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The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a primary trainer for the United States Army Air Forces, the United States Navy (as the NS & N2S), and with the Royal Canadian Air Force as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civilian market. In the immediate postwar years they became popular as crop dusters, sports planes, and for aerobatic and wing walking use in air shows.
The Kaydet was a conventional biplane of rugged construction with large, fixed tailwheel undercarriage, and accommodation for the student and instructor in open cockpits in tandem. The radial engine was usually uncowled, although some Stearman operators choose to cowl the engine, most notably the Red Baron Stearman Squadron.
Post-war usage
After World War II, the thousands of primary trainer PT-17 Stearman planes were auctioned off to civilians and former pilots. Many were modified for cropdusting use, with a hopper for pesticide or fertilizer fitted in place of the front cockpit. Additional equipment included pumps, spray bars, and nozzles mounted below the lower wings. A popular approved modification to increase the maximum takeoff weight and climb performance involved fitting a larger Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engine and a constant-speed propeller. An iconic movie image is a Stearman cropduster chasing Cary Grant across a field in North by Northwest (the airplane that chased Grant was actually a Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Canary; the plane that hits the truck is a Stearman). Christopher Reeve and Scott Wilson are shown flying 1936 variants in the 1985 movie The Aviator.
Variants
The U.S. Army Air Forces Kaydet had three different designations based on its power plant:
A Stearman Model 70 (N571Y): The original prototype of the Model 75 is in the final stages of restoration at Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum.
A PT-17 (A75N1; s/n 41-7960; c/n 75-1519; N53129) is in regular use at Mississippi State University as a research aircraft and glider tow-plane.
A PT-17 (s/n 41-8022; N49760) is on display and available for flights at Flying Adventures, Johnson Aeronautical, St Petersburg Clearwater International Airport in St Pete, Florida
A PT-17 (s/n 41-8786; c/n 75-2345) is on display at the New England Air Museum, Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT.
A PT-17 (s/n 41-25254; c/n 75-2743; N41EE) Kaydet is presented as a USN N2S-3 (a.k.a. "Yellow Peril") and is flown regularly at the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo, Virginia.
A PT-17 (s/n 41-25623; c/n 75-3130) is on display in the hangar deck of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) at The Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.
A PT-27 (s/n 42-15804; c/n 75-3993; RCAF FJ943) is flown on behalf of the No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum where it commemorates its service with the No. 1 BFTS during World War II from early 1943 to mid 1944. This particular aircraft was one of 300 given to the Royal Canadian Air Force under Lend-Lease and served in Canada from June 1942 to December 1942.
A PT-13D (s/n 42-17800; c/n 75-5693) is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. This aircraft is from the last batch of Kaydets produced (contract numbers 75-5009 through 75-6026) and was donated to the museum in 1959 by the Boeing Aircraft Company, which purchased the Stearman Company in 1934.
A N2S-3 (BuNo 92468; c/n 75-6707) in which George H. W. Bush once flew as part of his navy training is on display at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.
A N2S-3 (BuNo 38278; c/n 75-7899) is on display at the Tri-State Warbird Museum in Batavia, Ohio.
An annual gathering of surviving Stearman biplanes known as the "Stearman Fly-In" takes place during the first week of September at the Galesburg Municipal Airport in Galesburg, Illinois.
