User:NiD.29/North American BT-14

BT-14/NA-58
North American BT-14 "340" of the 52nd School Squadron from Randolph Field, Texas, in flight
Role Basic Trainer
Manufacturer North American Aviation
First flight 3 January 1940.[1]???
Introduction 9 September 1939[2]???
Primary user USAAC/USAAF
Number built 251
Developed from North American BT-9
Developed into North American NA-64 Yale

The North American BT-14 (North American charge number NA-58) was a low-wing single piston engine monoplane basic trainer aircraft with fixed undercarriage, built for the United States Army Air Corps, and then used by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II as an intermediary between primary trainers such as the Stearman PT-13 and advanced trainers such as the North American AT-6. It was a development of the previous North American BT-9 series of trainers.


Design and development

North American modified a stock BT-9B basic trainer, s/n 37-208 in an effort to cure stall problems with new outer wing panels, a 14" longer rear fuselage, a larger tailplane, a longer nose and a new "Harvard" style canopy to make the BT-9D, which the Army Air Corps ordered 250 as the BT-14. It retained the BT-9s fabric covered fuselage, which would be replaced by an all metal fuselage on the production aircraft, while the forward fuselage had removable metal panels over a steel tube structure, and the rear fuselage was a semi-monococque and lacked the tube structure used on the BT-9. The prototype was later redesignated the YBT-14.

Approximately 27 BT-14s were re-engined during routine overhauls, with the more common but slightly less powerful Pratt and Whitney R-985-11A, and were redesignated as the BT-14A.

Further production might have occurred however North American was both heavily committed with AT-6 Texan production, as well as other types, and the Vultee BT-13 was less expensive.

Operational history

Flying Training

BT-14 of the 32nd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group in 1940 when it was equipped primarily with B-17 bombers.

When the BT-14 first entered service, the US Army Air Corps main training facility was at Randolph Field in Texas, and the BT-14 remains strongly associated with that airfield. Facilities there were not adequate for the greatly increased wartime needs and additional basic training facilities were set up around the country, with the Vultee BT-13 being built in large numbers to fill most of the need while small numbers of North American BT-14s were used by "School Squadrons" around the country. In 1943, the United States Army Air Forces reorganized its training units, placing them under the command of the local bases rather than being attached to higher organizations, while transferring both Basic training activities and the BT-14s from Randolph Field to the newly created Independence Army Airfield, in Independence, Kansas, where they continued to be used intensively until nearly the end of the war. Randolph Field's focus was then limited to primarily training flight instructors.

Squadron Hacks

Civilian BT-14 post-war.

Small numbers of BT-14s were attached to many different squadrons, including pursuit/fighter squadrons, bomber squadrons and headquarter squadrons, as hacks, or light personnel transports. Most were used within the continental US.

Civil Use

A single BT-14 survived long enough to make it onto the civil register, 58-1692/40-1147 NL37604, which was registered in 1948[3] and was still registered in late 1955.

Operators

 United States

Operational Units
A large number of operational units operated BT-14s in small numbers.
Training Units (by Airfield/Location/Command)
Goodfellow Field[4]
68th School Squadron (68SS)[4]
80th School Squadron (80SS)[4]
Gunter Field[4]
80th School Squadron (80SS)[4]
Independence Army Airfield[4] (1942-1945)
51st Bomber/Fighter Training Group[4]
509th Bomber/Fighter Training Squadron (509BFTS)[4]
2524th Base Unit (2524BU)[4]
Randolph Field's BT-14s in mass formation
Maxwell Field[4]
82nd School Squadron (82SS)[4]
86th School Squadron (86SS)[4]
Randolph Field[4] (1940-1943)
43rd School Squadron (43SS)[4]
45th School Squadron (45SS)[4]
46th School Squadron (46SS)[4]
52nd School Squadron (52SS)[4]
53rd School Squadron (53SS)[4]
734th Bomber/Fighter Training Squadron (734BFTS)[4]
San Angelo Army Air Field[4]
49th School Squadron (49SS)[4]
68th School Squadron (68SS)[4]
Central Flying Training Command[4]
Various units

