Flying a Warbird
Pictures of the Ride

1 tailwheel, 2 seats, 55 years old, 2-and-a-half tons, 600 horsepower. Wanna try me?

After corkscrewing myself into this thing through a most convoluted process, I understand why most fighter pilots are young and skinny. Senior instructor John Becker finds it amusing as I make threats to a nearby shutterbug who snapped a shot of me squirming down into this position with my butt gracelessly displayed. Abandon all pride, ye who enter here. (But oh the pride you'll be picking up aloft -- and landing with -- will more than make up for it!)

Now that's a handful... the right way to handle an airplane in the good ol' days -- or better still, even today. Despite the 600 horses tugging on 2-and-a-half tons of airplane, the control stick is surpisingly light and easy -- and the big T-6 is amazingly nimble and responsive in the air, eager to please.
  This was the finishing school for World War II fighter pilots. Their next plane would generally be the single-seat fighter that they would have to fly alone. So it makes sense that the T-6 would fly like much like a World War II fighter -- and it does (or so say the experts).
  Note the little TV camera in the top right corner of the panel, watching me. You should see the video it produces when I go inverted!

Hey, they MADE me wear this silly cap! Looking back over my shoulder at the instructor in the back seat requires some serious head-swiveling, when you're belted into a T-6 by 4 big straps -- and to a parachute with another 5!
  Note the instructor's rear-seat view: a hefty roll-bar cage (an essential element of the T-6, which likes to flop over on its back on landing) and the back of my head. This kind of flying requires the instructor to have a lot of faith in his student's eyesight... and a lot of clearing turns to give the instructor a view around the student.

The first time over, the instructor does the honors, while I snap a picture of the instrument panel, in a very strange position. Think this is simply a rotated camera? Look at the attitude gyro! Want to be even more impressed? Look at the perfectly-centered ball on the turn-and-bank indicator!
  And yes, that's a gunsight on the dashboard. But that's another story...

Now its MY turn! and OOOOOVVVERRR WE GO! It was just like this...

Flying a falling aileron-roll maneuver, so as to make sure the airplane is always pulling "positive G's" (to keep the fuel flowing to the engine), you get the sensation that you're NOT rolling, but that the WORLD is rolling around and over YOU! It is stunning to look UP, and see the earth!