When I built that airplane (the real one, not the model
), the owners wanted something that fit in with our home of Memphis, TN. Navy Memphis did indeed have T-6s (SNJs) during the War, but they were pretty plane Jane....Just silver, with a black NAS Memphis stencil under the pilot's canopy.
So, at the time, there were no T-6s running around with yellow paint and a green band. There were plenty of red bands, but no green ones. The owners (and myself) kinda got used to the idea of the green band. It was pretty hideous at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly. I'm sure there are WIXers that'll know for certain, but I believe the green band was used for IFR trainers early in the War, but was later changed to red, as it was easier to see than the green.
The "01" was picked, because at the time, we had three T-6 projects that were to be built, this being the first one. The second project was completed by someone else (I had moved on to work for Ezell Aviation after I finished 01), and was painted up in a Dauntless scheme chosen by the owner at the time. The third project and the remaining parts we had were donated to the Dixie Wing of the CAF and are flying as their LT-6 Mosquito.
So, no...it's not an original paint scheme, but it still looks pretty good, especially considering that I painted it back in 1995 and the airplane has something like 1500 hours on it now.
Gary
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