The Vultee BT-13 Valiant was an American World War II-era basic trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy. The SNV was an identical version built for the US Navy as a scout-trainer for student pilots and its sister services, the US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard. The unit cost was $23,000 for the Vultee.

In 1938, Vultee chief designer Richard Palmer began designing a fighter aircraft. The US Army Air Corps was evaluating a new basic combat trainer. Designated the Vultee V-54, it was considered operationally ideal as a trainer but was regarded as being unnecessarily complicated and overpowered.

Vultee then developed the V-74 trainer to meet the Air Corps requirements, and it had a cantilever low-wing with fixed landing gear, dual controls and flight instruments as standard equipment.

The initial production version was designated BT-13 by the USAAC and named the Valiant. The plane's first flight is said to have taken place on 24 March 1939.

Satisfactory testing brought in an initial order of 300 aircraft in August 1939. It was the largest order placed by the US Army for basic trainers at the time. The Vultee BT-13 was outfitted with the Pratt & Whitney R-985-25 radial engine, and the first of these aircraft were accepted by the USAAC in June of 1940.

The Navy quickly recognized the ruggedness of the Vultee BT-13 and selected it to fulfill the same training roles, which they designated as the SNV. On 28 August 1940, the Navy submitted their order to Vultee Aircraft for 1,350 SNV-1 aircraft (the Navy's version of the BT-13A). This was followed by a contract for 650 SNV-2 aircraft which had a 24 volt electrical system.

Once in service, the Vultee Valiant quickly got its nickname of "Vultee Vibrator" which was given by its Army and Navy pilots.
There are several explanations given for the plane's nickname, the least of which, it caused windows on the ground to vibrate during takeoffs. The canopy rattled with the engine running, and the two-position propeller had an irritating vibration while in the high pitch. A shudder also developed while the plane was in the second and third turn of a spin. The aircraft had a tendency to shake quite violently as it approached its stall speed. It is said to have gained a reputation in Army circles as a killer of cadets because of its quick-action top rudder stalls. The tail was held on with three bolts and after several in-flight failures, the Navy restricted the aircraft from aerobatic and violent maneuvers. The Navy declared the SNV obsolete in May 1945 and replaced it in the basic training role with the SNJ built as an advanced trainer by North American Aviation.

From September 1939 to the Summer of 1944 a total of 11,537 Vultees were built to meet the needs of the US Army Air Corps and the US Navy, making the plane one of the most important American trainer aircraft of World War II. The BT-13 production run outnumbered all other Basic Trainer (BT) types produced.

Almost every U.S. pilot and many of the allied pilots who were trained in the U.S. learned their basic flying skills in the Vultee BT-13, aka SNV. The demand for BT-13's out-paced Pratt & Whitneys ability to deliver the R-985 engines, Vultee began to equip the BT-13 airframes with the 450 HP Wright R-975-11 Whirlwind radial engine. This final variant was designated as the BT-15, and 1,693 were built for the Army.

As soon as World War II ended all versions in service were retired from the US Army Air Force and US Navy.

Variants

SNV Production