These images were all taken between July 1941 and September 1945 by cadets, instructors and members of the administrative staff at #5BFTS, Riddle Field, Clewiston. As far as is known, none of these accidents was a fatal accident and in many cases, the pilot (and any others in the plane) baled out and parachuted to safety before the plane crashed.
The images are in four categories; images of accidents involving a Stearman PT-17 plane are numbered from 100, those involving a Vultee BT-13A are numbered from 200, accidents involving an AT-6 are numbered from 300 and images relating to other planes, including those unknown, or anything else that is relevant to this collection are numbered from 400.
- The Stearman PT-17 aircraft was made by Boeing-Stearman with a Continental R-670-5 engine.
- The Vultee BT-13 Valiant aircraft was made by the Vultee Aircraft Inc. which merged with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in March 1943 to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation or Convair. It has a Pratt and Whitney engine R-985.
- The AT-6 aircraft, manufactured by North American Aviation is known to Americans as the North American AT-6 Texan and to the RAF and British Commonwealth air forces as the Harvard AT-6, the name by which it is best known outside the United States. It has a Pratt and Whitney engine R-1340.
The original photographs for many of these images are now in Clewiston Museum. Our thanks to the Trustees and the Museum Director for allowing access to these photographs and giving permission for their upload to this website.
