Stearman Kaydet PT-13/PT-17

The 2 seater Kaydet biplane was for the United States what Tiget Moth was for the Great Britain : the most important basic training airplane during the WW II. The PT-13/PT-17 models were different as to the type of engine they used.

About 30 Stearman Kaydet airplanes conducted from 1945 an idiomorphic campaing against malaria, dusting all over Greece. The dusting equipment was removable and used with DDT, a research development product of WW II. Their unit, the Anti-malarial Squadron, originally located at Eleysis Air Base. A possible founder of this Squadron was an American dusting unit that it is mentionned to visit Greece in November 1944. The maintenance and the flights were a responsibility of the staff of the Greek Royal Air Force at that time, althought there was a connection with the Ministry of Agriculture and Health. The airplanes were a donation of the American AMAG and bearing her markings without Greek crest.

Later the Stearman Kaydet airplanes acquired civil aviation registration and they are recorded as that to the 201 Air Force Supply Depot archives. At least one of them implicated in combat missions during the Civil War. Their contribution in the preservation of public health is great. It is certain that after MS.137, is the most publicly unappreciated airplane the Air Force pilot ever flew with.

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