Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login ......was reading most of this thread earlier, some really old planes in here So thought I will call him....... So just got off the phone with my Dad, he will be 95 in July. So he went into the Army Air Corp at a ripe young age. I asked him how in the hell he became a pilot at age 20, knowing that today you pretty much need a 4 year degree to become an officer/pilot. “I took a test, and they said you are going to flight school” First plane was a PT-17, then a BT-13, then on to a AT-6 Texan. Then they split the class, he wanted a single engine but went to B-25 school. The instructor on the first day knew all these guys wanted to be fighter pilots. “Actually you are all blessed to be here learning twin engines ........do you know why ?” Silence ....... “Well if you lose one engine, the second engine will get you to the scene of the crash” Dad said he then got a big smile on his face The instructor, not the students.
Try doing this today Dad was stationed in Japan during the Korean War. He was flying a C-119 flying boxcar, he said paratroopers loved the plane. They could jump out the back and not the side. “Nothing to hit on the way out” Take off .....small problem, landing gear lights indicate the nose wheel did NOT come up. Crew chief (Leonard Vale) he still remembers their names. Dad is going to declare an emergency and return to base. Leonard says wait a minute......... Flips off the circuit breaks for all the landing gear and heads down the steps. Dad hears this rush of air and high winds inside the plane. Between the two pilot/copilot seats is a small saucer sized plexiglass window. He looks down and sees Leonard, crawling out toward the landing gear. Leonard had to take his chute off to squeeze thru the hole........ Goes out on the scissors of the landing gear at 140 mph, somehow.........pulls the safety pin and starts crawling backwards. Other crew members are grabbing his legs and pulling him back in the plane. Rushing air noise stops....... Leonard walks back up the stairs and drops the safety pin with the red flag on it in my Dads lap...... Leonard says to my Dad “ what you think you just saw, you didn’t” Put his chute back on, strapped himself back in and ......flipped the circuit breakers and raised the gear. They never said a word to anybody
My old heart did a jump when I saw this Stearman! I don't know how many happy hours that I spent in that airplane. Luckily I was able to fly it in a civilian life style without the military disciplines of the service although I was under the club of ex-service instructors that weren't very nice at times. What a great airplane! I can't go one day without thinking about it. I also had some time in the BT-13 but it wasn't the same as the PT-13, 17....nothing is.
Enzojr, I know that your dad probably liked the Stearman, too. I have never talked with anyone that didn't like it except perhaps someone who ground looped it. I got to thinking about all the airplanes that I liked and didn't like and some of the early planes were not too pleasant, the Rearwin/Porterfield "Sportster" was one. The nicest smaller biplane for me was the Curtiss-Wright CW-16. It was much like a small PT-13, very smooth and well balanced. Total delight to fly. PT-19 was nice and also smooth but heavier feeling than the PT-13. I had better hang it up and stop rambling. Thanks for your post.
