The Tampa Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) in Florida has a special holiday wish this year—donations to help restore a Fairchild PT-19 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.
