Page 34 - Volume 13 Number 4

the summer of 1934 Mac Short and his crew had begun modifying the Model 73 into the Model 75. It was identical to the Navy’s NS-1 except for a new main landing gear and installation of a seven-cylinder, Wright Aeronautical R-760 radial engine rated at 225 horsepower.
The prototype (Stearman c/n 75000, registered X14407) was evaluated by the Army as the XPT-945. After the engine was changed to the nine-cylinder Lycoming R-680 radial rated at 225 horsepower, further flight tests were completed but no orders were forthcoming because the Air Corps had no funding to acquire training aircraft. By February 1935, however, the financial situation had improved and the Army issued Stearman Aircraft a specification and requested a bid. In April the company replied and the Model 75 was reevaluated by the service. Much to the delight of Schaefer and Short, the Air Corps signed up for 20 airplanes (plus spares sufficient to build another six trainers) designated PT-13 to be powered by the Lycoming engine.
Fortunately, by 1935 the modernization of America’s air fleets by the Army and Navy was picking up momentum. Almost daily the newspapers told of Japanese aggression in Manchuria and Japan’s dream of establishing an “East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” that would swallow up much of the Pacific Rim. As for Europe, Adolf Hitler had become “Fuhrer” – the undisputed ruler of Germany – and had set
his sights on expanding “lebensraum” (living space) for the German people, and to the south Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was dreaming of creating another Roman Empire in the Mediterranean region.
In the summer of 1935 Julius Schaefer went to Washington for a week of special conferences with Army and Navy officials. Of chief concern was whether Stearman Aircraft’s manufacturing capabilities could meet the War Department’s anticipated future demand for new training airplanes. While in the nation’s capital, Schaefer met with Harry H. Woodring, President Roosevelt’s assistant secretary of war and a former governor of Kansas. He informed Schaefer that the government would soon be awarding contracts to the company to build 46 aircraft – 26 for the Army Air Corps (total cost $243,578) and another 20 for the Navy (total cost $150,373). Stearman’s president was elated and returned home to share the good news with his fellow workers and Wichitans. Including existing work to fill the Navy contract for 41 NS-1 ships, Schaefer expressed confidence that the two additional contracts would keep the factory busy for at least the next 18 months.
The latest orders from the War Department were part of an expansion program by the Air Corps to increase its strength to more than 2,300 aircraft from the existing 1,800. In 1935 Congress had appropriated
32 • KING AIR MAGAZINE APRIL 2019