On August 1, 1945, a hurricane in Arizona caused four Stearman PT-17 aircraft to be blown into an orange grove and 37 to be totally destroyed at 4BFTS
(Mesa). On August 4, the 40 Stearman PT-13 (powered by Lycoming engines) were flown in from Minter Field, Bakersfield, California, to replace these PT-17s. As
they were not equipped for night flying or instrument flying, Primary Training had to be modified however, as Japan surrendered on August 14 and all flying training in the USA stopped, in the end it mattered not at all!!