WASP PT-17 Stearman N59293 2024-06-07

This is a repaint only, for the payware Vertigo Studios Stearman Vol.1 set. This repaint depicts the restored Stearman PT-17 N59293, owned/operated by Andrew and Mike Porter, based at Spring Lake, New Jersey. The aircraft was manufactured as USAAF 41-25714 and was used continually from June 1942 until June 1945. During WWII the aircraft had multiple assignments, one of which included Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, home of the WASP (Women's Airforce Service Pilots), where it was based from February 1943 until August 1944. Sold surplus after the war, the aircraft was used as a crop duster in New Mexico all the way until 1981. Starting in 2006, the aircraft was restored to factory-original award-winning condition, and painted in the same markings it wore while stationed at Avenger Field, flying as a tribute to all of the WASP pilots. (In one of the aircraft's other WWII training assignments, Donald Strait flew this aircraft during flight training and would go on to become a double-ace flying P-51's with the 361st Fighter Squadron).