Tampa Bay CAF to Restore WWII Trainer to Airworthiness

The iconic open-cockpit, low-wing aircraft was designed in the late 1930s when the U.S. military was looking for an improvement on the tailwheel equipped biplanes being used as primary trainers. Fairchild bested 17 other designs to earn the military contract. The aircraft had to be durable, easy to fly, and built primarily from nonstrategic materials, such as wood, with a fabric-covered steel fuselage. 

The aircraft was given the factory model number M-62, and later became known as the PT-19. PT stood for "primary trainer." 

CAF has 11 PT-19s throughout its U.S. locations. This particular PT-19, serial number 42-48004, was built in the Aeronca factory in Middletown, Ohio, rolling out the door in October 1943 to  become one of 530 PT-19s assembled there.

The group is still researching the history of its airplane, but it has already found some interesting information with the help of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM), said Kenneth Hewes, CAF wing leader in Tampa Bay.

According to records found by the NASM, the aircraft entered service on October 5, 1943, and was delivered on November 1, 1943, to Arledge Field in Stamford, Texas, as part of the 308th Primary Flight Detachment. Its next stop was San Antonio’s Kelly Field in June 1944, then to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, the home of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) primary training facility. The WASP served in noncombat flying roles, which included delivering PT-19s all over the country where they would be used to train those who would later graduate to fighters and bombers.

At the end of summer 1944, it went back to Kelly Field and was declared surplus aircraft after only 10 months in service. Records indicate it was sold for $1,275 in May 1945 (about $22,000 today) to 56-year-old William Woods of  Enid, Oklahoma.

"[Woods] was born in Ireland,” Hewes said. “He was listed on the application for registration for the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) as weighing 185 pounds, height 69 inches [5-foot-6] with blue eyes and brown hair. At the time, he was a student pilot, adding a personal touch to the aircraft's history." 

The aircraft has been through multiple owners in its 79 years, Hewes said. During the 1980s, the aircraft was retained by someone who lived around 2 miles from Hewes’ home.

The aircraft was also part of the collection housed in the Aviation Museum of Texas at Garner Field in Uvalde, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. It also spent some time in Montana and California under private ownership before being acquired by the CAF in 2023, ferried to Dallas and then on to Lakeland, Florida, in June 2024.

The Tampa Bay CAF plans to restore the airplane to the way it looked when it was stationed at Avenger Field with "the name of the airfield stenciled on the side when we repaint it," Hewes said.

The color scheme of the aircraft is predominantly blue on the fuselage, with tail feathers of red-and-white stripes and bright gold wings. The wings made it easier to see the airplane if it had to make an unscheduled off-airport landing.

That didn't happen with this one, Hewes said: "To our knowledge, it never crashed."

The Tampa Bay CAF has a goal of raising $8,000 for the project. The restoration work is being done at Lakeland-Linder International Airport (KLAL), which is also the home of Sun 'n Fun, the annual spring aerospace expo.

"The project is special in a lot of ways," Hewes said. "We're a brand-new wing. We had our first meeting in January of 2023, and this is our first restoration project."

The goal is to have the project complete by summer 2025.