Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Two-seat basic military training monoplane

Power Plant:

One 336 kw (450 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-1 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

History:

In 1938 the US Army tested a private venture training aircraft built by the Vultee Corporation and known as the V-54.  The prototype (NX21753) first flew in June that year with a 336 kw (450 hp) Wright Whirlwind engine.  It was followed by the Model 54A (NX21754) with a fixed undercarriage and a Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine, and it flew on 28 July 1939.  Despite meeting all the Army’s requirements, it was considered excessively complicated and underwent re-design, becoming the V-74.  Compared to the Model 54A, the V-74, which became the BT-13, had wings of constant dihedral, a larger diameter engine cowling and higher thrust line, a lower rear fuselage and simplified undercarriage fairings with larger tyres and enlarged tail surfaces.  In this form it had a fixed tailwheel undercarriage, dual controls, and blind-flying instrumentation.  An order was then placed for 300 examples, further orders were placed, and production continued throughout World War II, the type becoming the most prolific American trainer of the war, with 11,538 aircraft constructed.

The initial model was the BT-13 Valiant (300 built), followed on the production line by the Model 74/BT-13A, which only differed in detail, (6,407 built); and the Model 79/BT-13B (1,125 built) with a 24 volt electrical system.  Due to a shortage of engines, the Model 74A/BT-15 appeared (1,693 built), this being fitted with a 336 kw (450 hp) Wright R-975-11 Whirlwind engine and the wingspan being increased to 12.86 m (42 ft 2 in).  More than 2,000 were transferred from the US Army to the US Navy. These received the designations 74/SNV-1 and 79A/SNV-2 and were used for basic training.  By 1945 more advanced types, such as the North American AT-6 series, had become available and the Valiant was retired from service.

The Valiant was built on the Company’s production line, and this included the first moving conveyor system, the first batch of aircraft being delivered to the US Army in 1940. A mass flyaway was performed in November using army pilots, and a recruiting film starring James Stewart was made.  The type entered service at Moffett Field, south of San Francisco, California, a navy field temporarily used by the Army, and at Randolph Field, an Army Air Corps field at San Antonio, Texas.  It is said almost every pilot in US Army and Navy service during World War II spent significant time in the Valiant, and that resonance through the airframe during various flight modes earned it the nickname “Vibrator”.  It was used for basic aerobatic, formation, cross-country and instrument flying. It was also used for radio communication training and by Hollywood in films such as “A Guy Named Joe”.

The production of the type was so efficient that eventually too many had been produced and at the end of the war a number of new aircraft were delivered directly to disposal sites and sold as surplus.  Some 650 were sold to foreign air forces, mainly in Latin America, and the War Assets Administration and Reconstruction Finance Corporation sold 5,137 on the US domestic market.  Peru was the only other country to purchase the type for military training, initially obtaining 29, but it, like other countries which acquired examples, obtained more from USAAF / USN inventories, and ended up with 41.

Other countries which used the Valiant were Brazil (120), Chile (68), Mexico (58), Bolivia (46), Argentina (30), Dominican Republic (28), Venezuela (25), Colombia (18), El Salvador, (12) Ecuador (12), Paraguay (12), Nicaragua (11), Honduras (10), Cuba (9), Guatemala (8), and Haiti and Panama three each.  Many sold in the United States were obtained solely for the engine, which was installed in Boeing Stearmans converted to crop-dusting configuration and the rest of the aircraft disposed of.

One was used as a crop-sprayer, and others served as skywriters, fire-bombers, aerial signboards, cloud-seeders and newspaper photo aircraft. Some were used by aero-clubs for a period but their running costs became a bit high.  Les Farrar Aircraft Sales of San Bernardino, California converted at least one example to seat four.  Eventually a number were converted to look like Aichi D3A Val bombers for the 1970s movie “Tora, Tora, Tora”.  One (N55325) converted for crop dusting work was fitted with a second wing and operated as a biplane.

A few still survive in civil guise in the United States, although at one stage in the late 1950s more than 5,000 examples are said to have appeared on the US Civil Register. A number survive in museums.

At least five have come to this region. BuAer 41-10458 (c/n 2960) was placed in storage at Bankstown, NSW pending restoration but this seems to have never taken place and it was noted at one stage on the mezzanine level of a hangar.  Another was imported in 1989 and was to have been restored and placed on static display at a restaurant in Victoria but this did not eventuate and its fate is not known.  Another was imported and is now at Caboolture in Queensland undergoing restoration to airworthiness.  A further aircraft arrived late in 1995 for the Zuccoli collection at Toowoomba, QLD and restoration commenced to restore it to airworthiness at Darwin, NT.  On 21 February 2012 an example, a BT-13A, became VH-JKV (c/n 7710) to John Kempton of Albury, NSW and regularly attends aviation events on Australia’s eastern seaboard.