August 2012
A BT-13 arrives for the days festivities at the Watsonville Fly-In. First flown in 1939, the Vultee BT-13 Valiant was a basic trainer aircraft used by the US Army Air Corps. and US Navy. Subsequent variants of the BT-13 in USAAC/USAAF service was known as the BT-15 Valiant, while an identical version for the US Navy/Marines was known as the SNV (in this case a SNV-2). For a variety of reasons, once in service, the aircraft quickly earned its nickname of “Vibrator.” Both services replaced the BT-13 with the venerable T-6 Texan prior to the end of the war, and few airworthy examples are left. Nikon D7000 w/70-200mm.