Although the BT-13 Valiant was one of the most important basic training aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, it is a relatively unknown design – particularly when compared with other trainers such as the T-6 Texan or de Havilland Tiger Moth. Designed by Vultee, it bridged the gap between primary trainers and advanced fighters, introducing thousands of cadets to more demanding handling characteristics, higher speeds, and retractable-style systems in a fixed-gear airframe. Nicknamed the “Vibrator” for its pronounced airframe shudder in certain flight regimes, the BT-13 was nonetheless rugged, forgiving, and perfectly suited to preparing future combat pilots, many of whom would go on to fly frontline aircraft in every theater of the war.

Creating this template required more time than I expected, but I wanted to take whatever time was needed to represent the “Vibrator” as faithfully as possible. This first profile is of N59961 as it appeared in 2017, which is fairly close to the configuration of wartime BT-13s.