Malta Aviation Museum - North American Texan T6G

North American Texan T6G

North American Texan
North American Texan
North American Texan
North American Texan

Chronology

On September 13th, 2014, a North American Texan T6G arrived at our Aviation Museum, Ta’ Qali, from its former site at Forli University, Italy. The aircraft has been gifted to our museum by the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, through the Armed Forces of Malta. It follows the Fiat G91 that was donated to the museum in 1997.
After serving with at least two Italian Air Force flying schools our example was retired and placed in storage.
Aircraft engineers from our Aviation Museum, led by David Polidano, travelled to Forli, Italy, to dismantle the aircraft and load it on a trailer for shipment to Ta’Qali.
After its arrival at the Museum it was re-assembled by the same team of engineers to prepare it for the presentation ceremony. The aircraft is now undergoing further conservation work.
The official handover ceremony from the Aeronautica Militare Italiana to the Museum took place on - Friday, 20 February 2015.
The aircraft can be seen in the Main Exhibition Hangar

Brief History

The Texan T6G was a two-seat trainer used during WWII to train pilots, mostly in the United States and Canada. Trainee pilots started their training on a basic trainer like the Tiger Moth (similar to the airworthy example at our Aviation Museum), then progressed on to the T6 Texan, or as known to the RAF, the Harvard.

The Italian Air Force had obtained about 200 North American T-6 Texan-Harvards from the Allied Air Forces, under the MDAP agreement to enable their pilot training to meet the new NATO standards. Deliveries ran from 1949 to 1958 (T-6C, AT-6D, T-6G and T-6H). The T-6Cs and T-6Ds were eventually converted to T-6G standard and they remained in service until the end 1970s. They were used by intermediate and advanced flight training schools.