Viddler

The MacMahans Talk Biplanes... At Oshkosh 2008!

Miss Muffet may seem like an unlikely name for a proud biplane, but if you listen to the MacMahans a bit, the name makes perfect sense. The owners of a beautiful blue and red 1941 Boeing A75N1 (PT17) Stearman, the two seat trainer bipe is powered by a Lycoming R680-4P-B4 and has received lavish care over the years from the MacMahan family. Back for its second year since a complete restoration, the proud Boeing Stearman drew admiring glances from thousands of pilots who came upon it... and devoutly wished for one just like it.

While most folks know the Boeing Model 75 by the common name of "Stearman," it has worn a number of hats and been called a lot of names... (and a few of those weren't nice ones, if you learned to fly taildraggers in this bird). The US Army Air Corps designation for the A75N1 is "PT-17," the Navy designation is "N2S," and the Canadian military designation is "Kaydet." The Stearman was originally designed to serve as a trainer, and many a WWII flyer got their start in the open cockpit of this amazing aircraft. After the war, a number of Stearmans found their way into civilian use as barnstormers and crop dusters.

Boeing notes that the two-seater biplane was introduced by the Stearman Aircraft Division of Boeing in Wichita, Kan., in 1934 and conducted it first flight on November 26th of that year. The A75 has fabric-covered wooden wings, single-leg landing gear and an over-built welded-steel fuselage. Only radial engines were used. Between 1936 and 1944, Boeing built 8,584 of them, in all versions, plus the equivalent of 2,000 more in spares. In addition to sales to the Navy and the Army Air Corps, the trainers were sold to Canada, China, the Philippines, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil for both military and civilian uses.

The A75 (according to Janes, though different sources spec the bird in subtly different ways), has a wing span of 32 feet, 2 inches, a length o