Request help identifying type of aircraft

[Vaxine1]

Any help with ID of this aircraft type circa 1942 would be much appreciated. My wifes father piloted in this photo. He was awarded the Flying Cross in 1944. Is this a trainer?

 

[Wurger]

IMHO that's the Vultee BT-13/15 Valiant. The US Navy used them as SNV-1 and SNV-2. And yes that was the basic training kite.

the pic source: VULTEE BT-13/15 VALIANT - Flight Manuals

 

[Vaxine1]

IMHO that's the Vultee BT-13/15 Valiant. The US Navy used them as SNV-1 and SNV-2. And yes that was the basic training kite.

Super thanks!

 

[Wurger]

My pleasure.

 

[Antarctica]

Now, why was it dubbed the "Vibrator" ?

 

[Army14Bravo]

Any help with ID of this aircraft type circa 1942 would be much appreciated. My wifes father piloted in this photo. He was awarded the Flying Cross in 1944. Is this a trainer?

From the look on his face, I's say thats a Vultee Vibrator. I've had the pleasure of a few hours in that old bird.

 

[Don Boose]

BT-13s were also converted to look like Aichi D3A carrier bombers (Kanbaku), Allied code name Val, for the film Tora! Tora! Tora!

One of the Tora! Kanbaku birds was located at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, airport in the 1990s. I was there when new owners (a man and a red haired woman, both wearing leather jackets and white scarves) came to fly it away. Watching that airplane spool up at the end of the runway and roar off into the sky, I understood why they were called "Vibrators"!