Artifact Friday: Boeing Stearman Model 75 (PT-17)

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In the mid 1930’s, the world was heating up as nations postured for another war. Despite aiming for neutrality and isolationism, the United States government still took great strides to ensure the armed forces would be ready for war. To ensure top readiness, the United States wanted a new trainer aircraft to train Army and Navy pilots. The Model 75 proved to be useful as an all-around trainer for just about any aircraft in use at the time.

The Model 75 proved to be so popular that the Navy ordered 20 of the new Stearman to accompany their earlier models while the Army ordered 108. The Stearman Aircraft Company also received orders from Argentina, Brazil, and the Philippines.

Early models of the Stearman were popular enough. With cantilever landing gear and adjustable elevator trim tabs, the Model 70 was a great training aircraft, as these aspects made landing and takeoff much smoother and easier. In 1934, the Model 75 would be born. The original design was ramped up from 210 horsepower to 225 using one of two engines, the Wright R-760 or the Lycoming R-680. The Reason for having two different engines was that demand for the new aircraft was so high that the Stearman Aircraft Company could not fulfill the orders without getting their engines from two different manufacturers.

Throughout the 1930’s and 1940s, the Stearman Model 75 fulfilled its purpose without any notable problems. By 1944, the Stearman Aircraft Company had delivered over 10,000 trainers. After World War II, thousands of surplus PT-17’s were auctioned off into the civilian sector. They were popular among farmers because they were easy to modify into crop dusters. Many farmers swapped the old engines out for the Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior. This modification gave the aircraft improved takeoff weight and climb performance to help counter the additional weight created by the crop dusting equipment.