In their low-level, high-risk environment many agricultural pilots crashed their Stearman’s, but these pilots almost always walked away. Strong and sturdy enough to save many cadets during their pilot training, Stearman’s protected even more agricultural pilots who flew them mercilessly. Crop dusters installed hoppers in the forward cockpit, added high-lift wings and replaced the engines with 450-hp Pratt & Whitney’s. The Stearman was the airplane they left behind.Īfter the war the slow, heavy biplane turned into an agricultural star. Cadets had to fly them before moving on to fighters and bombers.
Stearman’s never received much public attention during the war – after all, nobody bragged about a mere trainer. The Army ordered the first Stearman’s in 1936, and the Navy had the last ones in service, which were retired in 1948. Overwhelmingly they were primary trainers, but some were fitted for night flight and instrument training. The Army Air Corps used PT-13, PT-17, and PT-18. The Navy designation was N2S2 through N2S5. Most were built with 220-hp., 7-cylinder, Continental radial engines, but many had Lycoming and a few got the Jacobs. Its simple, rugged construction, fabric-covered wooden wings, single-leg landing gear and an over-built welded-steel fuselage made it ideal as a trainer for novice pilots. It’s top speed, the specifications claim, is a 125-135 mph. The Stearman stands nearly 10-feet tall, 25-feet in length, and 32-feet wing-tip-to-wing-tip. The Navy students called it the “Yellow Peril”. Given a moments inattention after landing, a Stearman could ground-loop, which is not usually dangerous, except to a pilot’s pride. Navy aviation Cadet’s, whose trainers were a sunny yellow, and alleged to make crosswind landings either thrilling or terrifying, gave it another name. It probably holds the record for washing out more Cadet’s too. It goes largely unrecognized for it’s contribution as the primary trainer for more U.S. In the 1930’s and 1940’s at least 10,626 were built for the military.
Nice try! Hardly anyone called them Kaydet’s, almost everyone called them Stearman’s, then and now. It became an unexpected success during World War II, yet it is one of the least known airplanes of the war.īuilt mostly in the 1940’s by Boeing’s Stearman division in Wichita, Kansas. Just one look and it’s obvious that the Stearman is an aircraft with nostalgic presence.
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