AT-6A 41-16709

[Ken]

Was given the gift of a vintage postcard, "Greetings from Napier Field Alabama" with an image of 709 by my wife who grew up in that area. This serial is not covered in Baugher's list but an accident website shows it involved in a "ground collision" at one of the Eglin aux fields in Florida in 1945. Curious if the WIX braintrust can add any more to the story of this AT-6.

Ken

[M-62A]

Ken,
Not having seen your postcard I am hesitant to add much.
If your AT-6 simply has "709" marked large on the fuselage or nose this may be a school number and is not usually related to the USAAF serial number.
If however, you can read 41-16709 in full from the fin then that is the Army Air Force serial number.
I will post an image of 41-16709's individual aircraft record card if this is the case.
Tony Broadhurst

[Ken]

It is the full serial from the vertical fin.

[M-62A]

Excellent.
Here is the record card.
The monthly entries cease after November 1942, which is common to all USAAF record cards.
The entries below that relate to ferrying and transfer in July 1945 to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for storage and subsequent surplus sale.
I have not found any indications that 41-16709 acquired a FAA civil registration or a foreign buyer. May have been consumed in one of the post war T-6 refurbishment programs.
Tony Broadhurst

Attachments

[Chris Brame]

We got the record card; now here's the postcard in question:

Some cadet's about to have a nasty bird strike

[Mark Allen M]

... I've got the book.

[Ken]

Super cool. WWII-era buildings are still intermixed with the more modern buildings at KDHN. I always think of those heroes when we visit there.

Ken