Gary Olson keeps his WWII-era T-6 airplane  in flying shape in a hanger at McMinnville
Municipal Airport

(News-Register Photo by Damian Mulinix
Reprinted by permission)
 

By STARLA POINTER Of the McMinnville News Register

 When Gary Olson rolls back the door of his hangar at the McMinnville Airport, he  steps back to 1943. The hangar holds a T-6, an airplane of World War II vintage used for training, carrying personnel and towing targets. Crisply painted in the colors of the South African Air Force, it's ready to fly over Yamhill County, as it did over Johannesburg for almost 50 years.

 All Olson has to do is pull the plane out to the runway with his tow vehicle, also an antique, then slide back the canopy and fire up the engine.

"Everyone in aviation dreams of flying a World War II fighter. Few get close. This is  the next step down," he said. "My dream of flying a P-51 or other fighter will probably never come true because I'm not in that income bracket. But this is just great."

 He flies the T-6 for his own pleasure. He also takes passengers up through Warbird  Rides, a sideline to his full-time aircraft maintenance and repair business, Northwest  Airmotive.

                           South African skies

  The T-6 was built in Dallas, Texas, by the same company that built the P-51, B-25 and other famous planes. His 1943 model went directly to the British Air Force, then to South Africa.  The South African Air Force flew it from December 1943 until 1995. The military there kept it in reserve for another two years, then sold it to a company in Bozeman, Mont., along with other surplus aircraft.  Olson flew the plane here from Montana in October 1999. It was in good shape mechanically, he said, but the exterior needed work.

As part of the refurbishing, he restored the silver and orange body paint of the South African Air Force and the blue, white and orange tail paint of the South African flag.  He recreated the insignias along the way, including the castle symbol - a star-shaped shield on which a springbuck appears in heroic stance. 

He also painstakingly redid the wording on the body, displayed in both English and Afrikaans. "Geen Gewig Hier," warn words on the edge of the wing: "No Weight Here."

 Olson said he also enjoyed researching the history of the T-6 model and this particular aircraft. Flight and maintenance records helped him reconstruct the way his plane had been used up to its last duty flight on Nov. 17, 1995.

 Called a T-6 by the American Air Force, the plane was known as a Harvard in European parlance. The U.S. Navy, using it as a scout plane, referred to it as an SNJ.  About 1,200 of the thousands of T-6s built in the 1940s and '50s are still registered.  Olson estimated 500 to 700 of those are still flying. He knows of five others in the Willamette Valley.

 Like cars of that era compared to today's models, the 1943 plane is "big and strong and solid and powerful," Olson said. It weighs 5,000 pounds, three times the weight of a modern plane, he said.  A 600-horsepower air-cooled engine pulls it through the sky. Aviation buffs recognize the drone of the radial engine, he said.

                               Up, up and away

 The T-6 holds the pilot and one passenger, one behind the other, under clear canopies that can be left open during flight.  Both seats have access to the controls. That allows Olson, a certified flight instructor, to give his passengers a turn at the stick.

"Flying it is a delight. It handles easily, there's lots of visibility and it feels big and powerful," he said. "It's like climbing into a 1940s Dodge power wagon vs. one of the new, no-frills economy cars."

 Olson has been flying for about 30 years. In addition to the T-6, he's logged time in a DC-3 and numerous other planes.

 "I've tried to get a taste of everything, from Piper Cubs to C130 four-engine cargo transports," he said.

 He's flown all over the continental United States, plus Canada, the Caribbean and Africa. He spent 13 seasons in Alaska flying DeHaviland Beavers.

"To me, flying for the airlines would be boring. It's too structured," he said. "Bush  flying is more of a challenge. You have to think for yourself. I like that. Just give me a job and let me do it."

The son of a military pilot, Olson grew up with an interest in flying and planes, especially older aircraft. After his family moved to Eugene in 1968, he haunted the Springfield Airport, helping crew members and pilots by pumping gas and doing other tasks.

"I worked for flying lessons. I mowed lawns, helped in the shop, washed planes," he recalled.

He pedaled his bike to the airport for a solo flight before he was old enough to drive.  By the time he was a high school junior, he had his pilot's license.  That led to a new after-school job - flying planes from which skydivers jumped.

"I like to fly. It's freedom, and there's a third dimension you don't have on the ground," he said. "Besides, I feel safer in an airplane than in a car."

He came to Yamhill County in 1973. Between flying jobs, he returned to the county and opened Northwest Airmotive.  For years, he'd been thinking of buying a vintage plane.

"That's what I wanted to play with," he said. When he heard about the T-6, he jumped at the chance to buy it.

 He decided to offer rides as a way of recouping some of the cost of upkeep and giving him an excuse to fly it regularly. He feels a responsibility to the aircraft, so he wants to use it properly and let others experience it.

"I'll have a piece of history for awhile," he said. "I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to actually work one of the planes that are ending up in museums."

 (Full text reprint by permission of the McMinnville News Register)