Shortfinals’s Blog

It would be perhaps wrong to describe this Chinese trainer as ‘universal’, but with over 10,ooo built it is, indeed, popular. Despite appearances, it is not a direct copy of the Yak-18A, but has been extensively re-engineered to suit Chinese requirements by the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The prototype first flew on August 27, 1958, and entered PLAAF service in 1960, followed by over 3,000 examples for the Chinese armed forces. Since then, it has been exported to Albania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, North Korea, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Zambia. Powered by a Nanchang Huosai-6JIA radial engine of 285hp, the CJ-6A is heavily reliant on pneumatics to operate flaps, brakes and start the engine. The control of various aircraft systems, such as the oil cooler and engine cooling gills are all manual, so there is a lot to manage during any flight.

The example seen here, G-BVVG, is  parked at the GVFWE, Kemble and is in typical PLAAF markings. It was on the French register for a while, from 1999 to 2002, but is now owned by the Nanchang CJ6A Group of Marlow; prior to this it had been operated by the amazingly-named ‘Peeking Duck Group’ of Bracknell !

A very popular ‘warbird’, the CJ-6A is now being released in batches by the Chinese authorities, and several specialist companies in the USA are currently importing and overhauling these aircraft for re-sale.