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BT-15 Valiant
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Photo: Robert
Deering 10/28/2016 Dallas Executive Airport (RBD) Dallas, Texas |
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The
Valiant was the basic trainer most widely used by the
U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. It represented
the second of the three stages of pilot training --
primary, basic and advanced. Compared with the primary
trainers in use at the time, it was considerably more
complex. The BT-13 not only had a more powerful engine,
it was also faster and heavier. In addition, it required
the student pilot to use two-way radio communications
with the ground and to operate landing flaps and a
two-position variable pitch propeller.
Nicknamed the "Vibrator" by the pilots who flew it, the BT-13 was powered by a 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine. Because of a shortage of these engines, however, 1,693 Valiants flew with Wright R-975 engines, thereby becoming BT-15s. By the end of WWII, 10,375 BT-13s and BT-15s had been accepted by the USAAF. |
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