About Legends Warbird Rides

The warbird you will fly came off the North American Aviation factory line in Dallas, Texas in 1945. Originally delivered to the US Army Air Forces as a  T-6F, it was later transferred to the US Navy. There it was renamed a SNJ-6B and served as an advanced air-to-ground gunnery trainer until the mid-1950s. After going into storage at the Litchfield Naval Air Station (today's Goodyear Airport KGYR), the aircraft was sold and began it's distinguished post-war civilian career. Today it is maintained to the highest standards of safety and original warbird authenticity to protect this legendary flying museum for future generations. Our T-6F now has the postwar USAF Air Training Command's iconic high visibility paint scheme.

Karl "Gash" Gashler is a highly experienced warbird pilot, air show pilot, airline pilot, and aerobatics instructor. He has logged over 18,000 hours of flight time in 48 different aircraft. Karl served 21 years in the US Air Force as a fighter pilot flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Having flown hundreds of combat hours, Karl earned several Top Gun air-to-air and surface attack awards from fighter units worldwide. Karl now performs nationwide as a member of the Red Thunder Airshows formation aerobatic team. He also gives advanced flight instruction in aerobatics, upset recovery training, and tailwheel flying. 

The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engine  advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the  1970s. Nicknamed "The Pilot Maker", the T-6 prepared pilots to succeed in front line tactical aircraft. A true pilot’s airplane, it can roll, loop, spin, snap and vertical roll. It gives the best possible training in all types of tactics, from formation flying to ground strafing and bombing and even aerial dog fighting. Nearly 16,000 T-6s were built during WWII.