The CJ-5 was a straightforward licence-built Yak-18 with tailwheel undercarriage and a modest radial. By 1957 the PLAAF had concluded that it, and the Soviet Yak-18A that replaced it in the USSR, would not be good enough for a fast-expanding jet air force. The new trainer had to teach tricycle-gear handling, offer full aerobatics and carry enough power for training at higher altitudes.

Design work began at Shenyang in late 1957 under Cheng Bushi and Lin Jiahua, and the programme moved to Nanchang in May 1958, as Shenyang concentrated on jet fighters. The first prototype flew on 27 August 1958 but was disappointing, largely because its Czech horizontally opposed engine lacked power. The solution was the HS-6, a locally built copy of the Soviet AI-14R radial, which transformed the aircraft. A revised prototype flew in 1960 and series production followed. It was a significant moment for Chinese industry. Up to this point China’s factories had built Soviet designs under licence; the CJ-6 was the first indigenous design to go into large-scale production and stay there for decades.

When China began releasing surplus CJ-6s around 1990, Western private pilots discovered a cheap, robust, fully aerobatic ex-military trainer. According to Aeropedia, more than 60 were imported into Australia from October 1990, and 42 were on the Australian civil register by mid-2007. The type also appears on civil registers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Owners value the CJ-6 for exactly the qualities the PLAAF wanted: a strong airframe, a reliable nine-cylinder radial, pneumatic systems that are simple to maintain, and benign handling. Formation flying became its hallmark. In Australia the Russian Roolettes flew CJ-6s and Yak-52s in display formations, and in North America the Red Star Pilots Association serves as the type club, running formation training for CJ-6 and Yak owners. Used examples have typically sold for around US$75,000 to 85,000, a fraction of the cost of a North American T-6, which is a large part of the appeal.

• CJ-6: initial production with the 260 hp HS-6.
• CJ-6A: from 1965, with the 285 hp HS-6A; the most common version and the one most often seen in civil hands.
• CJ-6B: armed variant for border patrol and light attack, built in small numbers in the mid-1960s, with a 300 hp HS-6D, two 7.62 mm machine guns and underwing rockets or bombs.
• PT-6 / PT-6A: export designations, used by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and others.
• Haiyan: agricultural and general-aviation derivatives.
• Civil CJ-6: type-certificated by the Civil Aviation Administration of China on 28 February 2019.

No military operator publishes CJ-6 costs, so the useful guide is civil ownership. Western owners buy the type because it is one of the cheapest ways to fly an aerobatic ex-military aircraft: used CJ-6As have been advertised at around US$75,000 to 85,000, and Flying magazine notes its lower operating costs than larger warbirds such as the North American T-6.

Our estimate of roughly US$300 to 500 per hour combines fuel for a 285 hp radial at aerobatic and cruise power with reserves for engine overhaul and airframe maintenance. Actual costs depend heavily on how hard the aircraft is flown, the availability of HS-6 spares and whether the owner does his own maintenance, and should be treated as a range rather than a figure.