NEWS

Back in 2009, when Specialty Press published NORTH AMERICAN'S T-6: a Definitive History of the World's Most Famous Trainer  I made a concerted effort to try to track down information on the 10 elusive Siamese North American NA-69's which were seized in the Philippines while enroute to Siam and which, after some confusion, became A-27's in U.S. Army Air Corps service there, having never served a day anywhere else.

These were amongst the most potent of the NA-16 series, with a larger engine, three-blade prop, four 7.7mm guns (two over the nose and one in each wing) and ordnance capability. They were, in effect, fast, armed reconnaissance and light attack aircraft.

The Philippine Air Depot reportedly overhauled the 10 aircraft and re-armed them with standard USAAC .30 caliber guns and A-3 bomb racks.

 While conducting research in the records of the USAF Historical Research Agency on an entirely unrelated subject, I came across a post-war, day-by-day reconciliation of Far East Air Force aircraft activity on Reel K1004 that was pieced together from a combination of surviving records and interviews with surviving airmen.

 To my surprise, there were two previously unknown A-27 sorties that I had not documented in the book cited above, and in the interests of due diligence, I would like to add them to the record, if I may.

 On 26 December 1941, an A-27 flew an armed reconnaissance mission from Nielson Field but crashed on return to base, although it is not clear if this was as the result of battle damage or not. The fate of the crew was not mentioned.

 Then, to my surprise, the last known A-27 was flown on the night of 17 January 1942, when one flew from Bataan to Del Monte Field where it also crashed on landing, possibly due to a total blackout of the field. Again, the fate of the crew was not mentioned.

The photo at left is one of the aircraft in the PI not previously published, marked as "153" over "4M0". This serial is curious, as it does not bear any resemblance to the serials issued by Wright Field for the 10 A-27's (41-18890 to 41-18899) or the NAA manufacturers serial numbers and thus must be regarded as a local Field Number assigned by the operating unit, probably the 2nd Observation Squadron of the 4th Composite Group.

Upcoming Book Release

"Wartime Coastal Patrols of the Civil Air Patrol" is due for release from Key Publishing in the U.K. in February 2026.

New Release

The aircraft of the 1930's have always held a special fascination for the collaborators on this unique project. Carlos Garcia, a noted and award-winning aviation artist in Argentina, supplied with colors and markings details by Dan Hagedorn, have amassed hundreds of detailed color side-views of all aircraft exported to Latin America, from any source, for military purposes (some conventional, some otherwise) during the classic decade of the 1930's. Arranged in alphabetical order by manufacturer, they commence with a most unlikely contender - the diminutive Aeronca C-3 and progress through a fascinating array of vivid colors and types never before illustrated. It is, in effect, a catalog of these types, and a boon to modelers everywhere!"

The book is now available here: https://www.europeanairlines.no/product/pulp-fiction-fighters/