What plane is this?

[thighmister]

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z36/thighmister/Scan3.jpg

That's my grandfather who taught in the Army Air Corps during WWII flying B-17s. I've always wondered what plane this is, and what it might have been used for at that time.

[A Squared]

That's an A75 Stearman. It was used for primary flight training.

[fernytickles]

Here's some more Stearman photos & info about them. Plenty still flying today.

Gallery | www.stearman.net (http://www.stearman.net/?page_id=9)

[Karlark]

Yes, it looks like a few were produced.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii20/mudflaps_2008/2012/Stearman_PT-13A-1_P2B.jpg

BTW, nice picture thighmister.

[thighmister]

That was easy! Thanks, Karlark, it IS a nice pic isn't it? He was pretty dashing. YOUR pic is fantastic. I wonder how many of those are still in the air today.

[ZeBedie]

Never seen chocks like that before - cheap, light, efficient and likely to destroy a tyre?

[India Four Two]

The Stearman - my current favourite aircraft (well, after the Spitfire). A delight to fly, like a large Tiger Moth, but with better ailerons and lots more power (and a fuel bill to go with it).

This the one I fly when I'm in NZ:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/Stearman.jpg

[Lightning Mate]

A plane is a tool used by carpenters. :ugh:

[Brian Abraham]

So it is LM. But the word has a proud tradition in its use in aviation. Wrote earlier somewhere here on the aviation entemolgy, pre dated WWI in Britain. Early copies of "Flight" were used as my source.

[Sir George Cayley]

Those of us with OCD would have preferred them lined up in numerical order.:(

SGC

[India Four Two]

Sir George,

I thought exactly the same thing. Given the amount of effort involved in lining them up and the fact that only the first ten or so needed to be in order, you wonder why they didn't do it.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Lightning Mate. For what it's worth, it always grates on me too. Adding to your point, it's also a component of an aircraft. Brian Abraham makes a valid point regarding "Flight" but that indicates that journalists had little regard for precision and convention even in those days. That said, some early journos at least had the grace to write 'plane. I expect that was too costly in additional ink, though.

[Proplinerman]

Here's one I saw a couple of years ago, in full USAF pre-war training colours, but giving a demo at an airshow in the Czech Republic!

DSC_0484 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48975048@N06/5161911671/)

Love the rasping sound from their props, caused, I believe, by the tips going round at near supersonic speed, tho if I've got that wrong, can someone more knowledgeable please put me right.

[Rhys Perraton]

Anoraks will know where this came from...
" Never, never call it a 'plane', it's an aeroplane. "

[Proplinerman]

Douglas Bader's first instructor, in "Reach for the sky." Yes, I am an anorak, but I'm guessing there's a super-anorak member of this forum who'll come up with the name of that instructor (I can't) inside five minutes of my posting this!

[Rhys Perraton]

Flying Officer Pearson

[Proplinerman]

You did it!

[Rhys Perraton]

I think we are drifting from the original subject, such is life.
As a Stearman owner I enjoyed the info and pics though.
Regarding Reach for the Sky, the film and book do have slightly different versions but either way the message is clear.
It's an aeroplane.

[ICT_SLB]

You could always come to Stearman Field (http://www.antiqueairfield.com/articles/show/1078-maag-s-blog-january-maag-meeting-at-stearman-field) aka Benton airfield in Kansas and see some of the aforementioned aircraft - think there's three based there now. And you would be within a few miles of where they were all built at what is now McConnell AFB and the Kansas Air Museum.

[Corsairoz]

My contribution:

As a low hours PPL in the late 1980's I found myself in Minnesota and visited Flying Cloud Museum. At the end of the hangar was a small bench with the compulsory souvenir sales. And a small sign saying: 'Stearman Rides $30'.

I couldn't resist and asked the 'senior gentleman' behind the counter who to see for a flight. The answer I remember now. 'You see me sonny.....'...

to cut a long story short....$30 for 90 minutes flying, (or more precisely being tutored), an hour of aerobatics. Fantastic and 30 years later still a really vivid memory.

Here's the photo evidence. My wife says to apologise for the moustache....

C

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/corsairoz/149524_501971022052_604022052_7280292_3448757_n.jpg

[barit1]

thighmister - Where was your grandfather stationed? My father taught in PT-17 Stearmans, PT-19s, BT-13s, and finally AT-6s, ending up in Sweetwater TX at the WASP training school.

And there were several designations for the Stearman, depending on the engine. It looks like your picture is of the PT-17 with the Continental R-670 7-cylinder engine. Other models were the PT-13 (9-cylinder Lycoming) and PT-18 (7-cylinder Jacobs). It's a very stout airplane, well-liked even today.

[Capot]

I seem to recall someone rebuilding Stearmans at Old Buckenham in Norfolk, UK, at least until quite recently.