Boeing Stearman PT-27 Kaydet

The Boeing Stearman was manufactured as an initial training aeroplane by Boeing Aircraft Company (Witchita Division), which eventually constructed at least 8500 Stearmans, or more than 10,300 if one includes spare parts. No other biplane was ever built in this quantity. Beginning in 1934, the Americans sold the Stearman for export as the 'Kaydet.'

The RCAF's 300 Model PT-27's were ordered with special modifications for air training, particularly in Canada's winter weather conditions. The PT-27 required navigation lights, an enclosed, heated cockpit and a blind-flying hood; however, only one Stearman arrived with the enclosed cockpit. After four months of active service with the BCATP, the PT-27s were traded to the US for Fairchild Cornells because of the unsuitability of the open cockpit for winter training.

Of all the elementary flight trainers in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Stearman (Boeing) PT-27 Kaydet, though a larger, more powerful biplane than the Tiger Moths and Fleet Finches also in use at the time, was the shortest lived. They were delivered for use in RAF-run schools in Alberta only, but without many of the options requested by the RAF for instruction in the extreme cold of the Canadian climate – the most important shortcoming being the lack of an enclosed cockpit. Pilots were issued leather face masks to prevent frostbite in the slipstream of the open Stearman cockpit. Despite these problems, they were employed until much better equipped Fairchild Cornell trainers could be supplied. After 18 months, they were returned to the United Sates, where they served as USAAF trainers. RAF student pilots, who trained on the Stearman, look back fondly on the memory of this superb handling trainer and consider themselves amongst an elite group in the BCATP. The Vintage Wings Stearman, a rare BCATP veteran, wears the markings it once wore (FJ875) when in the service of the BCATP at No. 32 EFTS, Bowden, Alberta.