PICTURE: T-6B gets retro colours for US naval aviation centenary

By Craig Hoyle

Hawker Beechcraft has delivered a new T-6B Texan II trainer in a special colour scheme to support events during 2011 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of US naval aviation activities.
“The Centennial T-6B is reminiscent of the trainer aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s, with its bold orange-yellow paint scheme,” the manufacturer says. It transferred the aircraft to the US Navy at its Wichita production facility in Kansas on 7 December, with the asset to be home-based at NAS Whiting Field in Florida.

© Hawker Beechcraft

“Throughout the next year, the aircraft will be proudly and widely used and displayed to train student naval aviators, as well as enable the navy and naval aviation to properly recognise and celebrate the centennial of naval aviation,” says Rear Adm William Sizemore, chief of naval air training.
Several of the USN’s other aircraft have already received retrospective paint schemes ahead of next year’s anniversary. These include a Bell 206/TH-57C, two Boeing/BAE Systems T-45C Goshawks (one below), a Boeing F/A-18C (bottom) and F/A-18F Super Hornet and a Sikorsky HH-60H.

Both images © US Navy

Other types slated to receive special schemes include the Beechcraft T-34C, Lockheed S-3B Viking and Sikorsky MH-60S, the navy says.

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