Charles K. Scott wrote:
On 4 Nov 2005 12:53:16 -0800, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:
snip

Don't know where you are getting your information Bret, but the BT13
was not well liked by pilots and civilians alike. Pilots didn't like
it because it stalled suddenly and precipitiously and displayed in
general, nasty slow speed habits. It killed it's fair share of cadets
in it's day and continues to kill them now. Civilians did not like it
because the prop made such a racket that windows rattled and dishes
fell off shelves whenever it flew by.

The BT-13 is no longer in military training service anywhere and so I
doubt it kills cadets any longer. It probably does kill the odd warbird
owner or two, especially in "bull markets" when incompetents get big
credit lines and buy themselves a toy they can't handle.

The characteristics I want to emulate are those of the T-6, which is
also considered a fearsome beast by the untrained. However, numerous
instructor pilots and military aviators have commented, both in the
literature and in personal discussions I have had with them, that they
felt old school aviators trained in T-6s and tip tank afflicted T-33s
were at advantage over those coming from the relatively viceless Tweet
and Talon.

The idea should be, "if you can fly this airplane properly then when
you get the money a warbird will be a straightforward transition".
However I am not talking about a primary trainer, because it's about
impossible to improve on the venerable Cub (or similar machines like
the Champ/Scout/Citabria) for the role, and because I don't believe
homebuilding is for people without having these basics down before
starting.

I don't advocate making an airplane squirrely on purpose, nor making
it so loud and shaky it causes problems with the citizenry underneath:
but let's face it, you buy a warbird so people will think you have a
pair and pay attention to you. The essential driving mechanism behind
all collectibles markets is WGBD: I just want to provide a way to do it
without destroying a real piece of history, and without getting you
killed unless you really, really need to be filtered out of the gene
pool.