The Stearman prototype (Model 70) designed by Harold Zipp and Jack Clark first appeared in 1933.
This model depicts a PT-17 with a yellow fuselage and sky blue on wings tips and fuselage sides. This is the typical paint scheme of the Military Air College of the Mexican Air Force. This plane was in service until 1995.
More about the…..Pt-17 Keydet of the Mexican Air Force
This PT-17A, S/N 41-25284, was manufactured by Boeing Aircraft, in Wichita, Kansas, (formerly the Stearman Aircraft Company) and delivered to the US Army Air Forces at Maxwell Army Air Field, Alabama, in December of 1941. In January 1942 it was sent to the 57th Elementary Flying Training Detachment, 29th Flying Training Wing, at Greenville Aviation School, Ocala, Florida. Greenville Aviation School was a civilian flight school on contract to the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command (AAFFTC) to provide flight instruction for the military. The aircraft was transferred in August 1944 to the 2154th Air Base Unit, Contract Elementary Flying School (AAFFTC), at the Clarksdale School of Aviation at Fletcher Field in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It was declared excess in November 1944 and sent to Augustine Field in Madison, Mississippi, for disposal as surplus. The plane was dropped from the USAAF inventory by transfer to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which arranged its sale to a private owner.
For years the plane was privately owned and used, among other things, as a crop duster. Eventually it was acquired by the United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and in 1980 was sent to Hill Air Force Base for full restoration by the base Heritage Committee’s Restoration Club. The original plan was to restore the aircraft for display at the USAF Museum, but in the summer of 1982 Hill AFB Heritage Program Director Russell C. Sneddon requested that the aircraft remain at Hill for a new base museum and air park then in the planning stages. Permission to keep the aircraft on “permanent loan” was granted and accountability of the artifact was transferred to Hill AFB on 23 July 1982.
The restoration of the PT-17 was quite thorough and involved, with the entire aircraft (except for the fuel tank and top right wing) eventually being completely rebuilt from scratch. The original airframe had become so badly corroded over the years of crop dusting that all new parts had to be fashioned, without the luxury of manufacturer’s blueprints or other official documentation. Photographs from various Stearman parts catalogs were compared with the bent and brittle original parts and workers simply made new ones that matched the old ones exactly. Since the aircraft had arrived without an engine, a Continental R-670 radial was obtained from the USAF Museum in August 1983, where it had been in storage for years. Since funding for the project had been ended by the USAF Museum earlier that year, volunteers from the Hill Restoration Club — five active duty personnel and two Air Force retirees — depended entirely on donations to the base Heritage Committee for funds to complete the project. They worked untold hours over several years to get the aircraft back into shape, with the idea of restoring the Stearman to airworthiness. As time went by, however, the scarcity of parts dictated that the PT-17 be restored only for static display.
Specifications
Length: 25′ 7.6 m
Height: 9′ 2″ 2.7 m
Wingspan: 32′ 2″ 9.8 m
Wingarea: 297.0 sq ft 27.5 sq m
Empty Weight: 1,936 lb 878 kg
Gross Weight: 2,717 lb 1,232 kg
Propulsion No. of Engines: 1
Powerplant: Continental R-670-5
Horsepower (each): 220
Performance Range: 505 miles 813 km
Cruise Speed: 106 mph 170 km/h 91 kt
Max Speed: 124 mph 199 km/h 107 kt
Climb: 840 ft/min 256 m/min
Ceiling: 11,200 ft 3,413 m
Comment:
After four hours flying with this extraordinary plane as it is the Pt-17 Keydet I have seen well detailed gauges in it with good side views and an excellent virtual cabin but as in the main panel good detailed gauges. Whilest your in the virtual cabin, if you move the view towards the pedals you will see that the stick that is the yoke, if you move your joystick sideways you will find it has movement. Also the wheels of the plane also have movement. After all a good plane with good outside textures.
My rating is 8/10
