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A few places to begin, from the aircraft’s story to the people who fly it.
Meet the aircraft
The T-6 family combined a radial engine, low wing and tandem cockpits for advanced pilot training. British Commonwealth forces knew it as the Harvard, while US Navy service used the SNJ designation.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗Old cockpit smells and a summer photographic flight
Davey found plenty of character before the aircraft even moved: the old cockpit had Portuguese placards, a worn appearance and a smell he wished could be bottled. A thorough briefing preceded the flight, with Nigel Willson sitting behind him. Airborne, the Harvard’s light, coordinated controls helped him settle into an aircraft with decades of history around its occupants.
Pilot · April 2020. G-TSIX, a 1942 Harvard owned by Kevin Barber, at Earls Colne with instructor Nigel Willson in the rear seat.
Pilot · Read more ↗Khamsin’s T-6G is explicitly an X-Plane 12 product
The official page identifies version 1.3, dated 14 June 2024, for X-Plane 12 and explicitly excludes X-Plane 11. This is the T-6G implementation.
North American T-6 Texan · Khamsin · X-Plane 12
Khamsin · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Bay Area Warbirds · 4 min ·
[360 degree cockpit view] Flying the North American T-6 Texan
A 360-degree T-6 circuit from engine start to shutdown.
Real aircraft · North American T-6 Texan
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet North American T-6 Texan
The T-6 family combined a radial engine, low wing and tandem cockpits for advanced pilot training. British Commonwealth forces knew it as the Harvard, while US Navy service used the SNJ designation.
Civilian warbird flying and air racing followed its military career. National production variants and restored aircraft can differ in equipment, including modern cockpit additions.
North American T-6 Texan
North American → · Explore the family →
North American T-6 Texan
Wikipedia contributors · North American T-6 Texan ↗Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024 →Khamsin · X-Plane 12 →Aircraft type designators
Use the code for the model you are flying. The linked authority lists the applicable aircraft.
History & design
An old trainer keeps traces of its travels
Davey’s account identifies G-TSIX as a 1942 aircraft and notes Portuguese placards surviving in its cockpit. Those small details make the preserved Harvard’s earlier working life visible alongside its later British display and instructional flying.
Pilot · Flight Test: North American Aviation T-6 Harvard ↗Specific airframe described in the 2020 report
Development milestones
First flight: 1 April 1935
Developed from: North American NA-16
Wikipedia contributors · North American T-6 Texan ↗North American T-6 Texan · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1368719233
Pilot accounts
Old cockpit smells and a summer photographic flight
Davey found plenty of character before the aircraft even moved: the old cockpit had Portuguese placards, a worn appearance and a smell he wished could be bottled. A thorough briefing preceded the flight, with Nigel Willson sitting behind him. Airborne, the Harvard’s light, coordinated controls helped him settle into an aircraft with decades of history around its occupants.
The summer photographic flight added a more relaxed pleasure. Opening the canopy brought a breeze while the accompanying Cessna 182 worked to keep pace. Returning to the narrow strip supplied one last lesson: the wheels touched earlier than Davey expected, and Willson explained how the extended landing-gear struts affected that sight picture.
Pilot · April 2020. G-TSIX, a 1942 Harvard owned by Kevin Barber, at Earls Colne with instructor Nigel Willson in the rear seat.
Read the full account · Pilot ↗The hardest ten hours become the most memorable
Davisson could no longer be certain where his first T-6 flight had taken place. The time that taught him most was much easier to remember: ten demanding hours with Junior Burchinal in Texas. Later outings were more enjoyable, but he credited those intensive lessons with giving him an unusually substantial amount to take away.
His subsequent experience included both receiving instruction and teaching Texan owners, much of it from the rear cockpit. He presented himself as a fortunate civilian pilot with roughly a hundred hours on the aircraft, rather than claiming exhaustive authority.
Flight Journal · republished January 2020. Civilian T-6 flying, including training with Junior Burchinal at Paris, Texas, in the early 1970s; original article date is not established.
Read the full account · Flight Journal ↗Learning to teach from the back seat
Mark Evans had more total flying experience than Hirschman, but the T-6 brought unfamiliar tailwheel habits into their cockpit. A straight departure prompted a joke about dancing shoes. In the warm Florida air, the open front canopy and aerobatic flying gave the checkout some of the pleasure that had drawn both pilots to the aircraft.
