First post-restoration flight of ex-FAU-366

[Tulio]

Aerotecno, an aviation mechanical and restoration shop in Montevideo, Uruguay, has recently completed the restoration of N.A.A. T-6G ex-FAU-366. The first flight took place during the first week in November, and came close to the 61st anniversary of the first ferry flight of the T-6s from the U.S.A. to Uruguay.

The Texan carries the markings of the Escuela Militar de Aeronautica, around the 1960s.

The first shot, by Cnel. (Av.) (R.) Eduardo Aguirre



The last two, by Ing. Zalbalsa, Aerotecno's technical rep.





The information and photos were kindly provided by Mr. Wilman Fuentes, from Uruguay.

Saludos,


Tulio

[steve dickey]

Thats really cool Tulio . Especiallly the last photo,WOW Thanks for sharing.

[K5DH]

Camera mounted on the pitot tube?

[warbird1]

Wow, I would hate to be the poor soul who had to climb out on the wing to take that last photo!

Awesome pictures, Tulio! Thanks for keeping us up to date on a little known restoration! I absolutely love that paint scheme, it looks real nice!

Congrats to the Uruguayans! Now, if they would only do that with other warbirds also!

BTW, who actually owns that T-6?

[A2C]

I'd be curious to know where they got all their seal kits and stuff like that to get the plane going again?

[Tulio]

As fas as I know, the airplane is owned by Aerotecno.

Since Uruguay operated a large number of sixes, I would guess that they have spares left.

There is a very motivated group called the "Friends of the Aeronautical Museum" [a.k.a. Ratones de Hangar - Hangar Mice] who have been working for some time now, on restoring several aircraft; many were lost during a fire in the 1990s [including a unique Potez XXV] and thanks to the generosity of Dr. Gary Kuhn from MN, progess has been made in the restoration of a Curtiss [Falcon?]

http://www.ratonesdehangaraama.multiforos.es

I try to support them within my means, but more help is always needed. Let's remember that the warbird movement is not limited to the U.S., Europe and Australia, there are many other countries with enthusiastic people working to restore and preserve aircraft and historical artifacts.

As is common, money is always needed...


Saludos,


Tulio

[Matt Gunsch]

I'd be curious to know where they got all their seal kits and stuff like that to get the plane going again?

The T-6 is one of the easiest planes to support, parts are plentiful, and reaonably priced. You can get fresh seals from Bannair, hard parts from Lance, tires and batteries from Desser. Thre were few normal wear parts that I could not get within 24hrs. In some cases I could get parts for the 6 much easier and cheaper than parts for some Cessnas.

[jdvoss]

According to the book "Air Forces of the World" the Urugauyan Navy received F6F-5 Hellcats, TBM-1C Avengers, OS2U-3 Kingfishers, J4F Goslings and PT-23 / PT-26's. Have any of these airframes survived ?

[A2C]

No Uruguayan Hellcats or Avengers survive.

[Tulio]

AFAIK, there are a couple of PT-19/26 aircraft stored at one of their military bases.

Saludos,


Tulio