VULTEE BT-13A Valiant

The BT-13A Valiant was one of the dominant training aircraft of the Second World War.  Flight instruction was based on a three-phase program of Primary, Basic, and Advanced, and the BT-13 was the standard for Basic.  As such, it introduced pilots to concepts such as flaps, variable pitch props. and radio communications equipment.  Project Warbird's example, 41-11307, was received by the Army on 10 October 1941, spending the war hopping between San Angelo, Randolph, Kelly Fields in Texas.  Sold as surplus in late-1944, the aircraft found its way into the hands of Wilson Shealy of Leesville, South Carolina.  A local cropduster, Shealy had purchased the aircraft purely for its engine.  The aircraft sat at his home, untouched except for exposure to the elements, before being acquired by Project Warbird in 2022 for restoration.