Variants

  • BT-9D: 1 BT-9B AAC s/n 37-208 modified as prototype.[5]
  • YBT-14: redesignated BT-9D.[6][7]
  • BT-14-NA: 250 built c/n 58-1655 to 58-1905[8]/AAC s/n 40-1110 to 40-1360[9]
  • BT-14A-NA: ~27 modified from BT-14s with 400hp Pratt and Whitney R-985-11A[10][11]

Survivors/Aircraft on display

ex-RCAF NA-64 Yale painted to represent a USAAC BT-14, at the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH

There are no known surviving BT-14's, however the similar NA-64 Yale survived in relatively large numbers, and a number of these have been painted or modified to represent BT-14s.[notes 1]

RCAF
Serial		 NAA
Serial		 Museum/Organization Location Status Notes
3361 64-2183 Milestones of Flight Museum Lancaster, California as BT-14 [12]
3381 64-2194 Commemorative Air Force Midland, Texas as BT-14
3417 64-2168 National Museum of the USAF Dayton, Ohio as BT-14 [13]
3450 64-2214 Commemorative Air Force Midland, Texas as BT-14
3463 64-2207 Texas Air Museum San Antonio, Texas as BT-14[14] [15]

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North American BT-14.

Notes

  1. ^ The BT-14 differed in detail from the NA-64. The BT-14 had a R-985 with a side draft carburettor, and the oil cooler at the bottom of the cowling, as opposed to the NA-64's R-975 with a downdraft carburettor and the oil cooler on the side. The BT-14 had a 12 volt electrical system while the NA-64 was 24 volt. The outer wing panels on the BT-14 had a swept forward trailing edge similar to the panels fitted to the AT-6, while the NA-64 had a straight trailing edge. NA-64 seats were shaped differently to fit French seat pack parachutes. The BT-14 wing centre section was further aft with the leading edge in line with the firewall to compensate for the difference in engine weight and wing panel sweep. When delivered, the NA-64's throttle and mixture controls were opposite to those of the BT-14, and while in Canadian service, the throttles were reversed to match the BT-14, but mixture controls were not. Finally the NA-64 had metric instruments (with conversions marked on them for RCAF aircrew), while the BT-14 had standard USAAC instruments.

Citations

  1. ^ Smith, 2000, p.30
  2. ^ Hagedorn, 1997, p.45
  3. ^ Warbirds Directory - North American Texan and Yale
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Aviation Archaeology - USAAC/USAAF Accident reports accessdate:18 April 2014
  5. ^ Hagedorn, 1997, p.20
  6. ^ NORTH AMERICAN AT-6 TEXAN accessdate:18 April 2014
  7. ^ Smith, 2000, p.30
  8. ^ Smith, 2000, p.30
  9. ^ Hagedorn, 1997, p.45
  10. ^ Smith, 2000, p.30
  11. ^ Hagedorn, 1997, p.45
  12. ^ Milestones of Flight Air Museum: accessdate:31 March 2014
  13. ^ Fact Sheet: North American BT-14 (NA-64) accessdate:31 March 2014
  14. ^ Currently painted as a Luftwaffe NA-64, but with BT-14 nose.
  15. ^ Texas Air Museum - North American NA-64
  16. ^ Smith, 2000, p.30

Bibliography

  • Hagedorn, Dan (1997). North American NA-16/AT-6/SNJ (WarbirdTech Volume 11). North Branch, MN: Speciality Press. p. 45. ISBN 0-933424-76-0.
  • Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions for Army Model BT-14 Airplanes. T.O. no. 01-60AA-1. Detroit, Michigan: US Government. January 1941. (revised 1944)
  • Smith, Peter Charles (2000). North American T-6: SNJ, Harvard and Wirraway. Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press. p. 30. ISBN 1-86126-382-1.


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