As the 40th Anniversary Bix 7 race crowd finishes singing the National Anthem at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, July 26, 2014, a squadron of four, vintage aircraft will appear and descend over the crest of the hill. This tribute to honor military men and women will be conducted David Mills, Moline, IL; John Ockenfels, Swisher, IA; Jim Rohlf, Bennett, IA; Paul Wood, Lake Forest, IL, the flight lead.
Each owns and flies a single-engined, advanced trainer, T-6 Texan aircraft, known as “the pilot maker.” Mills stated, “All branches of the military trained at that time with the T-6. All the World War II pilots–and that is the Greatest Generation–trained in this airplane. They used it even into the Korean War.”
Production began in the 1930’s, and some remained in use as advanced trainers until the 1970’s, he said. The plane also is known as The Texan or AT-6 (U. S. Army Air Force), SNJ (U. S. Navy), or the Harvard (British Royal Air Force), depending on which military branch is using it.
This photo was taken in 1943.
“They built about 15,000 of them, and 400 continue to fly today.” All are civilian-owned. “For 30 years, they were a big centerpiece in our military aviation.”
He described the pilots as “four guys who occasionally get together to fly.” They have done flyovers at funerals and as tributes to aviators or military personnel, but they do not perform in airshows.