The Fleetwings BT-12 Sophomore, also known by the company designation Model 23, was a 1940s all-metal basic training monoplane built by

Fleetwings Fleetwings, later Kaiser-Fleetwings, was an American aircraft company of the 1930s and 1940s. History Fleetwings started in 1926 (under a different name) as a business based on a patented mechanical timing device, which proved particularly suit ...

for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Only 24 production examples of the type were built before the contract was cancelled.

Design and development

With the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

(later U.S. Army Air Forces) was ill-prepared for a major war. In an effort to obtain as many aircraft as possible the USAAF contracted Fleetwings, a specialist fabricator of sheet stainless steel, to produce a basic training monoplane. A prototype Model 23 was ordered as the XBT-12 during 1939. The XBT-12 was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailwheel landing gear and powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine. The aircraft had two identical tandem cockpits for instructor and pupil covered by a continuous canopy. It was the first military aircraft to be constructed primarily from welded stainless steel.

Operational history

After evaluation of the XBT-12 starting in late 1939, an order for 176 production aircraft, designated BT-12, was placed. Only 24 aircraft were delivered, one in 1942 and 23 in 1943, before the contract was cancelled, the Vultee BT-13 being preferred.

Variants

;XBT-12 :Army designation for the prototype Model 23, one built. ;BT-12 :Army designation for the production Model 23, 24 built, 152 cancelled.

Operators

; :

Specifications (BT-12)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing