- Vultee BT-13 Valiant
|
|
In 1938 the US Army Air Corps was evaluating a new basic combat trainer.
designated the Vultee V-54, it was considered operationally ideal as a trainer
but was regarded as being unnecessarily complicated and overpowered. Vultee
then developed the V-74 trainer to meet this requirement having a cantilever
low-wing with fixed landing gear, dual controls and flight instruments as
standard equipment. The initial version was designated BT-13 by the US Army
Air Corps and nicknamed the Valiant. Satisfactory testing brought in an
order of 300 aircraft in September 1939, at that time the largest order
placed by the US Army for basic trainers.
From September 1939 to the Summer of 1944 a total of 11,537 Vultees were
built to meet the needs of the US Army Air Corps and the US Navy, making
the plane one of the most important American trainer aircraft of World War
II. The BT-13 production run outnumbered all other Basic Trainer (BT) types
produced. |
 The BT-13 was an important step in the training syllabus of combat pilots-to-be
of WW II. The Vultee Valiant was the next aircraft cadet pilots flew after
learning to fly in primary trainers such as the PT-17 Stearman, Fairchild
PT-19 or the Ryan PT-22. Unlike the primary trainers that were fitted with
fixed pitch propellers, the BT-13 was somewhat less forgiving than the primary
trainers which introduce the feel of a more powerful and complex aircraft
having a controllable two-position variable pitch propeller with an electrical
system, flight instruments and two-way radio communications. Training included
formation flight, cross-country, night flying, aerobatics, emergency and
instrument training.
After mastering the BT-13, pilots would then advance to the North American
AT-6/SNJ Texan for fighter pilot training and, or then to twin engine advance
training for bombers or transport type aircraft.
There were numerous versions of the BT-13 Valiant, followed by the BT-13A
(6,407 built) differing only in the of lack of landing gear fairings. and
in having a variant of the R-985 Wasp Junior engine and later by the BT-13B
(1,125 built) with minor airframe changes and improved electrical system
that differed from the BT-13A model in having a 24-volt system, rather than
the original 12-volt electrical system. |
BT-13 at Minter Field, California, Mar 1943 |
The Navy quickly recognized the ruggedness of the BT-13 and selected
it to fulfill the same training roles. A total of 1,350 BT-13A and 650
BT-13B aircraft were transferred to the US Navy which designated them SNV-1
and SNV-2B respectively.
Under the designation XBT-16B, one BT-13A was rebuilt with a plastic
fuselage for evaluation. As soon as World War II ended all versions in
service were retired from the USAAF and US Navy. After 1948 a handful of
BT-13's receive the revised designation T-13.
The Valiant was also known as the "Vultee Vibrator", nicknamed
from its pilots, due to the fact that it had a tendency to rattle the canopy
during spins, including some airport windows during takeoff. |
| Almost every U.S. pilot and many of the allied pilots who were trained
in the U.S. learned their basic skills in the BT-13. Due to a production
shortage of Pratt & Whitney R-985 engines, Vultee began to equip the
BT-13 airframes with the 450 HP Wright R-975-11 Whirlwind radial engine.
This final variant was designated as the BT-15 (1,693 built). |
| Less than 50 of these aircraft are airworthy and have become very popular
with warbird collectors and can often be seen at airshows around the country. |
- Manufacturer: Vultee
Aircraft, Downey, California USA
- Chief designer: Richard Palmer
- Type: Basic Trainer (BT) Single-engine all metal low-wing mono-plane
with fixed landing gear
- Crew: Two in tandem for Pilot and Instructor
- Power Plant: Pratt & Whitney R-985: 450hp, nine-cylinder radial,
single-row, air- cooled, radial engine
- BT-13A & SNV-1: R-985-AN1. BT-13B & SNV-2: R-985 AN3. BT-15:
R-975-11 Wright Whirlwind Engine
- Wing Span: BT-13A & SNV-1: 42 feet 0 inches. BT-13B & SNV-2:
42 feet 2 inches. BT-15: 42 feet 0 inches
- Length: BT-13A & SNV-1: 28 feet 10 inches. BT-13B & SNV-1:
28 feet 8.5 inches. BT-15: 29 feet 1 inch
- Height: BT-13A, BT-13B, BT-15, SNV-1, SNV2: 9 feet 1 inch
Max. Speed: BT-13A & SNV-1: 182 mph. BT-13B & SNV-2: 166 mph. BT-15:
180 mph
- Service Ceiling: BT-13A & SNV-1: 21,000 feet. BT-13B & SNV-2:
16,500 feet. BT-15: 21,000 feet
Empty Weight: BT-13A & SNV-1: 2,976 pounds. BT-13B & SNV-2: 3,375
pounds,
- Loaded Weight: BT-13A, SNV-1: 3,991 pounds (loaded). BT-13B & SNV-2:
4,496 pounds (loaded)
BT-15: 2,966 pounds (empty). BT-15: 3,981 pounds (loaded)
Wing area: 239 sq. ft.
- Fuel Capacity: 120 US Gallons.
- Maximum diving speed: 230 mph
- Maximum Range: 725 miles
- Armament: None
- Vultee Airfoil usage
-
-
- The Downey plant begins in 1929, when part of what was the NASA/Reusable
Space Systems space complex was a ranch owned and operated by James Hughan.
Mr. E. M. Smith, a local industrialist, purchased a 72-acre tract from
Hughan and converted it into an airport and built a 60,000 square foot
manufacturing facility. Some seven years later, after a number of unsuccessful
attempts by Smith's Emsco Aircraft Corporation and other tenants to build
and market airplanes ranging from passenger craft to a folding-wing creation
that would fit in a garage, the facility was taken over by a young aircraft
designer and entrepreneur named Gerard Vultee, and Downey was on its way.
By 1938, the Vultee Aviation Manufacturing Company has 1,500 employees
and was producing planes for several countries.
- An era was ending and another was beginning that would change forever
the face of the aircraft industry. Even the visionary Vultee, who had been
killed with his wife in a plane crash in 1938, could not have foreseen
the colorful and history-making future awaiting his unpretentious little
plant.
-
- Vultee Aircraft later merged with Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego,
a combination that would become known as Convair. At its plants in San
Diego and Downey during World War II, Consolidated Vultee produced thousands
of planes for the American War effort.
-
- To support this unprecedented production at Downey, the Army Air Corps
and Vultee greatly expanded the plant in the early 1940s. As the war wound
down, so did Downey.
-
- In 1945, after the signing of the armistice with Germany and with Japan,
the doors to the plant began closing, ostensibly for the last time.
-
-
- The VULTEE - NASA site in Downey - Time line:
-
- 1929-1936 Early aircraft production. 1929-1932 EMSCO Aircraft Corporation.
1932-1933 Champion Aircraft Corporation,
- Curtis Manufacturing Company. 1933 Security National Aircraft Corporation.
1933-1936 Baker Oil Tolls Company.
- 1936-1941 The Vultee Aircraft Company. 1942-1948 Consolidated Vultee
Aircraft Corporation (Convair). 1948-1953
- North American Aviation. 1953-1961 U.S. Air Force Plant 16 (Navaho)
North American Rockwell. 1961-1972
- THE RACE FOR SPACE NORTH AMERICAN
AVIATION INC. NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL. 1961-1975 Saturn S-II Apollo,
- and Skylab. 1972-1999 The Space Shuttle Orbiter Program Rockwell International
Boeing North American
-
- Aviation Links
-
- | BT-13.org | Aviation
museums and history | Airshow
schedules and event | Weather
and radar images |
-
- | FAA
accident and incident data | Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association |
-
Home |