For Hirschman, teaching from behind meant learning as well. The restricted forward view came with a useful sensitivity to yaw, while judging how long to let a student work through a mistake required care. They made two flights together before Evans continued with Steve Larmore. The account follows the beginning of that checkout without claiming Hirschman completed the training himself.
AOPA · August 2015. After a 1,200-nautical-mile T-6 ferry, Hirschman began Mark Evans’s checkout in Florida; Evans subsequently completed it with Steve Larmore at Stallion 51.
Read the full account · AOPA ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
Compare simulator versions →MSFS 2024T-6 Texan
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
T-6 Texan
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
X-Plane 12North American T-6 Texan
Khamsin · Released
North American T-6 Texan
Khamsin · Released
X-Plane 12North American T-6G Texan
KhamsinStudio · Released
North American T-6G Texan
KhamsinStudio · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Wingspan | 42 ft (13 m) |
| Height | 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m) |
| Wing area | 253.7 sq ft (23.57 m² ) |
| Empty weight | 4,158 lb (1,886 kg) |
| Gross weight | 5,617 lb (2,548 kg) |
| Powerplant | 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 -AN-1 Wasp radial engine , 600 hp (450 kW) |
| Maximum speed | 208 mph (335 km/h, 181 kn) at 5,000 ft (1,500 m) |
| Cruise speed | 145 mph (233 km/h, 126 kn) |
| Range | 730 mi (1,170 km, 630 nmi) |
| Service ceiling | 24,200 ft (7,400 m) |
| Rate of climb | 1,200 ft/min (6.1 m/s) |
Manuals & resources
Find your next read
Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
Khamsin’s T-6G is explicitly an X-Plane 12 productNorth American T-6 Texan · Khamsin · X-Plane 12
The official page identifies version 1.3, dated 14 June 2024, for X-Plane 12 and explicitly excludes X-Plane 11. This is the T-6G implementation.
Official Khamsin product page, retrieved September 2026
Khamsin · Read the source ↗Two contributors share the aircraft’s developmentNorth American T-6 Texan · Khamsin · X-Plane 12
Khamsin credits its modelling and textures to Khamsin, and the flight model, XLUA plugin and FMOD sound pack to Philip Ubben.
Developer credits on the T-6G page
Khamsin · Read the source ↗Pilot account
Old cockpit smells and a summer photographic flightPilot · April 2020. G-TSIX, a 1942 Harvard owned by Kevin Barber, at Earls Colne with instructor Nigel Willson in the rear seat.
Davey found plenty of character before the aircraft even moved: the old cockpit had Portuguese placards, a worn appearance and a smell he wished could be bottled. A thorough briefing preceded the flight, with Nigel Willson sitting behind him. Airborne, the Harvard’s light, coordinated controls helped him settle into an aircraft with decades of history around its occupants. The summer photographic flight added a more relaxed pleasure.
Bob Davey
Pilot · Read the source ↗The hardest ten hours become the most memorableFlight Journal · republished January 2020. Civilian T-6 flying, including training with Junior Burchinal at Paris, Texas, in the early 1970s; original article date is not established.
Davisson could no longer be certain where his first T-6 flight had taken place. The time that taught him most was much easier to remember: ten demanding hours with Junior Burchinal in Texas. Later outings were more enjoyable, but he credited those intensive lessons with giving him an unusually substantial amount to take away. His subsequent experience included both receiving instruction and teaching Texan owners, much of it from the rear cockpit.
Budd Davisson
Flight Journal · Read the source ↗Developer documentation
North American T-6G Texan — product listingNorth American T-6G Texan · X-Plane 12
Product listing captured 2026-09-24; edition scope from the reviewed catalogue
KhamsinStudio · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
North American T-6 TexanWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1368719233 · retrieved 2026-09-12Resource
MSFS 2024 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoftProduct
T-6G TexanKhamsin · Official developer / designated store catalogue · checked 2026-09-12 North American T-6G TexanKhamsinStudio · Product listing captured 2026-09-24; edition scope from the reviewed catalogueType designator
ICAO Doc 8643 — aircraft type designatorsInternational Civil Aviation Organization · Public search data retrieved 2026-09-14; authority update 2026-09-03Built-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 2 profile choices
KhamsinStudio North American T-6G Texan
KhamsinStudio · Free and Pro · Revision 3 · Inherited starting point
X-Plane 12
KhamsinStudio North American T-6G Texan: The selected response supplies the piston trainer’s stick balance.
North American T-6 Texan
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
MSFS 2024 · X-Plane 12
North American T-6 Texan: The selected response supplies the piston trainer’s stick balance.
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