Above is one of the dullest, driest, least charming training films about airplanes that I’ve ever seen. I love it. If you’re enraptured by vintage aviation then you will too. If you’re not I suggest you watch it as an alternative to taking the Quaalude that you may not have in your medicine cabinet. It shows the pre-flight routine of a major trainer aircraft of the era, the mighty T-6 Texan. (They refer to it as a ‘Harvard’ here–an alternate name for the same plane–but somehow ‘Harvard’ feels a little wimp-ish for this beast of a machine). It’s interesting to me how little aviation has changed over the years–the checkout is pretty much exactly the same on a new General Aviation plane as it was in 1953 when this little movie was shot. And I have a feeling it was the same in 1933 as well. The Texan was the final trainer in a young student pilots progression to becoming an Army Air Corps pilot during the war. If you didn’t make it flying the Texan, you were through as a pilot and likely to be demoted to a lesser position on the crew. My father was one of the ones who made it–I have a copy of his logbook from 1942/43 and his checkout on the Texan is the final entry. I remember him sharing with me what the flight instructor told the class on the first day of ground school: ‘they call the T-6 the ‘pilot maker’. That’s a lot of bull. It isn’t here to make you a pilot. It’s here to wash you out.” Below I’ve posted a video of an old T-6 on a modern aerobatic ride. This ride is high on my aviation bucket list and I plan on giving myself one as a gift on my next birthday. Assuming I don’t get hit by a car first…