Fairchild PT-19

Don wears a lot of hats here at the museum.

Along with being a docent, Don helps maintain the airplanes as well as piloting the PT-19 and the AT-6.

He was also the one behind our SB-2C Helldiver public presentation, From Zero to Hero, a presentation that you can currently available on the museum's website, YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure.

Don sat in with Rob and myself as we talked with our guest, Matt McCauley, who was a part of a small team of teenagers that located and raised the Helldiver we have here in the museum back in the early 80s out of Lake Washington in the Seattle area.

When was the last time you dove the lake to see some of these aircraft?

Well, it's funny you should ask.

You're working on the PT-19 in there? Correct.

There's a PT-19 that we also found as part of that barge dump that we didn't really do anything with because of its tube and everything.

Some things are quite early days with, um, with that.

But we're just, um, going to be receiving the, uh, the Fairchild Cornell from the Irish Museum.

Right.

So that fits in with our, the training aspect, um, goes along with the Percival Proctor that we've got.

What do you remember from that? What type of plane were you in, and what do you remember from that?

Well, in that was a PT-19...

Cornell.

It was a low wing, all plywood, Ranger inverted engine, and open cockpit, and you know, the scarf and goggles and that type of thing.