PT3 to Be Featured at EAA Warbirds Training Command
A very rare, post-World War I aircraft, the Consolidated PT-3, will be displayed at the EAA Warbirds of America Training Command area at AirVenture. Display organizers did not have to venture far to find this historically significant aircraft, as the EAA AirVenture Museum possesses an airworthy example in its collection.

EAA's PT-3 was assembled from a collection of parts obtained by Buck Hilbert, which he donated to EAA in 1986. Museum staff and volunteers rebuilt the aircraft to fly at Pioneer Airport. An original engine for the PT-1 was available, but the reliability and availability of parts was not. So EAA decided to re-engine the PT with a W-670 Continental model in a configuration more closely representing the PT-3.

EAA's restored PT-3 flew at Pioneer Airport for several years after it's completion in 1998. Weeks Hanger staff overhauled the aircraft into flying condition this past spring with plans to display the aircraft at AirVenture this year. Warbirds of America Training Command had just the place for it, and the airplane will be on static display throughout the week.

Aircraft History and Development

After aviation proved its military worth during WWI, the United States Army Air Service (USAAF) saw the need for a new trainer to replace the previous all-wood structures. The Dayton-Wright Company's chief designer, Colonel Virginus Clark, designed such an aircraft with a steel tube fuselage and a "Clark Y" airfoil. Dayton-Wright's parent corporation (General Motors), however, was no longer interested in producing aircraft, and Reuben Fleet obtained the design rights and formed the Consolidated Aircraft Company.

Consolidated reconfigured the aircraft as a tandem, calling it the PT-1 "Trusty." The Airplane radically improved the safety record of USAAF pilot training. When the engine was replaced in 1928 with a radial air-cooled Wright J-5 engine, the aircraft became the Consolidated PT-3 "Husky," which was used right up to the beginning of World War II. Ultimately the Husky was replaced by the PT-17 Stearman and N3N.

The Training Command will feature several other aircraft used to train military aviators, from the Roaring Twenties to the latest trainer in the inventory. This is also the 75th Anniversary of the Beechcraft Company, and EAA's Warbirds of America and the Beechcraft Heritage Museum will mark the occasion with several Beech trainers positioned next to the PT-3 and the Navy's N3N.

  EAA Aviation Center
  P.O. Box 3086
  Oshkosh, WI 54903-3086

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