Known to its student pilots as the “Vultee Vibrator,” thousands of Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps aviation cadets flew the BT-13 series aircraft during World War II as the next step in their pilot training after primary instruction. The Navy designation for the BT-13 was SNV.

The BT-13 was similar to Vultee’s Basic Combat trainer, the BC-51/BC-3, developed in the late 1930’s but never placed into production. The BT-13 had fixed landing gear and used a smaller engine than the BC-51/BC-3.

After the initial production of 300 BT-13s, Vultee built the improved BT-13A (SNV-1), followed by the BT-13B (SNV-2) with a 24 volt electric system and other minor changes. Vultee delivered 9,833 BT-13/SNV types to the Army and Navy between1940 -1944.

Museum volunteers recovered this aircraft from a farm near Colby, Kansas in 1988