George Bush N2S-1 Stearman N50061 2024-06-07

This is a repaint only, for the payware Vertigo Studios Stearman Vol.1 set. This repaint depicts the restored Stearman N2S-1, N50061, owned/operated by Paul Ehlen and based at the Wings of the North Museum at Flying Cloud Airport, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The aircraft, originally manufactured as U.S. Navy BuNo. 3347, is one of five Stearmans known to still exist that were flown by President George H. W. Bush as a cadet in the Navy. He flew this aircraft while training in the cold Minnesota winter at Wold-Chamberlain Airfield, Naval Air Station Minneapolis (modern-day KMSP), in January and early February 1943. The aircraft was sent to AirCorps Aviation for ground-up restoration in 2014, and emerged in 2015 as one of, if not the most period-authentic restored Stearmans to-date, restored to just as it was in 1943 (no electric starter (only hand-crank start) and no radios of any sort). The aircraft won "Best Stearman" at Oshkosh 2015.