someone on another forum said the center float came from a Japanese "Rufe." If that's the case, then the big center pylon has been removed and the attachment point skinned over.

SN

The wingtip floats also have a different shape to the back of them in the color photo. Could it be a different plane or the same prototype modified?

This shows how bad my memory is getting. The magazine in question was Aero Digest May 1953, not Popular something else!

The aircraft in question was T-6F (identical to an SNJ-6, which I called it earlier) 44-81691 (6147th TCG, 6148th TCS) which crashed into the sea E of the 38th parallel Dec 17, 1950, with both crewmen rescued.

The article makes it clear that the float was home grown, not rescued from another aircraft type, and was initially installed 2" too far forward. This was corrected after some tests.

Designated KN-1 by the Korean Navy, the aircraft was used in an anti-smuggling campaign for several months before a fatal crash near Chinhae naval base in late November 1951.

cheers
Doug

I doubt very much that that float was scratch built as there's as much work in building a float as there is in building a fuselage, especially if you have to make the bottom skins. If you look at the float on the T-6 and compare it to an A6M2-N float, the profile around the nose looks pretty similar to me, and a Rufe float would have about the right amount of buoyancy. They might have built it from scratch, but it would have been a pretty major project.

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Defending Stearmans on WIX since Jeff started badmouthing them back in 2005.

Well, I'd be willing to bet it was, and they did. Here is part of a relevant page from the article.



Doug

Well, there you go. Never say never, I guess. That took some serious dedication. Can you scan the rest of the article?

Dan

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Defending Stearmans on WIX since Jeff started badmouthing them back in 2005.

I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these pics somewhere before, maybe in the Squadron/Signal "In Action" booklet on the T-6. OK, so now that it can be done, who's up to taking a Tora Zero and making a Rufe now?

This is the above mentioned photo from "T-6 Texan in action":

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Yves Marino

This is typical of the 'In Action' close but no cigar style of history. Many of them have great photos, but generally bad drawings and questionable text. The volume on the T-6, for one, has brutally incorrect sideview drawings.

Doug

I took a better look at the 2 photos with the letter codes. I think the old lettering is TA-691. And since the 3 numbers are the last 3 numbers of the callsign/serial number (as with the a/c below), the s/n of the T-6F is 44-81691 (6147th TCG, 6148th TCS), which crashed on Dec 17-th, 1950.


The color photo obviously shows different letters. They seem to be K?N.-1. The plane was designated KN-1, but there is a vertical bar (like in F or P) between the first letter (K?, but also possible A, R, X) and the last N.

Could it be KFN.-1?

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Yves Marino