T-6 Texan Pilot's Manual

[rwanttaja]

Seattle's Museum of Flight has a lot of great documents available for free download, including pilot manuals for WWII aircraft. Came across the manual for the T-6 Texan trainer today...was amused by the cover art:

You can download the manual yourself at:

https://digitalcollections.museumoff...ons/item/46276

Ron "Yeee-Haaa" Wanttaja

[Samuel]

That is so cool!

[Joda]

Back in the day when things had style and personality. I miss those days!

[Airmutt]

It is interesting how all of the manufacturers of the day included artwork throughout their manuals. Today artwork is considered tables, charts, and diagrams. Today’s manuals are so detailed and voluminous that page count becomes an issue. Gone are the days that if ya could climb into it and get it started ya could go fly it.

[rwanttaja]

It is interesting how all of the manufacturers of the day included artwork throughout their manuals. Today artwork is considered tables, charts, and diagrams. Today’s manuals are so detailed and voluminous that page count becomes an issue. Gone are the days that if ya could climb into it and get it started ya could go fly it.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing the artwork, even outright cartoons, that were included in the manuals back then. In a lot of cases, I think they get the message across *better* than a modern diagram and full-power photograph will.

I have zero artistic talent, would love to do cartoons illustrating key points of homebuilts.

Here's a batch from the B-36 operations manual, also downloadable from the Museum of Flight archive. Some of these may not appropriate for children. The document is even marked "Restricted." :-)






One of our chapter members supplied a number of these for inclusion in the Chapter newsletter.

Ron Wanttaja

[Airmutt]

Surprisingly the DOD used comic book format for training manuals even into the early 70s. The art style is not too dissimilar from that used in the 1940s flight manuals. From what I understand it was an attempt to get the average draftee with maybe a high school education to read the info. Alittle before my time, I didn’t get into the Marines until 1976 ….. By then the NATOPS manuals made for some really dull technical reading.

[rwanttaja]

My avatar comes from an Army pamphlet called "I've Got Wings!" It's an out-and-out comic book that summarizes the flying rules of the road.

It's aimed at potential pilots, though, not as an actual training manual. "Learn what this booklet has to tell and you have taken a long step toward the day when you can say, 'I've got wings'."

Pamphlet doesn't include a copyright page or any sort of date, but it does say it was published by the U.S. Army Air Forces Flight Command. That puts the date to mid-1941 or later.

I've also got a WWII-era Civil Air Patrol cadet manual. No cartoons, but a lot of illustrations. Such as showing the cadets how to administer morphine....

Ron Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

My avatar comes from an Army pamphlet called "I've Got Wings!" It's an out-and-out comic book that summarizes the flying rules of the road.

I forgot...I've got the pamphlet online:

http://www.wanttaja.com/avlinks/aaf_pamphlet.pdf

Ron Wanttaja